What I Wanted to Tell Rick Larsen

Dear Congressman Larsen,

I attended your health care town hall meeting in Mt. Vernon on Saturday. I appreciated hearing from everybody on the issue. I had prepared a statement/question which I had hoped to deliver, but time did not permit, so I will email it to you.

Most of the discussion centers on implementation details of HR 3200, with very little discussion over whether a government solution is fundamentally flawed, which I believe it is. I only want two things from congress:

1. I want congress to reverse deficit spending
2. I want congress to reverse the concentration of power in Washington D.C.

This is important if we are to preserve states' rights and individual liberty for future generations.

Especially since 2006, congress has been going in exactly the wrong direction, seizing control of private enterprise and manufacturing, Cap & Trade – and now, health care. I believe nationalizing health insurance would be a giant leap in the wrong direction.

We the People are supposed to have the liberty (and the responsibility!) to take care of ourselves, our families, and the less fortunate -- locally and voluntarily. We don’t need – or want – the federal government to take that liberty away.

There are 300 million of us, vs. 535 in Washington D.C. Given that ratio, surely We the People are more likely than government to have the ingenuity and resourcefulness to solve our own problems. I know you feel you need to help, but as the priest in the old joke says, "Please God, I'd rather do it myself".