McCaul understands key issues very well
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul stopped by the Waller County News Citizen office last week as part of the congressman’s summer break media tour.
He and his aide, Mike Rosen, did not stay very long, but we had an interesting conversation. It seems we’re in agreement on each of his hot topic issues.
He began by railing against the backlog at the Houston office of the Veteran’s Administration. That is a very hot topic at our house. The waiting list for service at the VA is two years. That proved costly to my wife’s grandfather.
Grandy, as we call him, is a World War II veteran who injured his knee during the war. It was not too serious, but his knee deteriorated over time as a result of the injury and now needs to be replaced. He recently sought help through the VA and got caught in the backlog. He was also hampered by having his medical records destroyed in a fire – the same fire that claimed the records of numerous vets, including McCaul’s grandfather.
The pain in the knee caused Grandy to shift the way he walks, and it wrecked his hip. He is now recovering from hip replacement surgery (not covered by the VA) and still needs his knee replaced. He must now live with the prospect of having two surgeries rather than one and months to years of physical therapy due in large part to the inadequacies of the Houston VA.
If this is how the government provides medical service for veterans, why on earth would we want the government to provide it for all of us?
That led into McCaul’s second point. He is hearing a strong outcry all across his district from people opposed to President Obama’s healthcare plan. A government-run healthcare plan is wrong in more ways than one can count. The more of our lives will put in government control, the less control we will have over our lives.
I don’t want to pay more in taxes for less service. I don’t want Uncle Sam determining the level and kind of treatment I get – or if I get treatment at all.
I don’t want to see innovation and advances in medical technology stymied by government intervention. I think that doctors who excel at their craft should be free to make more money than the quacks. A government-run system will not reward excellence or innovation. It supports complacency.
While I could go on this soap box for ages, let me conclude with this note: the same government that wants to run healthcare is the same one that in just a few short months has pushed our national debt and deficit to previously unfathomable depths. Do you really want such irresponsible and inept leaders determining what kind of care you get and how much (more) you will pay for it?
Getting back to McCaul’s visit, he touched on a few more topics, such as the need for immediate relief for farmers hurt by the drought. He also supports restoring funding that was cut from NASA’s budget by the Obama Administration. McCaul knows that while his district does not include Houston, it benefits from the money NASA brings in. He also knows that NASA is one of the few government agencies that produces a sizable return on the investment. NASA has always been about exploration, innovation, discovery and invention. That is what’s needed to push the economy and to advance the human race. To look at NASA as a nonessential money pit is akin to looking at the brain or heart as non-vital organs.
NASA is to today’s economy and culture what the Department of the Interior was back when this country was being settled. It is the agency that is advancing our understanding of our world and preparing the way for our future. This is where the trailblazers come from.
To tie a couple of these issues together, the things NASA’s astronauts are doing now in space will result in new discoveries that will improve the health and lives of people on the planet. The Obama Administration wants to reign in NASA (kill the one thing in government that is working right) and take control of your health. Is that something you really want to happen?
To allow this or any administration to push this country in that direction will cause us to surrender more and more of our rights and freedoms to the government. At that rate, we will be nothing more than the Union of Socialist States of America. I pray that never happens.
He and his aide, Mike Rosen, did not stay very long, but we had an interesting conversation. It seems we’re in agreement on each of his hot topic issues.
He began by railing against the backlog at the Houston office of the Veteran’s Administration. That is a very hot topic at our house. The waiting list for service at the VA is two years. That proved costly to my wife’s grandfather.
Grandy, as we call him, is a World War II veteran who injured his knee during the war. It was not too serious, but his knee deteriorated over time as a result of the injury and now needs to be replaced. He recently sought help through the VA and got caught in the backlog. He was also hampered by having his medical records destroyed in a fire – the same fire that claimed the records of numerous vets, including McCaul’s grandfather.
The pain in the knee caused Grandy to shift the way he walks, and it wrecked his hip. He is now recovering from hip replacement surgery (not covered by the VA) and still needs his knee replaced. He must now live with the prospect of having two surgeries rather than one and months to years of physical therapy due in large part to the inadequacies of the Houston VA.
If this is how the government provides medical service for veterans, why on earth would we want the government to provide it for all of us?
That led into McCaul’s second point. He is hearing a strong outcry all across his district from people opposed to President Obama’s healthcare plan. A government-run healthcare plan is wrong in more ways than one can count. The more of our lives will put in government control, the less control we will have over our lives.
I don’t want to pay more in taxes for less service. I don’t want Uncle Sam determining the level and kind of treatment I get – or if I get treatment at all.
I don’t want to see innovation and advances in medical technology stymied by government intervention. I think that doctors who excel at their craft should be free to make more money than the quacks. A government-run system will not reward excellence or innovation. It supports complacency.
While I could go on this soap box for ages, let me conclude with this note: the same government that wants to run healthcare is the same one that in just a few short months has pushed our national debt and deficit to previously unfathomable depths. Do you really want such irresponsible and inept leaders determining what kind of care you get and how much (more) you will pay for it?
Getting back to McCaul’s visit, he touched on a few more topics, such as the need for immediate relief for farmers hurt by the drought. He also supports restoring funding that was cut from NASA’s budget by the Obama Administration. McCaul knows that while his district does not include Houston, it benefits from the money NASA brings in. He also knows that NASA is one of the few government agencies that produces a sizable return on the investment. NASA has always been about exploration, innovation, discovery and invention. That is what’s needed to push the economy and to advance the human race. To look at NASA as a nonessential money pit is akin to looking at the brain or heart as non-vital organs.
NASA is to today’s economy and culture what the Department of the Interior was back when this country was being settled. It is the agency that is advancing our understanding of our world and preparing the way for our future. This is where the trailblazers come from.
To tie a couple of these issues together, the things NASA’s astronauts are doing now in space will result in new discoveries that will improve the health and lives of people on the planet. The Obama Administration wants to reign in NASA (kill the one thing in government that is working right) and take control of your health. Is that something you really want to happen?
To allow this or any administration to push this country in that direction will cause us to surrender more and more of our rights and freedoms to the government. At that rate, we will be nothing more than the Union of Socialist States of America. I pray that never happens.
posted by Joe Southern | 9:00 AM
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