- Born – 1937 (now 76 years of age)
- ROTC, Army career 1956 – 1991 (35 years)
- Chair, Joint Chief of Staff – 1989 – 1993
- National Security Advisor – 1987 through 1989
- Secretary of State – 2001 through 2005
Pretty much his entire career, Colin Powell (former Army General, US Secretary of State) has worked for the US Government. At multiple times during his career, he has sworn an oath to protect and uphold the US Constitution. Over at Big Government, we hear of his support for the US Government to act in a “post- Constitutional” manner (or if you prefer, “extra-Constitutional”:
…“I think universal health care is one of the things we should really be focused on, and I hope that will happen,” Powell reportedly said last week. “Whether it’s Obamacare, or son of Obamacare, I don’t care. As long as we get it done.”
…The retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said he thought, “Every country I’ve visited, every developed country, they have universal health care. They don’t understand why the United States of America, which uses more health care than just about anybody else, still (has) 40 million people not properly insured.”
That is because, Mr. Powell, there is that pesky 10th Amendment in OUR Constitution that enumerates what the Federal Government can and cannot do – what is allowed to it vs the Powers reserved for the various States and The People. There is no Right to healthcare, no matter what the UN states, no matter what other developed countries have. We have a “limiting Constitution” – those other countries do not. Most developed nations follow a more social democratic way (or Socialism) than we do. Frankly, I find it highly disturbing that many elected officials are out to do all they can to subvert our values in order to turn us into a more socialist state. Frankly, I find it rather disturbing that a man of Powerll’s governmental achievement holds to that. But then again, it shows, yet again, that no matter how high in the governmental hierarchy one goes, it should never be automatic to assume that their Constitutional knowledge, and adherence to such, is automatic.
“I am not an expert in health care, or Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, or however you choose to describe it, but I do know this: I have benefited from that kind of universal health care in my 55 years of public life,” Powell said. “And I don’t see why we can’t do what Europe is doing, what Canada is doing, what Korea is doing, what all these other places are doing.”
And he is wrong – his healthcare was NOT an instance of “universal health care in my 55 years of public life” as he claims. He was simply a governmental employee. Decorated, yes. Long term, yes. Rising high, yes. Good on him. But still a governmental employee. And like all governmental employees, he was covered for his and his family’s healthcare needs by the taxpayers. From his Wikipedia entry, it looks like he “cashed in” by joining various private concerns which probably picked up his healthcare insurance costs (and I have no problem in him “cashing in”); however, he still would be, being a senior citizen, now covered by Medicare (or from his military career, Tri-Care). And yes, to be strictly correct, Medicare (and Social Security) are extra-Constitutional by ANY strict reading of the US Constitution (but it hasn’t stopped the Progressives who have striven for this Welfare State since the first openly Progressive President, Woodrow Wilson, who was also the first President who openly despised the US Constitution).
For him to state that he has been covered by “Universal Healthcare” is simply obfuscating at best and an outright lie at best. The High and Mighty need to be held accountable for their public utterances.
Obamacare will not be “universal healthcare”; even the OMB says that there will still be 30-50 million people still not covered even with the massive redistribution now taking place. So from a Conservative viewpoint, what the heck was the purpose of totally upending an entire industry for 5-10% of the population? Somewhere in here (GraniteGrok), I remember listing a breakout – it kinda goes like this:
- 15 million were illegal aliens
- 15 million were eligible for Medicare / Medcaid but hadn’t bothered to sign up
- 15 million were those (e.g., Young Invincibles) who chose NOT to purchase healthcare, believing that their risk was not sufficient for the expense.
My Eldest is a prime example of the latter – he decide that owning a Harley was of more value than paying for healthcare. For those of you all ready to scream “Free Rider!”, well remember that it was our politicians that passed EMLATA that created the moral hazard of “Free Riders” in the first place – allowing those that COULD pay for themselves off the hook by making hospitals take all comers.
In fact! Even Obamacare allows the same thing for those that are “selfish”. You can sign up for Obamacare, not pay the premium, and get a free ride for three months! Who gets stuck with the bill? Yeah, the doctors and the insurance companies. There’s always a way to play the angles in a bureaucratic nightmare like this.
Bottom line – if Colin wants Universal Healthcare, if ANY Progressive wants
