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August 21, 2009
Exclusive: The Audacity! Obama Strong-Arms Religious Leaders
One of the first news stories I saw yesterday morning was that in a Wednesday conference call with liberal religious leaders, Mr. Obama declared that health coverage for Americans is a "core ethical and moral obligation", and he asked these influentials to “spread the facts and speak the truth.” (That is, he asked religious leaders to help him ram through Congress – Americans’ disapproval of it be damned - his nationalized “health” “care” scheme.) Whether this claim of a moral imperative is true, it appears to be the Democrats’ new focus-group-tested approach to selling a government takeover of the management and disbursement of all Americans’ health care and, consequently, control over our very lives. Once again, I hope he fails.
Cynically ignoring his own disinformation and misinformation campaign spread across the airwaves as no one else can, Mr. Obama said, "I know that there's been a lot of misinformation in this debate and there are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness." So, although the very mention of God and Jesus are not allowed in public schools or any public places (and dare I say…God save the Florida high school principal and coach who are facing criminal charges and the loss of their retirement benefits for offering a mealtime prayer), Mr. Obama is now invoking God’s teachings interstate for the express purpose of shoving through unwanted government policy onto the backs of We the People. Where is the ACLU when you need them?
There are almost no words to describe the, er, audacity of this cynical and shameful power grab, but let me try.
At the outset it seems particularly disingenuous that this president, who has not found it important enough to have yet chosen a church for himself since the Reverend Wright affair, would all of a sudden invoke ancient Hebrew scriptures and find God in the form of a small army of holy disciples who might fall in lock step behind him to sell his dastardly scheme to the American public. While he apparently doesn’t seek God for his own salvation, it appears Mr. Obama sees no irony in seeking God for his own political ends. Can you imagine the international uproar if President Bush had even hinted at such a ploy?
On the taxpayer-funded phone call, reportedly, were 140,000 people from 32 religious groups who were told it was their moral duty to support this risky and some say outright dangerous government socialist policy. But here’s my question: why isn’t it also their moral duty not to support it? Aren’t they morally obligated to protect all living Americans? What about Americans who are 65+? Is it our moral duty to let them die an early and preventable death, or to suffer unnecessarily, because they have been rationed out of advanced procedures, life-saving medicines, top drawer doctors and/or healing operations? Today’s healthy 65-year-old oftentimes lives a vigorous, productive life well into his or her 80s or even 90s.
It’s one thing to threaten business leaders, even as unacceptable and goon-ish a practice as that is. Yesterday, without informing their Republican counterparts of their plans, Reps. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Bart Stupak (D-MI) sent a letter warning health insurers that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is "examining executive compensation and other business practices of the health industry.” They also want documents about conferences and off-campus events as well as food, entertainment, transportation, lodging and gifts exchanged. Without explaining what is being investigated or why, health insurance company executives rightly fear reprisals if they dare not respond to Obama “The Anvil’s” agenda. “This is using the raw power of the Congress to extort information and humiliate citizens," says former Speaker Newt Gingrich. "It is a chilling example of intimidation."
Yet, as bad as it is to take the lead from a Mr. Vito Corleone in one’s business dealings, as one party within Congress has done, it is somehow far worse to intrude on the private relationship one has with one’s God, as Mr. Obama has done. That, in my opinion, is not only tasteless but unforgiveable…yet why would I expect him to understand such a cherished relationship? Especially when this rock-star-turned-salesman condescends in private to those Americans who “cling to guns and religion”? He is showing his deep socialist convictions in disparaging people who unashamedly believe in God, because socialism denies the Christian belief that man needs God. That is why, truth be known, so many religious leaders have condemned socialism.
In fact, listen to Rev. Robert Sirico discuss Pope Benedict XVI on that topic in his article, “The Great Lie: Pope Benedict XVI on Socialism”:
And so the pope has put the problems of economics exactly in the right light: the practical issue that needs to be settled within the framework of a sound morality and understanding of human nature. Socialism fails for a precise and practical reason: It has no system for pricing factors of production to make economic calculation possible. Prices come from the exchange of the very private property with which socialism dispenses.
And yet the moral problem with socialism is more profound: It exalts theft as an ethic and overlooks the human right of freedom.
Someday, the world will come to learn the lessons that the history of socialism has taught. In the meantime, Benedict XVI is proving to be a wonderful teacher.
If Mr. Obama - thinking he can teach religious leaders something - is so interested in involving them in his quest to socialize American health care and destroy the best healthcare system in the world, let’s introduce him first to the teachings of one of the greatest religious leaders of our time, Pope Benedict XVI; we can only hope he might learn something.
Now that’s change we could believe in.
- Carol A. Taber is president of FamilySecurityMatters.org.
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