At this NACo Conference "Change" was in the Air | Eastern North Carolina Now

    President Obama has made the proposed Health Care Reform Bill the centerpiece of his presidency. His political fortunes will continue, or be diminished by the crafting of this partisan initiative, and its subsequent passage before the midterm election cycle. To a lesser extent at the NACo conference, there were other talking points on other issues: proposed Cap and Trade / Clean Energy Policy legislation, but what resonated with me was the simpatico culpability within the NACo (National Association of Counties) power structure with the Obama administration on all issues. This became evident as I made my way from the General Meetings to Education Workshops, and speaking to other commissioners along the way at the 2010 NACo Legislative Conference held at the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel. The hotel is located in the Woodley Park neighborhood in north Washington, DC.

    I attended as Beaufort County’s (North Carolina) Legislative Liaison. I did not necessarily represent the sentiment of our board of commissioners on any votes - there were none for me to make. I did, however, represent my conservative opinions, but in moderation. Mostly my objective was to become the eyes and the ears for my constituents, and to my fellow board members as I will represent to them what I saw as the thrust of a unified federal directive.

    That directive is to push their proposed Health Care Reform Bill, which I now refer to as ObamaCare, for the aforementioned eloquent perspective of our president, and his ultimate devotion to its purpose. A purpose that will be sped forward by the “reconciliation” initiative that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged to present her Democrat controlled majority, even while I attended this conference. Will she have the votes to ram through this poorly considered, but vast in scope (over 2,700 pages that few congressmen have read) bill through the U.S. House of Representatives without the consideration of discussion?

    Probably, as that motive shared with the President (who appeared by video-cast on the many jumbo-trons in the grand meeting room), by conference speakers from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who appeared in person) and NACo President Supervisor Valerie Brown (who was presiding); both from California. Both from very liberal districts in a state that is broke, and has already become the grand recipient of a generous benefactor; the Obama Administration and the Pelosi House of Representatives, who have just one prerequisite - continue voting Democrat.

    These two aforementioned “Honorable” women from California share the similar socialist ambition for our nation: That was apparent in their devotion to this, and other messages resounding from this conference. What gave me great pause was that so many other county commissioners embrace that same message. When I argued the immutable fact, to a small group of commissioner devotees, that our children and grandchildren will be forced to live in a more impoverished America as they struggle to pay back this insurmountable debt brought on by ObamaCare and the poorly envisioned stimulus package: One laughed, “I don’t have any children,” and another chortled, “and I don’t have any grandchildren.”

    And this is the sad state that we are left with. Duly elected officials buying the “Change You Can Believe In” maxim as our future, our children’s future, and in the whirl of “don’t care about the future,” they take that message back home to vote their conscience. In that context; that is the Supervisor Valerie Brown administration within the NACo structure, I watched that future message of “hope,” proffered at this conference, for their collective constituents back home, who will remain mostly unproductive, but will reap the bounty that is the Obama redistribution of wealth policy. Considering the effects of ObamaCare, ObamaStimulus and now ObamaCapandTrade, America will soon become a socialist nation. And as I seek a better future for my constituents, I will be ever vigilant as to the direction that our nation seeks, and I pledge to inform you, and stand as some impediment to those, who would disregard our collective future at the behest of “Change You Can Believe In.” I pray that enough of you stand with me.