Dems crank up propaganda machine

After turning one-fifth of the nation’s economy, our once-private health-care system, over to the federal government at God only knows what cost and in defiance of the people’s wishes, the Democrats are frantically attempting to save face by unleashing a propaganda barrage the likes of which this country has never seen. Already their clever handiwork is showing up in the local media.

Immediately responding and to no one’s surprise, The Denver Post posted in its Sunday edition a story with two huge photos, praising Democratic Rep. Betsy Markey of the 4th District, whose allegiance in the crucial showdown-vote was in lockstep with the Obama, Reid, Pelosi & Stern group, not the folks back home in her district. (Show me the poll where a majority of voters in the 4th District approved of this bill.)

The Post’s puff-piece on Markey included some flattery from John Straayer, a political science professor at Colorado State University. It’s remarkable that no conservative political science professor is ever quoted by the reporters who write these stories. (Show me an example.)

Arrogantly pouring salt on the wounds of the awe-struck people “back home,” Andy Stern’s rich and powerful Service Employees International Union is running ads on Denver TV praising Markey’s courage and righteousness. For this, the folks back home might ask what sort of a political debt their congresswoman now owes to a key member of Obama’s inner circle.

To his credit Steve McMillan, the Post’s business news editor, published in the Sunday edition a three-column guest commentary by Robert J. Samuelson who writes about business and economic issues for Newsweek and the Washington Post. Samuelson brought at least some clarity to the extremely dangerous and confusing long-term debt risk that we all must now face.

Meanwhile, at our local Times-Call, business section editor Tony Kindelspire seems pleased with the bill and other than being happy about chain restaurants being forced to post calorie data spent most of his Sunday commentary chastising the 13 attorneys general (including Colorado’s) who plan to test the constitutionality of this massive, unprecedented centralization of power. And why shouldn’t they test it? It’s hard to believe that an editorial writer at the Las Vegas Sun (whose material Kindelspire quoted) has any special knowledge of what’s constitutional and what’s not, let alone Denver Post columnist Ed Quillen who is on the same wavelength. Do they really know more about the Constitution of the United States than 13 attorneys general? If they do, perhaps they should run for the office of attorney general.

Let it be said here and now: I’m glad my 50-year career as a reasonably successful independent, self-employed small business owner engaged in publishing small-town newspapers ended in 1998. For one thing, the bureaucratic red tape was already intractable and will be 10 times worse under Markey’s new law. With the government running the banks, the automobile industry, the energy industry and now the health-care system, I just don’t see any of the incentives any more that made so many of us want to thrive and achieve. And we did, despite poor health, economic hardships and seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

America, America, have we lost our way?