Category Archives: Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman

The “Big Brother” Census Survey..Is Really Manditory?

Action Item, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, Educational Material, In The News, US Congress Legislation May 28, 2009

This topic has been on my mind since we received 2 of these ominous 14 page surveys.

A WND article yesterday lays out a sampling of it’s ludicrous questions and the extent of the intrusion into our personal lives that the federal government is trying to pull off:

The federal government is forcing 3 million Americans to disclose sensitive, personal information about finances, health and lifestyle in a 14-page survey – including questions about availability of household flush toilets and difficulty with undressing and bathing.

The 2009 American Community Survey, an annual supplement to the decennial Census, asks about residents’ personal relationships and whether a home has hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, bathing facilities, appliances and phone services. It also asks how many rooms are in a home and what vehicles are used at each household.

The article also brings to light a very important mis-representation as to the legal aspect it:

While many recipients may consider the questionnaire to be tedious and meddling, the Census Bureau warns that citizens are required by law to complete it and may be fined as much as $5,000 for willfully refusing. While an individual may feel uneasy about answering each question truthfully, the fine for filing false information can be as much as $500.

(snip)

While the U.S. Constitution allows Americans to be counted for purposes of taxation and political representation, Jim Harper, a privacy expert at the Cato Institute, told the New York Post the survey is “a classic example of mission creep over the decades – this constitutional need to literally count how many noses are in the United States has turned into a vast data-collection operation.”

Rep. Ron Paul blasted the government for spending “hundreds of millions of dollars” on the survey and called the questionnaire “insulting” in his Texas Straight Talk column.

“The questions are both ludicrous and insulting,” he wrote. “The survey asks, for instance, how many bathrooms you have in your house, how many miles you drive to work, how many days you were sick last year, and whether you have trouble getting up stairs. It goes on and on, mixing inane questions with highly detailed inquiries about your financial affairs. One can only imagine the countless malevolent ways our federal bureaucrats could use this information. At the very least the survey will be used to dole out pork, which is reason enough to oppose it.”

read the article in it’s entirety here

OK, so tell me, how can they impose fines on only a certain portion of the population that is chosen at random? How did we get to be chosen as 1 of only 3 million of the over 300 million residents of this country?

I am not a legal scholar nor even spent a day in college, but my knowledge of the Constitution and my Common Sense smelled a rat and thus the threat of being fined or arrested for not filling this form out did not send me into a tizzy to get right on it and send the federal government mine and my families personal information. Quite the contrary.

What I did was sit to start filling it out with much sarcasm:

ancestry/origin: Natural born US citizen

when did you move into your home: after the furniture was in place and the utilities turned on

how many separate rooms in the domicile: enough to be comfortable

appliances: yes we have the ones that we need at this time, no they do not all work all the time

autos: depends on if you are asking about ones we own or ones the neighbors own

home heating fuel: we’re working to recycle the livestock gas to save the neighboring farmers from being unduly taxed, we’ll let you know how that all works out

food stamps: no thank you, we either cut back or get an extra job

taxes: yes, they come due annually

and my fav was…any physical, mental or emotional condition: only when government intrudes where it has no business being, lying, threatening us that we will be fined or prosecuted for not answering this illegal survey

 While I was filling out the form, the phone happened to ring and I am sure they wished they had skipped our number as it was a representative/acorn red-shirt calling to again assist me in filling out the form. I say again, as they had already called to inform me that it would be coming and I had told them we had already received a survey, I just hadn’t sat down to fill it out.

But this time when the call came, having opened the survey and seeing it for what it was, and being dressed in full sarcasm, I decided to bait the red-shirt caller and conceded to let them ask me a few questions. What I did not do was give them the answer they wanted. Instead I asked them what these questions had to do with a constitutional head count of the population for election purposes and what article or clause in the constitution required me to answer them?

After repeated rounds, them asking and me asking back, they never did answer my question, instead the caller abruptly hung up with no good-bye or even a thank you for taking their call. HOW RUDE!! But on the upside, it has been 3 weeks since that call and they have not made any attempts to re-contact us and we haven’t been arrested or served with a federal citation for refusing to divulge personal information that is none of their business.

So, now you know my story of the census survey. If you have gotten one of these surveys and have not fallen into the illegal trap of our corrupt government and already sent it in…DO NOT…It is NOT illegal to refuse to fill it out!!!

English Is The Language Of These United States

Contact Your State Senators & Representatives, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, South Dakota State Legislation, US Congress Legislation, Youth Educational Material May 24, 2009

AMEN!!!

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Cheney on Obama: ‘Recklessness Cloaked in Righteousness’

Action Item, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, In The News, US Congress Legislation, Youth Educational Material May 24, 2009

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Read the Bill? Perish the Thought!”

Action Item, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, Economy, In The News, US Congress Legislation, Youth Educational Material May 21, 2009

Brian Beutler of TPM may be enamoured by the tactics Waxman took to make sure his “C-r-ap N’ Ty-rade” bill would be heading our way in a few short days:

Faced with the possibility that the GOP minority might require the committee’s clerks to read aloud the 900-page Waxman-Markey climate change bill, or many of its 400-plus proposed amendments, the committee’s chairman, Henry Waxman (D-CA), hired a speed reader. An quick tongued, acting-clerk, if you will.

The quick tongued clerk soon had the RINO’s running back to their prehistoric caves whence they came, once again conceding to political theatrical blackmail:

Mary Katharine Ham of TWS gives a true constitutional perspective as to the trouble the Republican party is in for the next couple of years while the halls of Congress are thick with these spineless creatures who claim to represent us: 

Democrats Cleverly Thwart ‘Nefarious’ Republican Scheme to Have Congress Read Cap-and-Trade Bill With Speed Reading Clerk

Heaven forfend! Who would want to make the committee, which is supposed to understand the bill, actually listen to the contents of all 900 pages of it?

Even if the reading of the bill is a partisan “stall tactic” on the part of the Republicans, intellectually honest folks who want government to function responsibly would have to admit it’s a pretty benign one—beneficial, even. The brouhaha over reading the bill is an implicit, disturbing admission that—yes!— your Congress will enact a 900-page bill heavily regulating the fundamental engine of the American economy and your life in unprecedented ways without ever having read it. Feel good about that?

Beyond TPM’s take, which is predictable from a left-leaning site, the laughter inside the hearing room from lawmakers themselves is illustrative of the darkly comic state of legislative affairs on the Hill. Just remember: This is only the attempted reading of one tiny amendment by a speed-reading clerk, no less, and the reaction in the chamber is, “Ho, ho, ho, imagine if we were actually serious about this! It’s ludicrous! The language is mystifying, the prose impenetrable. It’d be absolutely excruciating to read all of those words together, in a row. Someone once told me that’s what my monocle was for, but I absolutely refuse to believe it. Now, Alfred, collect my topcoat and cigars, and let’s head to the club for a brandy before someone else tries to burden us with the stewardship of the taxpayers’ money. Read the bill. Perish the thought!”

So, while this was going on today, I was calling DC and making my opinion be heard. Have you made that call lately?

1-202-225-2801 ~ Herseth-Sandlin’s DC office

I also received 3 letters today, 2 from Johnson and 1 from Thune. I’ll be working on an article on their contents over the weekend. I have to say that Johnson, or should I say his staff, is so well versed in using talking points vs actually answering the question that . . .

I am thinking of coming up with some kind of “SHAM-A-WARD” for their office. They are sooo deserving of it.

Mr “Unconstitutional in Chief” to Use Blackmail to Get His Way on Closing Gitmo

Action Item, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, US Congress Legislation May 21, 2009

Here comes the threat to Congress…”Give me the money to close Gitmo or ELSE”!

This in from the GATEWAY PUNDIT:

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Obama Rallies Far Left Human Rights Groups Before Security Speech

In a sane world the president might meet with military or intelligence officials before a major speech on national security.

But,Dear Leader Obama chose instead to meet with Far Left sham human rights groups (You know, the ones who somehow manage to blame America for every tragedy in the world while ignoring real human rights abuses) before his major post-Cheney national security speech today in Washington DC.

Greg Sargent reported that all three cable news outlets will carry Cheney’s speech tomorrow morning live directly after Dear Leader makes his speech.

The Huffington Post reported:

Under heavy criticism for a series of decisions on national security that resembled, for some, those of the Bush years, President Barack Obama hosted a lengthy meeting on Wednesday with the leaders of several key human rights and civil liberties groups.

Addressed were the topics that promise to be front and center during the President’s major foreign policy speech scheduled for Thursday.

According to an attendee, Obama expressed frustration with Congress’ decision to remove funding for the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The president declared that his hands were tied in some ways regarding the use of reformed military tribunals, though he pledged to try as many detainees as possible in Article III federal courts.

Speaking to human rights officials on Wednesday, the president also left the door open for the future release of detainee abuse photos, saying that his administration’s current opposition to the release was dictated by immediate concern over the complications it could cause to America’s mission in Afghanistan.

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Massimino detailed what she described as a “lively and detailed and serious” discussion on some of the days most vexing national security issues. Over the course of roughly an hour and fifteen minutes, Obama, along with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Attorney General Eric Holder, advisers Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod, foreign policy hand Dennis McDonough, and counter-terrorism chief John Brennan, held court with a group of academics, as well as officials with the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and the Center for Constitutional Rights.

 
I’m thinking that our brave men and women inthe military will have something to say about this one and it won’t be
“Hiel Obama”.
ObamaTheSnob

“Spring Cleaning”

Action Item, Contact Your State Senators & Representatives, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, Economy, In The News, South Dakota State Legislation, South Dakota State Townhall Meetings, US Congress Legislation, Youth Educational Material May 20, 2009

Taking a few days to do some spring cleaning and planting, so in the meantime…

The Conservative forces are uniting and it’s time to get to work, let not one weed be left to grow, spread and destroy the fruitful garden that is the United States of America!

Introducing: “Government Trucking Inc”

Action Item, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, Economy, In The News, US Congress Legislation May 18, 2009

It seems we will now be the proud owners of a major trucking operation that was once 2 of the largest operations in the US that were on the brink of insolvency due to their pension plans and practices of not bidding freight rates that would sustain the operations. This I know, because we have to compete with them and are constantly having to either haul cheap to get moving or just plain let the wheels stay idle until competitive, fair marketed and rated freight is available. Rates are so bad right now thanks to these “RATE RAPERS”, and we knew it was only a matter of time before they went begging, but we didn’t think it would be our hard working dollars that would be bailing them out.

The ultimate question in my mind though is “why in the world would a transportation company need a billion dollars”?

…get this…”to keep their union pension plans afloat”!!!

 This in this weekend from Land-Line magazine:

Less-than-truckload giant YRC Worldwide plans to seek a $1 billion bailout from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

The Wall Street Journal reported the company, based in Overland Park, KS, says it needs to shore up its pension plan, which has a $2 billion obligation over the next four years. Chief Executive Bill Zollars says YRC inherited pension obligations for many employees who never worked for the company as it is presently configured.

YRC has already negotiated a 10 percent pay cut for its union employees in exchange for partial ownership of the company.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Zollars said the company had other cost-cutting measures planned if necessary, including closing 20 more terminals across the country in cities where the company has more than one.

But why this transportation company?

Maybe because as the WSJ reported: they have that special connection with “The One”?

Or maybe connections with one of the already bailed-out firms?

Unionized Yellow Transportaion and Roadway Transportaion are the biggest “thorn in the side” to hard working independent truckers. Their practices of manipulating the freight market by keeping rates too low for the little guy to be able to compete with, is the ultimate cause of their downfall. Rates to low to sustain their commitments and contracts with the unions.

Meet YRC Worldwide, Yellow-Roadway Worldwide, Inc, soon to be Government Trucking Inc.

Yep, just another Fortune 500 company and one of the largest transportation service providers in the world, is the holding company for a portfolio of successful brands including YRC, YRC Reimer, YRCLogistics, New Penn, Holland, Reddaway and YRC Glen Moore. Building on the strength of its heritage brands, Yellow Transportation and Roadway, the enterprise provides global transportation services, transportation management solutions and logistics management. The portfolio of brands represents a comprehensive array of services for the shipment of industrial, commercial and retail goods domestically and internationally.

Now, call me ignorant, but how successful can you be if your going to the government for a $1 Billion dollar bail-out? Being around and in the trucking industry all my life, I know the only time we have gone to the bank was when we needed new equipment or when were needed a start-up loan. NEVER did we go to the bank to keep our employee obligations afloat.

After finding the previous connections, I decided to go play a game of “connect the dollars” via MUCKETY and I have to say, it was hard to decide which connections to use, the list is long, but here are the prominent ones:

 william d zollars bail-out connections to federal transportatipon boardwilliam d zollars bail-out connections3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Connection:

 

william d zollars bail-out connections to federal transportatipon board main

 

The main character is Carl W. Vogt, who is not only the Chairman of the Federal Transportation Board, he is also a Director of YRC Worldwide Inc.

YRC is also in deep with House minority leader, John Boehner, (R) Ohio as well as the top Republican PAC group. YRC is also connected to none other than the DNC via Howard Dean who is also a Director of YRC and it goes on and on.

So, why will I expect YRC to get their bail-out?

Let’s just say they are coming into the “GREEN” for the “NON” global warming agenda to ruin our economy:

YRC destination green

“The transportation providers of YRC Worldwide Inc. participate in programs and processes for protecting and preserving the environment. These strategies have the twin goals of reducing our carbon footprint while optimizing our corporate resources. Our industry-leading companies effectively and aggressively promote greenhouse gas reduction strategies, waste reduction, and conservation across their daily operations.”

There you have it folks.

It doesn’t matter your industry or occupation, the unions and the government have their greedy hands in it all to wipe out the little guys for their socialist, fascist, marxist global agenda.

We will all soon be part of “Government Worldwide Inc”.

I’ll have more on these self-insured mega trucking operations later in the week after I get through all the paperwork and phone calls to get the intial BS out of the way from another “mega mishhap” due to one of their drivers inability to handle his equipment. The 2nd in 2 years time:

truck frnder may 17 2009100_0615100_0614

 

This was yesterday……………………………………………………………………………………………………….This was 2 years ago

Both happened at truck stops, this weeks happened while innocently parked with plenty of room all around for another truck to maneuver, the other that happened a couple years ago was while the truck was parked at the fuel islands. In that case, the “BIG” company drivers tried to get out of it by pretending to…get this..”speak no English”. They were allowed to get back in their company truck, that had expired plates, and continue on, onto the truck scale, where the driver continued to wreak havoc doing more damage to his company rig as well as the guard posts at the scale. It took nearly 8 months to get compensated from that self-insured national corporate trucking operation. You see, they thought that they should only have to reimburse us according to their company rates, not what we actually were contracted to work for, and they also thought that they shouldn’t have had to pay for the rental truck we had to lease to deliver and finish the run.

So, my 1st action tomorrow: call Thune’s office and fill them in on this little web of deceit.

Then onto the task of prying out of the hands of another self-insured  mega trucking corporation, what is due to us to fix our equipment and make sure we are compensated for the revenue we will loose while it is in the body shop.

There you go Patriots, you now have a hint of what “Government Trucking Inc” will be like. For us, it will just be another day and another dollar in their favor.

 God Bless, drive safe and remember to thank a trucker should you happen along their path.

UPDATE: thought I would share our co-driver with you. She has 14 years of experience and a perfect driving record…

100_0608

US Supreme Court Tells White House and Congress: “No More Infringing on the States 10th Amendment Rights”

Action Item, Contact Your State Senators & Representatives, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, In The News, South Dakota State Legislation, US Congress Legislation, Youth Educational Material May 17, 2009

A Tale of Two Courageous County Sheriffs

By Ron Ewart

All around us, the power of the federal government is manifested by hundreds of presidential executive orders, thousands of un-read legislation emanating from the U. S. Congress and millions of bureaucratic rules, regulations, restrictions and ordinances, issuing forth from the government’s massive bureaucracy ….. laws, rules, regulations, restrictions and ordinances that in most cases, bear no resemblance to constitutional law, much less constitutional authority. These people don’t seem to care about constitutional law or constitutional authority, they just do it, because they can and it takes an alert citizenry to challenge them. How do you fight such a monster?

 

 

The U. S. Constitution is still in tack and upon occasion the U. S. Supreme Court will rule along the lines of the actual intent of the Framers of that Constitution. But it took two brave sheriffs of the great state of Arizona and the great state of Montana, both Western States who still believe strongly in states rights, to “esplain” it to the federal government, whom apparently does not think that they are governed by that famous document of liberty, or falsely believes that their “rule” supersedes it. It doesn’t…

It is not necessary to resort to civil war or revolution, to upset the “apple cart” of an arrogant, out-of-control federal government that has lost all allegiance to the Supreme Law of the Land. We only need use the most important tool of all, that the Founders gave us, our Constitution. With it, we can challenge the “bully” and win.

Finally, throughout our history, from even way before the ratification of our Constitution, the County Sheriff was the ultimate law for his jurisdiction. He is the only law enforcement officer in America elected by the people and answerable only to the people. He swears on solemn oath to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States and most sheriffs take that oath very seriously. The County Sheriff, operating under the authority of the 10th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, could very well be the last line of defense of the God-given, unalienable, individual rights of the people and the protector of the Constitution, as well as American sovereignty.

In Mack/Printz v USA, the U S Supreme Court declared that the states or their political subdivisions, “are not subject to federal direction.”

Sheriff’s Mack and Printz paid a very heavy price for their courage but it was that courage and their sacrifice that scored a victory for all citizens of the United States, proving that we are still a Constitutional Republic under the rule of law and we have not morphed into an Absolute Democratic Monarchy, under the rule of the mob ….. yet!

read full article here

Developing: Amendment to the Constitution Protecting Their Nationalized Healthcare Agenda

Action Item, Contact Your State Senators & Representatives, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, US Congress Legislation, Youth Educational Material May 13, 2009

outrageRED FLAG ALERT: IMMEDIATE ACTION IS NEEDED: CONTACT ALL YOUR REPS ON THE STATE AND NATIONAL LEVEL

 

 111TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. J. RES. 4

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States regarding

health care.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 6, 2009

Ms. MCCOLLUM introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred

to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United

States regarding health care.

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This joint resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Health

5 Protection Amendment of 2009’’.

6 SEC. 2. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT.

7 The following article is proposed as an amendment

8 to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be

9 valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitu10

tion when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of

VerDate Nov 24 2008 00:08 Jan 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:BILLSHJ4.IH HJ4 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with BILLS

2

•HJ 4 IH

1 the several States within seven years after the date of its

2 submission for ratification:

3 ‘‘ARTICLE —

4 ‘‘SECTION 1. Health care, including care to prevent

5 and treat illness, is the right of all citizens of the United

6 States and necessary to ensure the strength of the Nation.

7 ‘‘SECTION 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.’’.

Æ

 THERE IS ALSO A LOT MORE GOING ON WITH HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION AND THERE ARE BILLS UP THE WAZOO THAT NEED TO BE PICKED THROUGH THAT ARE NOT BEING REPORTED INT HE MSM. I URGE EVERYONE TO TAKE THE TIME TO READ AND GET A 1ST HAND GRASP AS THE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS AS IT IS ONE OF THE “KEY” ITEMS THEY NEED TO GET IN PLACE FOR COMPLETE TAKEOVER AND ABOLISHMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION AS IT WAS ADOPTED BY THE FOUNDING FATHERS AND RATIFIED, AS WELL AS ADOPTED, BY ALL THE STATES.

 Update #1: So now the “stars” are in the drivers seat for Constitutional legislation?

Quoting the T.I.C.(teleprompter in chief): “The stars are aligned for health care reform”.

So, even though he tried to pass silliness like this onto one of the most diplomatic, upstanding and classy 1st ladies, the TIC is now falling back onto former 1st lady, his SOS for advice on how to tackle big legislative issues:

For some reason, this just isn’t making me feel very confident, care to chime in?

In His Own Words

Action Item, Contact Your US Senators & Congresswoman, In The News, US Congress Legislation May 12, 2009

Obama goes on the record, off the cuff, about health care.

By Tevi Troy

Does anybody still read The New York Times Magazine? If not, everyone missed a recent interview with President Obama, in which he expounds, without a TelePrompTer, on his views on health care. In general, the interview reveals a good understanding of some of the challenges facing our system, such as high costs, especially during the end-of-life period. But it also hints at some unrealistic solutions, such as “comparative-effectiveness research” to drive down costs, an independent board to make health-care decisions, and some kind of non-democratic decision-making process that doesn’t go through what he calls the “normal channels.”

The president gets the interview off to a good start, encouraging consumer participation in the decision-making process. Consumer participation is part of what’s known as “value-driven health care,” an effort to use technology and transparency to let consumers make decisions based on both cost and quality of care. Obama even mentions an effort to correct “the asymmetry of information between patient and provider.” This would let covered consumers make smart decisions that contemplate cost.

The problem is that while the Bush administration had a clear and serious belief in all four elements of value-driven health care — information about cost, information about quality, technologies to make that information transparent, and incentives to encourage consumers to use said information — it’s not at all clear that Obama does. There’s some doubt whether Obama even means the same thing that Bush did when he mentions consumer involvement.

Obama also mentions Medicare and Medicaid and our “obligation to get those costs under control.” He is right about the problem of cost, but it was not clear what he could do to achieve this. While the White House is indeed looking for cost-cutting opportunities within Medicare, such ideas usually end up on Congress’s cutting-room floor.

One broader cost-cutting measure he mentions is comparative-effectiveness research, a $1.1 billion effort via the stimulus package to compare different therapies and try to get to official judgments about which ones work better. His vision for comparative effectiveness is one of objective studies through which you will learn that “the blue pill, which costs half as much as the red pill, is just as effective, and you might want to go ahead and get the blue one.” Once consumers have access to these studies, he believes, “if a provider is pushing the red one on you, then you should at least ask some important questions.”

The problem with his vision of comparative effectiveness is two-fold. First, per the stimulus legislation, it is supposed to be a measure of effectiveness, not a cost-comparison tool. Second, and more important, this binary view of effectiveness (one therapy is more effective than the other) is not compatible with the emerging notion of personalized medicine, which takes individuals’ genomic structures into account. Personalized medicine may teach us that while therapy A works better in the aggregate, therapy B might be better for some individuals based on their unique DNA. We have made great strides in bringing about personalized medicine in recent years, particularly through the unlocking of the human genome, but the technological challenges may pale before the policy obstacles that cost-cutters could place in personalized medicine’s path.

A cost-cutting measure that he does not mention in the interview, but that began getting media attention yesterday, is the new health-industry-developed plan to reduce spending growth. It is an open question how “voluntary” these reforms from terrified industry reps really are, and how enforceable they will be in the future.

Another subject the president discusses with the Times is the problem of end-of-life care. He tells the story of his grandmother, who got an expensive hip replacement, then died two weeks later. President Obama says he “would have paid for that hip replacement just because she’s my grandmother.” At the same time, however, he notes that “whether, sort of in the aggregate, society making those decisions to give my grandmother, or everybody else’s aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when they’re terminally ill is a sustainable model, is a very difficult question.” Furthermore, he recognizes that Americans don’t want to hear that we will not provide expensive late-stage care, a la England. As the president puts it, “If somebody told me that my grandmother couldn’t have a hip replacement, and she had to lie there in misery in the waning days of her life — that would be pretty upsetting.”

His answer to this question, however, is also somewhat upsetting — and not just because he calls denying care to the terminally ill “very difficult” and “upsetting,” but never “something we won’t do.” He says that “there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place.” And not only will this be difficult, he claims, but he has trouble imagining “the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that’s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance.” It is unclear what this group will look like, but the notion of some empyrean body, developed outside the normal political channels, making health-care decisions for the country, is a notion that makes me very, very nervous.

— Tevi Troy, deputy secretary of health and human services from 2007 to 2009, is a visiting senior fellow at the Hudson Institute.