Paine versus Madison and Hamilton

Common Sense was written by Thomas Paine and he put his own name on it as well as paid for it out of his own pocket. In contrast when Madison, Hamilton et al wrote the Federalist Papers in support of the Constitution they did so anonymously. The NY Times today bemoans the influence of American like the Kochs who use their First Amendment rights to present their political views, a practice quite common here in the US. After all many of the broadcast stations as well as the Times itself present their views in a continuous manner.

The Times appears to believe that the Kochs can make Democrats vote against their own interests by using their political speech rights whereas the Times has no such influence. The logic befuddles me.

The Times states:

Democrats have been staggered by a $20 million advertising blitz produced by Americans for Prosperity, the conservative advocacy group organized and financed by the Koch brothers, billionaire industrialists. The ads take aim at House and Senate candidates for re-election who have supported the health law, and blame them for the hyped-up problems with the law’s rollout that now seem to be the sole plank in this year’s Republican platform.

 Now the ACA as we have noted herein for the past five years is rant with problems. The recent ones are but the tips of the iceberg. We have written extensively about the EHR and its costs and ability to disclose personal records, the CCE effort bolstered by PCORI, a non-governmental entity, set outside the control of Congress, however supported by the new taxes on our Health Care programs, starting at $500M per year, which will "advise" CMS on what procedures should be allowed by Medicare and Medicaid, now covering some 130 million Americans, yes 50% of the population! The list continues as we will see in the next few years. Despite the person from San Francisco who said "you must pass it to see what is in it" we saw what was in it as it was rolled out, a disaster, and a potential for the collapse of the Country.

Thus do the Kochs have a right? Absolutely. Moreover they have a duty as citizens to present the facts. Take a look at what we wrote five years ago, it is just starting to unfold. There are times when facts do matter!