Guest Post: Berg Didn’t Protect North Dakota From Obamacare
The most important issue in the 2012 election at all levels is overturning ObamaCare.
This week, the North Dakota legislature is addressing the issue of implementing the healthcare exchanges that are mandated to the states by the federal government.
There are some who have declared that North Dakota must implement the ObamaCare healthcare exchanges on the grounds that it is a states’ rights issue and North Dakota must run the exchange to prevent federal control. This is a false premise. The entire healthcare exchange will be controlled ultimately by the federal government via an administrative rule-making authority. That’s just what the government always ends up doing.
Passing state legislation is tantamount to accepting the federal government’s authority to force states to do things. From this aspect, it is the exact opposite of states’ rights.
When Congressman Rick Berg was North Dakota House Majority Leader in Bismarck, he voted against a resolution that would have protected North Dakota citizens from the yet-approved federal healthcare legislation (Obamacare). While leader in the North Dakota House, Rick Berg did not have the vision needed to see what was coming down the line from Washington, D.C. The issue of implementing ObamaCare in North Dakota would not have been a problem if the legislature in 2009 would have asked voters to tie their hands in the first place.
North Dakotans need their elected leaders to be consistent and steadfast in their duties and responsibilities. We need to send a new face to Washington next year who will restore fiscal integrity in Washington.
North Dakota’s Republican lawmakers need to understand that going down this road of implementing ObamaCare makes repealing the federal law that much more difficult. Not to mention the fact that the federal government can’t afford this and that North Dakota is already one of the 26 plaintiffs suing the federal government to stop Obamacare in the first place.
If Republicans vote to enact the provisions, our party will be on the hook for ensuring everything within the healthcare exchange in North Dakota goes right. Do we really want to be responsible for creating and operating an inherently unconstitutional agency?
Some Republicans in the North Dakota legislature need to realize they are being played by the liberals in Washington. I believe that they have good intentions and believe they are helping North Dakota but I am afraid they are only making it more difficult to stop the expansion of federal power.
We need real leadership in the U.S. Senate & House to repeal and replace ObamaCare with market-based solutions that work.
Duane Sand is a former Naval officer, political activist and candidate for the NDGOP nomination for US Senate in 2012.
Tags: duane sand, North Dakota News, obamacare, Rick Berg
