Quote of the Day: "It is the competition of profit-seeking entrepreneurs that does not tolerate the preservation of false prices . . ." -- Ludwig von Mises, "Human Action" 3rd edition, pages 337-338

Subject: Have you noticed that there's a rebellion underway?

The latest Rassmusen poll released on August 11th is bad news for the Big Government health care bill . . .

* A majority oppose the bill -- 53% to 42%
* That’s down 5 points from two weeks ago and 8 points from six weeks ago

The intensity numbers are even better -- 44% strongly oppose the proposal while only 26% strongly favor it.

This intensity is being demonstrated in the rebellion members of Congress are facing at town hall meetings. While we dislike the rude tactics some citizens are using, we completely understand and agree with the anger.

One thing driving this is the spreading realization that the so-called "public option" is really a Trojan Horse that will lead to a "single payer" system . . .

* The "public option" is tax-subsidized government insurance that would charge lower premiums than private companies could afford to match -- that's the whole point of the tax subsidy
* This would eventually drive private health insurance out of business, leaving us with a "single payer" government system
* The so-called "single payer" would really be ALL taxpayers, because taxes would fund all health care
* In other words, public-option equals single-payer equals socialism

But here again, the news is encouraging . . .

Rassmusen reports that a whopping 57% oppose a single-payer system, while only 32% favor it.

And here's the best news of all . . .

51% percent fear government health care more than they do the insurance companies.

We've long felt that public hatred of insurance companies is the main source of support for increased government involvement in health care. But now people seem to be realizing that the real reason to hate the insurance companies is because of . . .

The United States of Corporate Welfare

Big health care interests have used the coercive power of government to erect thickets of Corporate Welfare Regulation, to reward themselves, punish their competitors, and harm consumers.

Cato Institute scholar Michael Tanner provides startling examples of how these regulations have strangled competition between health insurance companies, allowing 30% of the market to be controlled by just 1 company in 299 out of 313 of the largest metro areas.

So the problem isn't that insurance companies charge too much and pay out too little under free market conditions. Indeed, the profit margins of the health insurance industry rank only 86th among American industries!

Instead, the problem is that government regulations retard competition and consumer choice, leading to inefficient service and false prices.

We don't need a 2,000-page bill that re-engineers our entire health care system. Instead, the first thing we need is a 1-page bill that restores competition between insurance companies by allowing you to sidestep the corporate welfare regulations erected by state-governments.

This is something the federal government can do using its Constitutional authority under the Commerce Clause.

A rebellion is underway, and we DC Downsizers need to give that rebellion a direction, not only by opposing the Trojan Horse health care bill, but also by promoting positive reforms that will restore consumer choice.

Please use DownsizeDC.org's Educate the Powerful System (sm) to send your Congressional employees a letter on our campaign to "Make Health Insurance More Affordable."

Tell Congress to give you a 1-page bill that allows you to buy health insurance regulated by the state of your choice.

If you want, you can use your personal comments to paste-in some of the poll results listed in this Dispatch.

To stay on pace to exceed the 50,802 messages Downsizers sent to Congress last month we must send 2,636 messages today.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how fast YOUR ARMY is growing, please check out the Keeping Score Report below my signature.

Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

KEEPING SCORE REPORT

We've grown by 34 net new members since Wednesday. This brings us to 3,484 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 27,833 -- 83% of the way between 27,000 and 28,000!

YOU can make the army grow even faster by following our quick and easy instructions for personalized recruiting.

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