Below are a series of articles on the subject of public servants exploiting the taxpayers and/or blatantly ignoring the wishes of the people.

• How Public Servants Became the Masters from Reason Magazine
• Democrats Show Contempt for the Governed from RealClearPolitics
• Government at Work: Outrageous Behavior by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
• Democrats Behaving Badly from USAToday

If you have other examples, post them in the comments below.

Here are some more news/opinion articles you should be aware of:

• Democrats want to skip the conference committee haggling over health care bill (NPR, WSJ)
• Jeff Davis points out the real reason the Democrats are trying to avoid conference committee is to bypass ethics rules
• Reason magazine (Libertarian publication) on why ObamaCare is so unpopular
• Speaking about health care, the Wall Street Journal discusses the doctor shortage
• Obama wants to cut back on nuclear weapons, but current weapons are out-dated and need modernization
• David Brooks notes that the ‘Tea Party’ is more popular than either Republicans or Democrats
• Heather MacDonald debunks a popular myth about crime
• My favorite economist (Gary Becker) talks about the economic uncertainty caused by administration policy

There is a great article today in Investors Business Daily that shows the real problem with medical costs today is that such a small percentage is paid by the actual consumers.  This is illustrated in the graphic below from the article.  The result of this decline is that demand for medical services rises with little restraint and with it health care costs.  I’d also encourage you to read the Wall Street Journal article by John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods) entitled “The Whole Foods Alternative to ObamaCare.”  Mackey’s solutions would actually help keep costs in line (if that were the real objective) whereas involving the government and insulating people further from the actual costs of care will only make things worse in the long run.

Below are some links to articles from the Wall Street Journal you should be aware of:

• After the Bailouts, Washington’s the Boss
• The Tyranny of the Majority Party
• Big Budget Deficits Demand Number Crunching
• Are Taxes the Root of Unhappiness?

Just a reminder: information from these articles (like any other posted on Tutor’s Quill) is fair game for upcoming quizzes.

There are a lot of articles out there right now bemoaning the Senate filibuster because of its impact on ObamaCare.  Here are a couple worth checking out as we will be discussing the filibuster very soon in class:

• Basic filibuster rules
• Ezra Klein leads the charge against the filibuster and comments further in discussion
• When an agenda is more important than the facts by Byron York
• Liberals love hate the filibuster by Colbert King
• The impact of Rule 22 and the ‘painless filibuster’ by Paul Benedict
• A defense of the filibuster by David Parker

If you have other articles on this subject you found that were interesting, please share them by posting a link in the comments section.

This is actually somewhat shocking, but Bob Herbert of the New York Times (a solid Obama supporter) is actually writing about the hidden tax increase in the Senate health care bill.  Definitely worth the read because Herbert is spot-on with regards to both the increase in taxes and the decrease in quality of care.

Although the official 2010 census is not complete (heck, it hasn’t even officially begun), politicians have begun discussing the likely effects of reapportioning seats in the House of Representatives based on current survey data.  This article from POLITICO.com gives you some of the higlights.  It is interesting to note that PA will likely lose a seat as a result of reapportionment, as would NY, NJ, MA, IL, and MI — all big blue states.  Not a surprise that the article goes on to say: “The projections offer some long-term encouragement for Republicans. President Barack Obama won nine of the 10 states slated to lose seats, and Democrats hold congressional delegation majorities in all but one (Louisiana).”  It will be interesting to see how these states choose to gerrymander the districts — will they go for a packing or a cracking strategy?  If you were the Democrats in PA and losing a seat, what would you choose and why?  Leave your answer in the comments.

I find this recent quote from Obama interesting:

“In the long run we can’t continue to spend as if deficits don’t have consequences, as if waste doesn’t matter, as if the hard earned tax dollars of the American people can be treated like monopoly money, that’s what we’ve seen time and time again, Washington has become more concerned about the next election than the next generation.”

Compare that with the following:

• The Wall Street Journal details some of political payoffs needed to pass ObamaCare through the Senate.
• Even the New York Times admits that buried in the health care bill are a lot of specific payoffs to help Senators win reelection.
• Scott Harrington of the Wall Street Journal highlights a new entitlement buried in the 2,000+ page bill that will explode costs in the not-too-distant future.
• The Obama administration’s thinking is that if no bill is passed, they are toast politically, but if that some sort of bill (no matter the final content) is passed, they have a chance in future elections.

Does any of this sound like the Democratic party is treating our tax dollars as anything other than monopoly money?  Does this show that they care more about future generations than about their own reelections?  That Obama’s rhetoric once again doesn’t match his actions?  I love the Wall Street Journal’s summation — ‘Change Nobody Believes In: A bill so reckless that it has to be rammed through on a partisan vote on Christmas Eve.‘

In the previous post it was noted by Democratic leaders that congressional representatives just don’t have time to read long bills that will affect 1/6th of the US economy before they cast their votes.  But the good news is that they do have time to travel overseas at taxpayer expense.  For details, see this Wall Street Journal article.

Below are two videos of Democrats admitting that the Health Care Bill is hard to understand and that most members of Congress won’t read the actual bill before voting on it.  A shining moment for congressional competence that will surely inspire greater trust in our government.