"We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident....

That All Men Are Created Equal." --- the first line of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

The Citizens of each state shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. ---  Article IV, Section 2 of the United States Constitution.
Every student in the country learns early on that one of the fundamental principles of this republic is that of equality of its citizens.

Whether you're white, brown, black, yellow...

Whether you're male or female...

Whether you're gay, bi, or straight...

Whether you're Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddist, or agnostic...

Whether you're of Irish, Italian, Arab, German, or any other extraction...

All men are created equal.

Except if you're from Louisiana.

Or Nebraska.

Or if you're a member of a union.

Because, you see, the O-man, Whiney Harry, and "Madame" Pelosi have now created a few very special groups that are very different from the rest of us.

Now, I recognize that politicians have long considered themselves different from us common folk... more entitled, less constricted, more deserving.

But until recently, those of us who are merely citizens, and not of the ruling class, have pretty much been treated equally under the law.

Until the great healthcare buyoff.

Until federalized bribery became the norm.

In order to get enough votes to pass a widely unpopular heathcare package, the O-man and his lieutenants have been buying votes with special favors and treatment.

The $300 million bribe to Mary Landrieu, now well-known as the latest "Louisiana Purchase", was among the first.

More recently, Ben Nelson received a $100 million bribe in the form of the "Cornhusker Kickback".

And now, the O-man has paid the biggest bribe of all: the more than $600 million payoff to the unions, exempting them from the special excise tax on "Cadillac health insurance" coverages.

That means that each and every union member in the US, the very people who hold most of the "Cadillac Plans", are now exempt from paying any tax on those plans.

But the balance of people with those plans, mostly small business owners and top executives of non-union businesses, they will pay a 40% penalty tax for having the same plans.

Now, it could be presumed that since most unions as a group supported the election of the O-man, and that most small business owners did not, Obama is merely instituting some sort of politically motivated plan to provide better, cheaper healthcare for those who voted for him than for those who did not.

A sort of political euthanasia, if you will.

And, in fact, it might actually work out that way, even though it probably wasn't his primary intent.

The fact is that the healthcare plan is a legislative disaster.

Because it was widely unpopular to start with, it was poorly written at onset in both houses.

It's become ever more unwieldly as amendments, changes, exemptions, exceptions, special provisions, and outright buyoffs have been included.

That went on in both the House and the Senate, each with their own separate bills and wording.

Now, they're trying to put them together in a single, cohesive, piece of combined legislation.

That process isn't easy even on a popular, well written bill.

The House and the Senate have their own agendae, and their own institutional egos, and those conflict on a regular basis.

But never before has the legislative process gone as far as creating separate beneficial classes of Americans, purely to buy votes from elected legislators.

A situation where two people, with the same conditions and health coverages, would be specifically treated differently based solely on the basis of union membership.

Apperently elevating union membership to a discrimination criteria not enjoyed by membership in any other group.

Imagine the outcry, the uproar, if instead of exempting union members from this punative tax, the exemption went to country club members.

Or church members.

The fascinating thing about all of this is that the structure of our republic, its Constitution and Bill of Rights as well as its elected representative form of government, is specifically designed to prevent this type of malfeasance by a single majority operating against the will of the electorate.

And, the midterm elections will most certainly reflect the will of the majority by moving the balance of power away from the Democrats slim 60 vote majority.

Depending on the results of the special election being held in Massachusetts next Tuesday, it may happen even sooner.

Barney Frank has been quoted today as saying that if the Senate seat previously held by Ted Kennedy is won by a Republican, the healthcare bill is dead.

It's fittingly ironic that a Senate seat once held by the strongest advocate of universal, single payer healthcare, may in fact be the one that stops this atrocity.

One can only hope.

"Opinion is like a pendulum and obeys the same law. If it goes past the centre of gravity on one side, it must go a like distance on the other; and it is only after a certain time that it finds the true point at which it can remain at rest. " --- Arthur Schopenhauer

"Politics swings like a pendulum" --- Ed Gillespie