From the 27 August 2007 Greater Niagara Newspapers

THE RELIGION OF THE CONSTITUTION

By Bob Confer, www.BobConfer.net

Back in the formative days of humanity, when mankind was tribal in nature, there was an incredible emphasis placed upon gods in day-to-day life. The nomadic and agrarian peoples of ancient times relied on unseen beings to control the weather, the seasons, and the bounty of forest and sea. By doing so, many societies of the day ultimately became extinct because they essentially gave up on their own actions and ingenuity, choosing to fully rely on their unknown master to get them out of any disastrous situation that may have occurred. In a sort of Darwinistic development, as those societies flopped the smarter and more self-reliant societies grew and aggressively took control of the world around them rather than passively allowing that world to control them.

There was a major underlying reason behind this success. As mankind changed for the better and became more advanced, so did their religions. Gone were the environmental gods, those micromanagers of sun, rain, wind, and animal. They were replaced by the singularly-powerful, omnipotent Great Overseers that define the world’s two largest religions, Christianity and Islam. These “big picture” gods are nowhere near as intrusive as the legions of gods that were worshipped long ago. Instead, these gods and their religions have created their own worlds in which their people can flourish and achieve glorious rewards, given that they follow a simplistic yet defined path of morality and rules. By instilling virtue and responsibility  - with just a little help from above - into its peoples, the followers of these religions (especially the Christians) flourished because of self-reliance. They were empowered to control their own destinies: The quality of their lives and afterlives are a direct result of what they do for themselves and others.    

Advancing this success, the United States of America applied this set of mores to its very foundation, becoming somewhat of a religion itself, nearly identical in the aforementioned ways of promoting self-reliance. The Bill of Rights and Constitution did just as the Bible and Koran, creating an environment in which people could pursue their lives and reap the rewards of their sweat and tears. Our citizens could achieve their own personal heaven given that they followed the basic and timeless set of laws defined within the founding documents, our Constitutional amendments comparable in importance and scope to Christianity’s Ten Commandments. Because of this similarity to the practices of modern religions, the United States quickly became – and continues to be - the greatest society this world has ever known. The freedoms, quality of life, and material and metaphysical rewards that have been reaped by hundreds of millions thanks to the American Way are legitimately without peer, our land a veritable heaven on Earth.

Even though we reign supreme now it is unknown how long we can maintain this success. We as a people are losing our religion in a Constitutional sense. The American people are, in a continuous and disturbing way, ditching the tenets of self-reliance and reverting to the helpless ways of the ancient societies that had pushed them to collapse. Rather than worshipping and requiring help from unseen micromanaging deities today’s citizens are worshipping and requiring help from all levels of our government, the new age deity. They want the government to, like the gods of old, do everything for them. As every generation passes, more and more people are forgoing their wits, self-respect and responsibilities, demanding that the government control their very existence and give them comfort and safety, providing for their very existence. The list of demands is without end; the people want an omnipotent government to give them healthcare, job security, retirement security, housing, social welfare, fiscal stability, education, property insurance, and so much more….all things that they should really take responsibility for and control on their own.

These simple-minded and corrupted souls who are worshipping Big Government and denying the morally prudent values of the Constitution want the government to be something that the Founding Fathers had never intended. Without a doubt, those who framed the context of our nation and fought for its independence from tyranny are rolling in their graves watching their descendants clamor for – if not outright praying for - an all-controlling and all-knowing God-like government. It’s quite sad, for as America’s Bible – the Constitution – gradually becomes a thing of the past, so will America.    

HEALTH INSURANCE IS NOT TRUE INSURANCE
By Bob Confer, www.BobConfer.net

A report was issued last week by the federal government indicating that Americans are now living longer than ever. The average life expectancy is approaching 78 years, a decade greater than it was just 30 years ago. This is great news and speaks volumes about the quality of modern health care and the wonders of science.

But, all is not well. The good news tells only part of the story. Even though we are extending our lives, we rank just 42nd globally in terms of life expectancy. This is a disheartening ranking because our nation is not only the richest in the world but we also spend the most on health care. The length of our lives has been exceeded in Japan, Singapore, a variety of Caribbean nations and most of Europe, with Andorra topping the list at 83.5 years.

The reason behind our poor and ever-declining rank (we were 11^th two decades ago) is the fact that our lifestyles and approach to health leave much to be desired versus those leading the list. Those nations eat less fat and processed sugars and consume much healthier foods than we do. The standard American diet has become calorie-rich and junk-heavy. This bad behavior, coupled with disinterest in physical activity, has caused two-thirds of all American adults to be overweight and staggering third of our population to be labeled as obese. Associated with this fatness are a myriad of health problems that not only have decreased our growth of life expectancy versus the rest of the world but also account for painful and stressful midlives and Golden Years that rely on intense medical care.

Despite our society’s knowledge of the cause of our problems we continue to pursue excess and gluttony. That is because we have a system that rewards bad behavior and causes individuals to always think and act in the short-term. There’s always a quick fix to health problems, be it through medications, surgeries, or equipment. It’s so much easier for an unmotivated individual to rely on a crutch rather than make the minimal personal sacrifices necessary to maintain a health way of life.

Since all the education levied upon this problem  –  be it through schooling of youth or public messages in the adult world - has done nothing to suppress such behavior the most efficient way to address this would be to attack the thing that people value more than their health…their pocketbook. To do so, health insurance must truly become health insurance.

By any definition of the word, health insurance is anything but “insurance”. It is more appropriately designated as “health coverage” since all individuals investing in the package pay the same, regardless of their situation. It is quite unlike the real insurances of the world (automobile, liability, life, etc.) that require higher-risk individuals to pay much higher fees than low-risk individuals.

If the health industry changed its ways and applied a risk assessment to each individuals’ investment in their health care then and only can we decrease bad behavior and promote good behavior. The current way of doing things is illogical since a relatively healthy and safe person is not rewarded for his or her approach to life, paying just as much as people who smoke, have been arrested for questionable actions (DWI, hard drugs, gang activities), get infected via unprotected sex, don’t exercise, eat grease, or are overweight. If a hearty eater or lazy person had to pay 30% more (which would amount to countless thousands of dollars per year) than a health nut, then chances are very good that they would change their ways and pinch pennies by pinching the fat (or ditching their vices). This would set off a welcomed domino-effect that would lessen our nation’s pervasive need for expensive cardiac, diabetic, and cancer services that were in days gone by based in hereditary causes but today instead find their primary causes to be founded in bad choices taken over the course of one’s life.

Money (read “consumerism”) drives the American economy and our culture. It could also drive heath care. Were it taken away from those who want good health care but not good health then we could change the overall make-up of heath care in our nation, righting our sinking ship and preventing further reckless and unwarranted investment in a system that is currently buoyed by stubbornness, ignorance, and a lack of personal responsibility. 

Health insurance must become health “insurance” by action and not just by name.

From the 13 August 2007 Greater Niagara Newspapers

BONDS REPRESENTS AMERICAN VALUES

By Bob Confer

When Barry Bonds passed Hank Aaron in the record books and took ownership of the most coveted record in American professional sports he should have received reams of adulation for that home run, a defining moment not only in his stellar career but also in baseball history as well. Instead, that record-setting homerun – as well as the last 150 homers Bonds blasted – brought with it heaps of criticism and outright hatred as a majority of sports fans firmly believe that Bonds’ achievements are without merit, he being a charlatan and the poster child for baseball’s Steroids Era.

Because of his late-age onslaught on the record books and muscled physique Bonds has been associated with steroid use, and therefore, cheating. Sports enthusiasts are now decrying the muscled appearance of many of today’s sluggers and pitchers saying that the chemical alteration of their biology puts them at an inappropriate advantage over their peers and the accomplishments of the storied ballplayers of long ago. This is only recently the case, for the hypocritical assessment of today’s game comes just a decade after the homer-happy era began in 1996, one that reached its dramatic pinnacle in 1998’s home run race between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, a race that jumpstarted fan interest because it gave them what they had always desired, home runs in bunches, many of which traveled epic distances. Professional baseball gave the fans what they wanted and now, much like the feeling of guilt after a gluttonous meal, the fans and the writers are having second thoughts over the realization of their one-time dreams.

The hypocrisy over steroid use doesn’t end there, either. It’s so much greater in scale because, in the whole scheme of things, Barry Bonds doesn’t just represent baseball’s chemically-altered cheating culture, he represents America’s chemically-altered cheating culture. All who are up in arms over Bonds’ achievements really shouldn’t be casting the first stone for they, too, are definitely not lacking in sin, also using chemicals to get by.

We have a culture that relies far too much on chemicals to “correct” or augment what Mother Nature gave us. Rather than changing their diets to prevent heart, blood pressure, and diabetic ailments people consume vast quantities of prescription drugs to correct the imbalance. Rather than changing their lifestyles or working their way through life’s difficulties many choose to lean on medications and alcohol to improve their outlook on life, quell their depression, or increase their motivation. Rather than relying on biological mechanisms to face the day many more rely on caffeine’s pick-me-up to get going.

These situations represent only a sampling of our cheating ways for chemicals are anywhere and everywhere, utterly pervasive in today’s world. Basically, like steroids have for athletes, chemicals represent the easy way out for Americans. We all to a man are no better than the baseball players we vilify. We like them supposedly need chemicals to enhance our performance and pursue our life’s goals.

So, before you go about criticizing Barry Bonds for cheating look in the mirror. Bonds’ achievements are a slice of Americana…not only for their role in America’s Pastime but also for their exemplification of America’s chemical culture.

THE HIGH COST OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

By Bob Confer, www.BobConfer.net

Since taking control of Congress this year the Democrats and their ilk have been relentlessly pushing their agenda to the masses. This has included an emphasis on the concept of universal health care, the Big Government people believing that the government has an obligation to provide health care to all of its people. This concept sounds wonderful to many Americans, but that’s because they are being fed rainbows and butterflies and are left oblivious to the many weaknesses inherent to government-run health care.

Among these weaknesses – and perhaps its greatest flaw - is the cost of such a system. The best way to ascertain what the cost may be is to compare it to something that mirrors the Democrats’ wish list. We need look no further than the Rolls Royce of health coverage…New York’s Medicaid system. Our Medicaid offers expensive top-of-the-line health care that has many features lacking in the more frugal and controlled HMO programs offered by private sector employers to their employees. Some of the things Medicaid recipients can dabble in are dental, audiology, and psychology services, and reckless prescription drug medicine allowances. NY’s Medicaid system truly is all-inclusive and all-intrusive, just as guaranteed, publicly-funded coverage would be.

The costs associated with Medicaid are almost unfathomable. In Niagara County over 54% of our $73,477,000 tax levy is dedicated to Medicaid. You can add even more to this $40,000,000 cost by looking at the state and federal funding. New York’s Medicaid yield equation is: For every one dollar of the state budget spent on Medicaid the state yields another 47 cents from the counties and $1.47 from the federal government. Using those statistics, Niagara County’s Medicaid population also relies on a total of $266,183,794 in non-county funding, bringing the fully burdened total cost to $306,183,794.

This number is scary big, but understand that the Medicaid bill covers only one-ninth of the County’s population. So, if you extrapolated that to 100% of the population (as national health care coverage would) the cost to support Niagara County’s population of 216,130 would be $3,402,042,155. That’s just under $3.5 billion and a cost of health care of $15,741 per person! Not sick enough yet? A family of four would cost the government (read “taxpayers”) $62,964 per year just in health care alone, never mind what they cost in their share of other government supplied services like education, roads, law enforcement, military, and bureaucracy.

Funding of universal health coverage can come from only one place: taxes. Based upon the load that Medicaid already places on the taxpayers, the taxation and subsequent funding of universal health coverage is completely and undeniably impossible. Just look at the indicators across the Empire State. Many counties’ tax revenue margins have tanked. They can’t invest in other government services or infrastructure because all of their monies are going to Medicaid. They can’t raise property taxes because property owners can take no more, so a handful of counties have found no choice but to follow Niagara County in increasing their sales tax in an effort to equalize the pain amongst all citizens. Even with such creativity the losses continue to mount.

“Free” health care is anything but “free” and that’s the part that the Democrats forget to tell you. Our state’s taxpayers are in ruin because of Medicaid and the so few people it serves. We can only give so much. Yet, the Democrats’ want much, much more with their plans for socialized health care for everyone, one that takes the Medicaid concept to the masses. The socialists want the world yet fail to see that the funding of such coverage has to come from somewhere and, when that somewhere becomes empty, financial destruction and a delinquent end product in national health care will be the end results.