Vows To Oppose Any Health Care Bill Not Publicly Available For 72 Hours Bill That He Has Not Read
WASHINGTON D.C. To further express his adamant opposition to the federal governments attempts to socialize health care and force through legislation without proper review by lawmakers and American citizens U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) signed the Let Freedom Rings Health Care Reform Pledge that is gaining widespread grassroots support across the country.
By signing the Pledge Rep. Gohmert promises he will not vote to enact any health care reform package that he has not read personally in its entirety and that has not been available on the internet for at least 72 hours so that the American people may review it as well.
Tea Party Protests are being held all over the nation today by citizens urging their elected officials to support the Pledge. Rep. Gohmert encouraged the Tea Party Patriots" to continue fighting writing and calling until Washington gets the message that Americans are fed up with the nation-ending liberty-usurping and economically-bankrupting policies" being pushed by the Obama administration and liberal leaders in Congress.
The Pledge is available to view at
http://www.letfreedomringusa.com/pledge-to-read. Rep. Gohmert is also an original cosponsor of Rep. John Flemings (R-LA) H. Res. 615 that expresses the sense that Members who vote in favor of establishing a socialized government takeover of health care should agree to forgo their private insurance coverage and enroll in the public plan.
Gohmert is currently drafting his own health care reform proposal called the Patient-controlled Healthcare Protection plan that protects the patient-doctor relationship and enables Americans to get the treatment they need when they need it with the doctor of their choosing at a price that is affordable and covered.
Congress vote schedule prevented Rep. Gohmert from being able to leave Washington D.C. in time to join the Tea Parties in East Texas but members of his staff attended in his place and passed along the following letter of encouragement to the protest participants:
Dear Patriots
Thank you for your efforts and presence here today. Your willingness to come out and publicly express your opinion shows that you truly appreciate the fatal danger facing this nation. The Obama Administration and liberal leadership in Congress are ramming through nation-ending liberty-usurping and economically-bankrupting policies that violate the fundamental values on which this country was built. We are in the midst of a struggle to protect our precious individual liberties and enumerated rights from being devoured by the federal governments insatiable desire for more control.
Thomas Jefferson captured this unsettling tension in his admonition The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." But as evidenced by your presence here today you understand that this dangerous power grab is neither the progress nor the change that Americans desire.
We note that it was the threats to and thwarting of freedom and innovation that caused Americans over 200 years ago to risk everything to fight a revolution and ultimately become the greatest in the world. Contrast that to the 1917 Revolution that produced Marxist socialism in the Soviet Union that has already disappeared because of its stifling of creativity and liberty. Though my fighting for our principles has kept me in Washington D.C. today I stand with you in spirit against the tyranny of this governments effort to takeover healthcare and subjugate you and your freedom.
In a matter of months thousands of pages of bills have passed Congress that its Democratic leaders knowingly prevented anyone from being able to read. They knew that if Members of Congress knew what was buried in those mountains of legislation they would never have the nerve to vote for the unfathomable debt and skyrocketing taxes that they create.
The bills actually kill American jobs close the doors of our small businesses and even ban us from tapping into our own wealth of energy! Trillions of dollars of debt record growing unemployment and vast public outcry were apparently not enough to deter the radical left from continuing pursuit of their emulation of King George III. Now they are at it again with their plan for government-takeover of healthcare which is nothing less than a declaration of war on American families seniors businesses and taxpayers.
Government-takeover of healthcare will require rationing services denying lifesaving treatments wait-lists for necessary care spanning months and even years a loss in medical specialization and stifling the innovation that makes our healthcare the best in the world. Once the government controls rations and pays for healthcare it will then have the right to monitor everything you purchase eat and physically do to see if it approves or you should be punished for causing additional health risks.
In freedoms name and for the sake of this nations survival we cannot afford to go down this road. It is imperative that we seek true healthcare reform that re-establishes and protects the vital patient-doctor relationship leaving healthcare decisions up to YOU and YOUR physician and lets you keep the money you need to pay for it.
Please be assured that as you fight to make the voice of reason heard I will continue to fight to preserve the liberty and free enterprise in Washington D.C. If Congress insists on forcing this healthcare abomination onto American citizens then those who vote in favor of it should be required to step up and become the first customers of the disastrous government program they have created. That is why I am an original cosponsor of H. R. 615 proposed by my friend and fellow Congressman Dr. John Fleming which requires just that.
As a signer of Let Freedom Rings Responsible Healthcare Reform Pledge that we stand in support of here today I also refuse to vote in favor of a health care reform bill that has not been given an appropriate amount of time for personal review by both Members of Congress and American citizens. I will represent your voices by opposing any legislation that lets the federal government snatch power and control away from patients and their doctors. I will instead promote better solutions such as my own Patient-controlled Healthcare Protection plan that I recently unveiled which empowers patients and gives you access to quality timely and affordable healthcare coverage you need deserve and control.
We must persevere and stand up against this threat that quite literally affects the lives of every American. Keep the faith and keep fighting writing and calling until all of Washington gets the message and a majority there once again represents the principles on which this great nation was founded.
May God bless you and may God continue to bless America.
