Ides of March Bill

In ancient, the "Ides of March" is notorious as the day that the Roman Senate turned on Julius Caesar. In the United States, Congress is turning on the U.S. constitution and stabbing the people.

I downloaded the text of the current 2307 page healthcare monstrosity. As Congress is using reconciliation to pass the bill, there is likely to be a follow up bill with thousands of pages of amendments and earmarks agreed on in the last minute arm twisting campaign to pass the legislation.

I don't have the time (nor the antacids on hand) needed to read this bill.

The very fact that the health care bill is now called "Reconciliation Act of 2010" should make Americans sick.

For those who recall, the December vote on healh care was simply to bring the bill before Congress for consideration. The airwaves were full of pundits talking about how the vote was about opening the debate.

During the debate it became clear that the health care reform bill was a bad piece of legislation.

The people clearly showed their displeasure in this bill when a special election to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat went to the opposition despite the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Massachusetts.

The fact that health care reform lost as much support as it did during the debate shows that the bill is bad legislation.

Reconciliation makes a backwards legislative process where it takes more votes to bring up a bill for consideration than it does to pass the bill into law.

This current effort of the Obama Administration to pass a bad law through reconciliation is as dark a day for the American Experiment in Democracy as the Ides of March was for the ancient Romans.

The First Article and 10th Amendment of the Constitution indicate that the Founders of this nation wanted a limited Federal government with power over issues like health care left to the states or to the.

If the current administration passes a bill that is in violation of the traditional understanding of the Constitution through means that fall outside of the Constitution, then the "Reconciliation Act of 2010" will go down as one of the lowest moments in American history.