The House’s Secret Plan to Pass Obamacare - The Tea Party's Next Move

Congress will be back in session within the next week, the House on Jan 12th and the Senate one week later. The passing of government run health care is at the top of the list, apparently more important than home security judging from the last eleven months. Although congress has not officially reconvened, there are secret meetings being held behind closed doors by Congressman Henry Waxman, locking out Republicans as usual.

We only have to look to the Mayo Clinic to see how government run health care will destroy the last remaining decent first-class system in the world. The Mayo Clinic has announced they will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow.

The Heritage Foundation reports on Nancy Pelosi's secret plan:

How does Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) plan to move Obamacare past the House, despite some highly-controversial, lingering issues? Clues are beginning to appear in the progressive blogosphere:

• Firedoglake is reporting that Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is returning to Washington this week to begin closed-door negotiations with Senate Democrats and the White House. From FDL: “Discussions are beginning early on the health care bill, although the House is not returning to session until January 12, and the Senate not until a week later. This will not be a traditional conference committee, Waxman said, because the motions to select and instruct conferees in the Senate “would need 60 votes all over again.” Instead, whatever agreements made could be packaged in an amendment to the bills passed by the House and Senate.”
• The New Republic reports that “according to a pair of senior Capitol Hill staffers, one from each chamber, House and Senate Democrats are ‘almost certain’ to negotiate informally rather than convene a formal conference committee. Doing so would allow Democrats to avoid a series of procedural steps–not least among them, a series of special motions in the Senate, each requiring a vote with full debate–that Republicans could use to stall deliberations, just as they did in November and December.”
• TPMDC reports: “‘This process cuts out the Republicans,’ said a House Democratic aide. Republicans will ‘not have a motion to recommit opportunity’–a procedural trick the minority can use to scuttle legislation in the House at the last minute.”

The phone calls, faxes, emails, and rallys have made a dent, but it is apparent congress is on a mission and they are not listening to the public. As Eric Odem states:

We’ve bogged down the process, but we haven’t stopped it. And I think it’s time we take a much deeper look at the mentality of Congress. This band of thugs is not moved by protests and rallies. Corrupt Senate leadership and their ilk do not make decisions based on the will of the people. Or the legality of the legislation for that matter.

Decisions are now made based on power, greed and special interest. Right now the movement has not brought significant money to the process, and we haven’t proven an ability to be effective in the electoral process.

Our Founding Fathers gave us a republic (if we can keep it), and the Tea Party movement has the power to rally the people. Become engaged in the only aspect of governing over which we have control -- elections. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country (remember that old typing test?) We have the power to do some 'community organization' of our own.

Get involved with groups tracking elections. Network, communicate, distribute, meet and get the word out about the candidates, as this blogger has done in the critical Massachusetts special election for that all important 41st vote. At this point, conservatives need to get the majority back. The grassroots movement is alive and well, but we need to focus, organize and keep our eye on the ultimate goal -- 2010 and 2012 elections.

An excellent piece written by Eric Odem of American Liberty Alliance, et al who has set up groups to get this accomplished:


The Movement Needs to Pull It Together… and Fast
by Eric Odem, January 3, 2010

Friends and Patriots in the movement, it’s time for a reality check. The Holidays are over, 2010 is here, and we simply have no more time to talk about “doing something different next year.”

Next year is here. And it is our duty as liberty loving Americans to step up, get over our differences, and unify under realistic goals to take back control of our government.

This morning I had a brief chat with Andrew Ian Dodge via Gmail. I don’t know Andrew personally, but I’ve followed him for more than a year and I find him to be a pretty honest and articulate movement activist. Andrew and I disagree on a few points, but we see eye to eye on a very disconcerting side of the movement.

This morning Andrew published a column at Pajamas Media titled Tea Party 2010: Revolution Brewing? Or Is That Some Weak Tea?

As the nation and the tea party movement prepare for the new year, President Obama and the Democrats have been rushing forward legislation which will forever change the country and raise the deficit.

How far has the tea party movement come since the beginning of last year? A massive event occurred in Washington, D.C., on 9/12, and even greater numbers of people demonstrated all over the country to express their frustration. But ultimately, have they achieved any results? The bills have still gone through, and Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Obama have shucked aside criticisms.

While I feel that the movement has at least slowed the rate of government growth and takeover of our lives, I would have to somewhat agree that our rallies do not carry the weight we expect them to.

If we look at the last few healthcare related votes, for example, the movement slammed phone lines, email inboxes and fax machines like never before. Mass rallies were held on the very steps of the building where Congress was casting a vote on the legislation… only to be followed by passage of the bills and resounding applause by Congress over the ability to do so.

We’ve bogged down the process, but we haven’t stopped it. And I think it’s time we take a much deeper look at the mentality of Congress. This band of thugs is not moved by protests and rallies. Corrupt Senate leadership and their ilk do not make decisions based on the will of the people. Or the legality of the legislation for that matter.

Decisions are now made based on power, greed and special interest. Right now the movement has not brought significant money to the process, and we haven’t proven an ability to be effective in the electoral process.

On the second page of Andrew’s post, he writes what I see as a profound and important line.

What may have affected the development of the activists is the fact that many seemed to have been suffering under the delusion that they were “reinventing” politics at the grassroots. Politics is politics.

I believe this to be very true. While we can certainly reinvent the way grassroots movements are organized, politics IS politics, and we aren’t reinventing that fact at all.

In 2010, we need to unify like never before. We need to stop thinking about revenge against a political party or trying to come up with a method to create a new party. We need to simply look at the political landscape, decide where we can be most effective, and go remove some power hungry thugs from office.

It really is that simple. And sure, in some cases we might not get the greatest candidate elected, but at this point, that shouldn’t be our focus. Our focus right now needs to be the breaking down of power held by incumbents in Washington.

No, not all incumbents. But certainly any incumbent who supported bailouts, cap & trade, TARP, government healthcare and any other legislation that does not put liberty first.

We can either spend 2010 hosting rallies and media events, and working on ways to “get back” at political parties, or we can focus on putting our energy behind a unified, strategic effort to remove these people from our government.

Perhaps there is a way to do a little of everything mentioned above, but the latter should be our primary objective.

At least… in my opinion of course.

-Eric Odom