Aug 19 House Committee's Intrusion In Private Sector Scary

One thing that hasn't been discussed much thus far is how much Democratic politicians want to intrude into our lives. That's about to change. The House Energy and Commerce Committee just requested the financial records for the executives of United Health Insurance. Here's a short list of things that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is requesting:

• a list of every employee of United Health who made more than $500,000 a year in any year between 2003 and 2008;
• that individual's position within the company;
• that individual's salary;
• that individual's bonuses;
• that individual's stock options;
• the "realized value of all sales of stocks and exercised options" for these individuals.

That's just part of the list. I'd strongly recommend that everyone read the 3-page letter sent by House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman Waxman and House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations chairman Bart Stupak.

Here's what I want to know: What article in the Constitution gives these Democrats the authority to request such information?

It gets worse. According to this Chicago Tribune article, the information requested isn't being requested of those companies who've signed onto Obamacare:

A spokesman for Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., said Tuesday night that 52 letters had been sent to health insurers with $2 billion or more in annual premiums. He said letters were not dispatched to other industry groups, some of which have been airing television advertising in support of Obama's call for legislation.

The request to insurance companies included records relating to compensation of highly paid employees, documents relating to companies' premium income and claims payments, and information on expenses stemming from any event held outside company facilities in the past 2½ years.

Forgive me for thinking that that sounds like the companies that signed onto the Obamacare plan were actually part of a protection money racket. Isn't such a racket considered extortion? Doesn't it also sound like the companies that didn't get House Energy and Commerce Committee letters agreed to a pay to play scheme? Or is it more accurate to call it a pay to not play scheme?

This is how freedom is lost. When elected officials think that they can use their office's prestige to look into things that the Constitution doesn't give them the authority to do, that's where tyranny begins. That's the exact condition that the Founding Fathers wrote into the Declaration of Independence as warranting the replacing of such governance:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Simply put, Waxman's committee is running afoul of the Constitution. It can't be tolerated. I'm not suggesting that we rewrite the Constitution. I'm simply sugegsting that we defeat in the next election politicians that think they're entitled to any information they're interested in.

I just finished watching the Special Report online. They couldn't have been clearer on this: they think this is a PR nightmare for the White House and for Democratic strategists working for House candidates and incumbents.

Carl Cameron said that "this won't get much play in the mainstream media" because they don't want President Obama's image tarnished. My message to Campaign Carl is this: Thanks to Fox, conservative talk radio and blogs like mine, we'll get this information out. It'll likely take a vigorous 'word of mouth' campaign waged both with emails, Facebook and Twitter but also by telling people about Rep. Waxman's and Rep. Stupak's bullying tactics.

Let's understand the context that this letter was written under. Reps. Waxman and Stupak are highly powerful members of the committee that's trying to make the government option part of the health care reform bill. That means that the information that they're requesting is information that, should the government option become law, would give these 52 insurance companies' chief competitor all the information about pay scales, profit levels, etc.

In my way of thinking, that's downright evil. That's how intrusive this Democratic majority is. Their concerns for privacy are nonexistant. They want all the information they can get their hands on so they can build a government-run monopoly involving 16 percent of the American economy.

I said it before but it's worth repeating: There's nothing competitive about a monopoly. That's especially true when government is the monopoly. Does anyone think that they'll care about responsiveness or competitiveness if they essentially dictate health care pricing and policy?

There's an important question that must be asked now that we have this information: In light of this information, shouldn't we hesitate in trusting anything that this Democratic administration and this Democratic Congress says? Why should I trust them when they say that the government option is just to provide competition to health insurance companies?

The only way we can stop these Democrats is to defeat them this fall by telling them that their intrusive tactics aren't welcome, then defeating them in November, 2010. The government option can't happen if John Boehner is installed as the speaker in January, 2011.

Comments welcome at LFR.