The Republicans have no inspirational speakers

Mitch McConnell had his chance to shine before the vote tonight on whether the healthcare bill would be moved forward to debate, but, instead, he whined about costs, taxes and Medicare cuts. So, if the costs are lowered, taxes are not too stiff and Medicare is left untouched (which I know is all impossible), Mitch would be in favor of the bill?

The problem with the Democrat's healthcare bill goes far beyond increasing taxes during a recession, cost and Medicare, but politicians are trained to look at practical problems and ignore principles. McConnell might have thought that people wouldn't understand the principles involved, or he doesn't understand the principles himself.

We are so far removed from first principles I don't know where to start. McConnel had it right about the taxes, but it's not just these taxes being wrong in the middle of a recession, which is what McConnell is upset over -- it's income tax in general, with healthcare reform being an egregious expression of what's wrong with income tax.

As long as government has the unlimited power to confiscate our money, they will continue to use that power to strengthen the state and weaken the people. Healthcare reform is one example, although it might be the biggest to date, in a long line of government encroachments into the free market. Individual rights have been violated for a long time in America, and this simply places a crown on the state's latest grand achievement to control the economy and micromanage our lives. While policy wonks rattle on about government debt on one side and "bending the cost curve" on the other, we're sitting by paralyzed from years of government intervention as the state moves further along the road to complete domination.

McConnell could have said something about this, but he didn't. In government, there are no defenders of the Constitution. When I get over my disgust, I'll write more on this, but right now I'm empty.