File this under "Dear Leader" syndrome…
President Obama took one step further away from the traditional role of a US President, and one step towards "Dear Leader", dictatorial status, when he signed the following Executive Order on June 10, 2010.
Under the authority of the unconstitutional "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" of March 23, 2010 (aka "Obamacare"), this order establishes the "National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council". No budget, no benefits, and no rights are directly involved, so no Congressional involement is required either.
Yeah, right. No problem.
I’m sure the Whitehouse was waiting for a credible crisis to occur before releasing this order. I guess that was this week.
This looks like a passive, semi-stealthy, advanced party setup for a future "National Healthcare Personal Benefits Evaluation" process (my name) – a program that I’m sure Progressive Healthcare authors deem to be necessary, as a foundation, once their widespread National Healthcare goes into effect in a few years, if not repealed first.
It smacks of "let us take care of you, little, helpless people, for we are smart, and know better what you need to be healthy". The audacity of this administration never ceases to amaze me.
What I can’t figure out, though, is why the Surgeon General is the chair of a Healthcare "council", that includes the Secretaries of Agriculture, Labor, HHS, Transportation, Education, Homeland Security, EPA, Free-Trade Commission, Drug Control Policy, Domestic Policy Council, Interior and Indian Affairs, National and Community Service, and "any other executive department or agency deemed appropriate". Talk about everything, including the Kitchen Sink. This Spider’s Web is wide…
I guess the phrase "integrative health care in the United States", in the council’s purpose-statement, answers that question.
Another part of the purpose statement that gives me pause is, "carry out such other activities as are determined appropriate by the President". What other activities would these be?
Section 5 of this order also mandates that the council shall "develop and make public a national prevention, health promotion, and public health strategy (national strategy), and shall review and revise it periodically".
Perhaps the most obvious item in this order is Section 6, item (c), which mandates that a report be produced, containing "a list of national priorities on health promotion and disease prevention to address lifestyle behavior modification." Obviously, by the time the authors of this order got to the end of their masterpiece, they abandoned their goal of hiding their true intent, and being passive or stealthy.
Hey! I completely forgot that painful, hard-fought period in 20XX, when Congress proposed the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution, authorizing the United States Government to provide and manage National Healthcare for all of its citizens. I remember the National Debates, the thoughtful analysis performed by each State, and the massive, national voting effort to pass the amendment. It was history in the making, when both Houses of Congress, and 3/4 of the States authorized us to go down this path (end sarcastic dream-sequence here).
If you aren’t starting to feel like a frog in a pot of warm, cozy water…you will.