Watch Dog By Default

Sherlock Holmes solved the mystery because, when the crime was committed, the dogs who were there didn't bark. Watchdogs never bark at their masters.

I like noisy dogs who bark at anything passing by my house. Their pitch and duration will vary as their state of distress varies. But should my dogs become unusually quiet when some creep steals up and takes my life, the first persons I want you all to suspect are any people who have worked with my dogs.

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[Note, this was initially written July 21, 2009, but published Aug 14.]

I received an email last week from Republican Congressman John Boehner, asking me for money to help him fight the health care bill up before Congress. I think stopping this government health care bill is very important. However, in the text of the email were listed four reasons that Boehner gave for stopping it.

Whenever you hear Democrats talk about their plan, keep these four facts in mind:

• [Health care will be readily available to those whom government favors. ]
• Health care costs will skyrocket. Make no mistake, a complex government-run system will send costs soaring even higher and Washington will have to keep raising taxes and rationing care to keep up.
• Millions of jobs will be lost. Democrats want to impose a massive small business tax and crippling penalties that will force small businesses to shed jobs or close their doors.
• It will be expensive. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) pegs the cost at more than $1 trillion. Remember, we're already running a trillion-dollar deficit this year alone.
• Millions of Americans will be kicked out of their current coverage. The CBO also estimates that roughly 23 million Americans would lose their private coverage. Not only that, USA Today says that after burying our country even deeper in debt, "15 million to 20 million would remain uninsured" under the Democratic plan. That's more proof that a government takeover of health care is not the answer.

Democrats are acting hastily on this monstrosity so the American people won't have time to examine it

"Hey Pascal," you note, "those are five items, not four."

You are correct dear reader.

But let me ask you something. Which of the things in that list of five items do you think might be the one that is most threatening to you? Of most interest to you?

I hope you recognize that the first item presents the gravest danger. Yet somehow the Republicans in Congress -- the organized opponents to the health care plan -- have actually left that critical item off that list.

That's right, I added it; at the top where it belongs. Yes, that item that I added to Boehner's list is part of the health care bill. So whose watchdogs are Boehner and the Republicans?

Nevermind that for now. Because if you're a Republican voter, it's easy to see that you might have some problems due to the first item on the list.

From the get-go, you don't like much of bureaucratic government. So it's a pretty bad bet to figure the health care bureaucrat who decides who is eligible for treatments will like you.

So why aren't your dogs barking at that one? Maybe these Republican dogs are not yours?

If you're a Democratic voter, that's almost as easy too. Why aren't your dogs barking about this fact missing from the list? Is it possible they fear it may dawn upon you that maybe, next year or the year after, that they could feel they no longer need you? That they no longer like you?

If you're an Independent, that's even easier. Isn't this lack of barking about important issues -- such as your life -- one of the reasons you can't stand being linked to either party?


Bottom line, Doctor Watson: Should ever your dogs not bark when you discover someone has been sneaking up and threatening to take your life, I hope it's not too late to get new dogs.

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The following conversation triggered this long overdue post:

Q: "What solutions do you have for our health care problems?"

PF: "I do not have a solution to the various problems that are highlighted in the current political drive, but I do see dangers. Raising the alarm to dangers seemed to have fallen to voices such as myself."

Q: "If all you have to offer are complaints rather than solutions, are you not part of the problem?"

PF: "Whoa. Those who want to exploit the situation (a situation they and their backers helped create) don't want criticism. That charge, repetitively aimed at watchdogs such as myself, is designed to get you not to think about the substance of the alarms we raise by declaring that pointing out crookedness adds to the problem."

Q: "Why don't you write your Congressman?"

PF: "My Congressman is a handsome Hispanic who long ago got the backing of the radical Left in Los Angeles. His seat is secure so long as he remains reliably theirs."

Q: "What can you do?"

PF: "Continue doing what I am doing. Just as there was no real opposition to the creation of the crisis -- either in alleviating the real aspects that you see, nor exposing the hyperbole that makes passage seem mandatory -- there is no real opposition to those seeking power over all our lives under ØbamaCare.

I see that Congressmen who mounted the opposition to ØbamaCare don't point out the worst items in it, it worries me as it should you. Because you may still have a Congressman who does listen to you and your neighbors, I figure that you will have a better chance at making a difference. But that can happen only if I tell you what I've spotted so that you may evaluate the evidence."

I am watchdog by default because, as that email from the Republican leadership demonstrates, what many believe are their watchdogs are way too silent. I don't think it is wise to wait for my suspicions to be confirmed. "Our watchdogs" may very well be lapdogs of some very bad men.