In Peter Schweizer’s book Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles In Liberal Hypocrisy the author echoes your writer’s sentiment that self professed liberals, at least those elected to higher office, often will attempt to influence national policy when they themselves don’t necessarily always subscribe to the same principles. It will often take decades to realize that these policies are often failures and at least another decade to dismantle them. Your author could burn up his blog with constant examples but the reader is best served to research and determine if such policies have failed and answer the tough questions, such as what has it cost our society both in monetary and societal cohesiveness? This isn’t to say that self described conservatives, who often aren’t what they claim, don’t also put forth similar disastrous policies. However the attention devoted to the left’s cause often dwarfs that of the right side of the political spectrum.
This weekend Democrat Congressman Patrick Kennedy from Rhode Island, son of Massachusetts’ senior Senator and fellow Democrat Ted Kennedy, gave an interview for NBC’s ‘Today Show’. As many will recall Representative Kennedy crashed his Ford Mustang into a Capitol Hill barricade during the early morning hours of May 4, 2005. Kennedy who appeared incoherent and under the influence claimed he was late for a vote and was driven home by police officers. The officers did not administer a sobriety test, which would have been vanilla procedure in this case, despite an account of witnesses stating that Kennedy had been drinking at the Hawk & Dove bar moments before the incident. Kennedy would later state he had no recollection of the crash and then check himself into the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for substance abuse rehabilitation.
A decent person would have resigned from public office or not sought reelection. Patrick is a Kennedy, this means he is special and literally above the law as history has shown us when researching Massachusetts’ first family. Instead the Rhode Island Democrat Party endorsed him and he won another two year term in 2006.
During his interview Kennedy confessed that he was being treated for abusing the painkiller OxyContin, also known on the street as ‘hillbilly heroin’. He never divulged how he obtained the narcotic since a doctor’s prescription is required nor how long had he been abusing the substance. Kennedy in a stereotypical self serving manner said the following:
"I am also feeling that same sense of stigma in my life, and that’s why I can empathize with millions of Americans who feel that sense of shame at calling themselves addicts and alcoholics".
This was on the heels of introducing legislation with Representative Jim Ramstad, Republican from Minnesota who admits to being a recovering alcoholic since 1981. The legislation proposal is named after deceased Democrat Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, who was killed in a plane crash in October 2002. Many will recall that it Wellstone’s memorial service that turned into a political rally led primarily by Democrats. The outcome of the event solidified for your author just how far the Democrat Party had sunk in their arrogance and desperation. Wellstone, who could have been considered ‘second tier’ among his fellow colleagues because of his lack of national recognition, was consider left of center. Reviewing his political thoughts and voting record, he is better described as being far left, similar to Ohio’s Democrat Congressman Dennis Kucinich.
The proposed bill would require that health insurance be shackled and not exert their discrimination when it comes to services they are willing to pay. In other words removing the health insurance company’s power and what is in their best interest to stay profitable. Who pays for this in the end if such legislation is passed? -the policyholders and business owners who have medical coverage for employees. In other words Kennedy and Ramstad think you and your employer should pay for someone’s dope habit. This would all be well and fine if we had been there to introduce them to whatever substance the person started to abuse.
For the record your author doesn’t believe the legislation will pass and is just another example of a self professed liberal attempting to exploit their experience in the hopes of forcing society to adapt to some type of unnecessary change. Personally your author would rather see a program where an insurer pays for gym fees on an annual basis in the hopes of alleviating some of the overweight members of our society who are most certainly to be a burden on our healthcare system in decades to come. Of course membership renewals would be based on annual inspections to determine if the overweight members had lost their weight. No scratch the idea of health insurers paying for such things make the gym fees an income tax deduction!
Kennedy would be best served to retire from elected office but as your author pointed out that won’t happen in his lifetime. Unlike the case of disgraced Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley, Kennedy is entitled to his Congressional job and the Rhode Island voters don’t seem to mind that he serves them. Patrick Kennedy believes he and others who suffer from addiction are entitled to your pockets to treat their shortcomings, tossing out the notion of ‘personal responsibility’ and ‘self reliance’. Both concepts that when ignored produce unproductive members of our society.
