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The Brooks Blog is the place to learn more about Brooks’ in-depth thoughts on the major issues facing the citizens of America and of the 3rd District.

The Supreme Fate of Obamacare

Having followed the arguments before the Supreme Court over Obamacare this week, I find myself disappointed that there was no discussion of the definition of the word “Commerce.”

According to Webster, commerce means “the buying and selling of products and services.” I believe this to imply that there is a “free” exchange of these products and services among willing participants. And indeed that free exchange is the pillar of the free enterprise system.

Obamacare is anything but a free exchange. It imposes a dictate on both sides of any healthcare transaction. Not only does it mandate that a private citizen must purchase a product, it also mandates upon the purveyor of that product what it must contain and whom they must do business with. Therefore there is no “free” exchange on the part of either party.

This represents an extreme erosion of freedom in our country. Each time the government has dictated to private businesses how they should conduct business and with whom they do business with —  see also the latest financial crisis wherein the government told banks who they would do business with and what they would provide them – it has resulted in failure and even disaster. Why should we think this time will be any different?

I have heard the media augment that we are the only developed nation that does not mandate health insurance coverage for our citizens. Why is this necessarily a bad thing? Do any of those other “developed” nations have the largest economy in the world? No. Could there be a correlation between the size of their economy and direct government intervention into their markets? I believe very much that there is.

Also, why do citizens of those “developed” countries, who can afford to do so, come to America for their advanced medical procedures? Because as the only “developed” nation whose government has not taken control of health care we have free markets that have encouraged the development of the best medical procedures in the world.

We have too much government intervention in the health care markets already and that intrusion on the free market is what is driving up the cost of health care. Mandating coverage will not help.

POSTED: Mar 29, 2012 | 4:20 p.m. EST

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Is Democratic rhetoric rewriting the dictionary?

The word “access” is commonly understood to mean “The right to enter or make use of.” But that’s not the definition the Democratic political machine in Washington would have you believe. Instead, the people who brought you Obamacare want access to mean “Available free-of-cost at any price.”

We hear from partisans like the chairman of the Democratic National Committee that Republicans are somehow trying to deny women the use of “reproductive health services.” That’s utterly bogus, and they know it. What, in fact, Republicans are saying is that the Federal government, by virtue of the First Amendment, does not have any right to dictate to a religious institution that is must comply with government mandates that run counter to its deeply held, and Constitutionally protected, beliefs.

But like the usual bickering in Washington, the truth isn’t as useful a fundraising technique for the DNC, or for President Obama, as a manufactured crisis is. Instead, Democratic muscle means to vilify friends of religious liberty by pretending the issue is really about access, which it is never has been. No one in a position of power is denying the use of “reproductive health services” to anyone. These services and products have been readily and widely available in the United States since their discovery and will continue to be available long after this debate is over.

No, what access appears to mean to those supporting Obamacare is this: “Get whatever you want and someone else pays for it no matter if it is counter to the most strongly held beliefs of those paying.”

Maybe instead of dividing people with false rhetoric, Democrats and TV pundits could consider addressing the loss of jobs and the over-reach of government into our lives. I won’t hold my breath on that one, though. It is an election year, after all.

POSTED: Mar 5, 2012 | 11:00 a.m. EST

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The Illusion of Big Government

With the primary in Michigan happening on Tuesday, I felt it was a good time to reflect on the truth about the auto industry bailout.

President Obama claims to have saved the auto industry. However, most Americans and all of the media appear to have forgotten that in reality (yes, our  reality) General Motors  not only filed for bankruptcy but actually went out of business. The brand new General Motors Company was formed on July 10, 2009. The existing stakeholders of the old General Motors Corporation were left holding the bag and lost almost all of the money they had invested.

I dare say that any competent business person could take $60 billion of free taxpayer money, take over factories and tooling (again, for free) and create a profitable company. I know I would like to have that deal offered to me. Unfortunately the original stakeholders of General Motors Corporation were not offered that deal. Our government took their treasure, and ours, and gave it to someone else and of course the UAW. This is the shell-game illusion of government intervention as the savior of a failing business.

It is also worth noting that Chrysler is no longer a truly American company. The government basically gave Chrysler to Fiat, the Italian auto company. And again the original stakeholders were left out in the cold.

Neither of these outcomes look like the auto industry was saved to me. These look like a masquerade, a mirage, with huge profits being propped up as evidence of something that didn’t actually occur. Of course, I am just an average American businessman and I apparently do not understand the high finance and trashing of contract law of our current administration.

I am getting fed up with the hypocrisy of the Obama administration and a cow-towed media that continues to prop up his failed policies by ignoring facts that are inconvenient. The truth is that the only auto company that actually survived was the one that took no government bailout, Ford.

Why are they not telling that story as the real success? Do they think we are not smart enough to know the difference? Perhaps. Or perhaps it doesn’t fit into a neat narrative for the president’s re-election campaign.

It will not surprise you, citizens of the 3rd District, that Rep. Yarmuth went right along with all of this, agreeing with the Obama administration on every issue. Some things, it appears, never change.

POSTED: Feb 28, 2012 | 6:00 p.m. EST

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Governing For Tomorrow

One of the lessons you learn raising a child is the difference in focus between teenage adolescence and adulthood.

When you are a teenager everything is about today, the here and the now. It is difficult to get them to key in on the important things in life like college choices and what career they may want to pursue when everyone else is going to the game or there is “that TV show coming on in just 10 minutes.”

As you become an adult life becomes much more about tomorrow than today. Sure, you try to live and enjoy today, but everything you do is ultimately geared toward tomorrow and the future. You work for future pay, you invest for future retirement, you marry for future family, you work hard to raise good kids and educate them for their future. Pretty much everything you do has the future as its focus.

Yet by and large adults governing this country are focused solely on today. It has not always been this way. We borrow huge sums of many to pay for today’s problem with what appears to be little concern for the day of reckoning when those very children we sacrifice everything for in our individual lives will have to pay for our public excesses today. Will our children will be the first generation in America to have less freedom, less opportunity and a lower standard of living than the generation that preceded them? That is my greatest fear. Why, because our leaders are stuck governing for today.

This country was not founded on principals that applied only to the time of our founding fathers. Their vision was of a greater future, not a better or more comfortable today. Theirs was a vision of freedom and opportunity for every American, not of redistribution of wealth from one group to another or of government invasion into the private lives and businesses of the citizens of America.

It is time we started to demand governing for tomorrow again. One of the lessons of life is that if you plan well for tomorrow, today will take care of itself, because today was planned yesterday. That is a lesson worth remembering.

POSTED: Feb 23, 2012 | 2:30 p.m. EST

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Contraception Issue Goes Deeper Than Religion

The stir caused by the latest revelation of Obama care’s overreach into American’s lives is troubling for a number or reasons. The stakes here go beyond just religious liberty. Have we not learned that government telling businesses how to operate is never a good thing? The latest financial crisis was caused by our government telling banks how they would do business and who they would do business with. Certainly there were excesses but the root cause of the entire problem was government intervention in the operations of private businesses.

The federal government is now telling American citizens that they must purchase a product – and expensive one, no less – for the first time in history. Not only are they taking away your freedom to choose what or if you will buy a product, they are also telling the purveyor of that product what it must contain, even if the product’s contents are counter the religious beliefs of a huge number of Americans.

Americans are also supposed to believe that insurance companies are going to provide coverage for products and services free of charge. Really, free. These companies are in business to make a profit. So someone is going to pay for those benefits. The question is who? I can assure you it will not be the insurance companies.

You and I will pay increased premiums so that mandated benefits will be provided to people who do not all want the benefit or need it. And do you really believe that the premium charged to those institutions that are now supposedly not offering these benefits will really not be higher to compensate? Please. The President’s announced compromise is a difference without a distinction; literally nothing changed except how a sentence in the contract was worded.

This is just another hidden tax levied on all American citizens; remember everyone must have health insurance under Obamacare, the largest de facto tax increase in U.S. history.

Worse, this is another overt government intrusion in to the lives of every American and in the operations of private businesses. It is another disguised transfer from one group to another, one that at least half of Americans apparently do not want. This administration is robbing our freedom as American citizens on a daily basis and John Yarmuth continues to rubber-stamp each invasion of our freedoms.

We must stop this theft of your constitutionally granted right to freedom before it is too late.

POSTED: Feb 18, 2012 | 10:00 a.m. EST

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We Need Leadership

Proposed state redistricting will make the 3rd Congressional District even more Democratic than it already is. While this development will not make our
task of beating John Yarmuth impossible, it will certainly make it more expensive and will require us to work harder to get our message of responsible conservativism and fiscal common sense out. As you know the Courier-Journal is traditionally unfriendly to Republican candidates and is not prone to  give this campaign fair coverage, which is ironic since the editorial board has been supportive of President Obama, a leader whose definition of fairness is defined primarily as taking taxpayer money and spreading it around.

But no matter. Even if the local media won’t cover it, I plan to take my campaign to every corner of the 3rd District. We will divide the district into five individual zones and hold monthly town-hall style meetings in each of those zones. I am calling for volunteers to act as a Champion in each of these areas. These meetings will be widely advertised on social media outlets such as Facebook and twitter and with filers and individual stumping. No matter how much they want to ignore us, we will make sure the people’s voice is heard.

Of course we will invite the incumbent to each meeting,not that he is likely to show. But if he does, all the better!

Anyone interested in acting as a champion please contact the campaign immediately.

I want to hear from you! I have a new personal cell phone that will be with me throughout the campaign. Feel free to call me with your questions or ideas the number is 502-712-2130. You can also email me at brooks@brookswicker.com.

POSTED: Feb 7, 2012 | 2:30 p.m. EST

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The Time Is Now!

On Tuesday, this campaign officially kicked off, and we are very excited. We have the best candidate, the best message and the best supporters in this race, and we know that will be the difference in what is sure to be a hard-fought contest.

It’s important to remember that we are all patriotic Americans, just with differing views on how to get things done. Personal smears and neg

ative campaigning have only cheapened our discourse, and I reject the idea that we can no longer have a meaningful exchange of views, however strongly we hold them.

I wish my campaign opponent luck … he’s gonna need it.

Brooks Wicker

POSTED: Jan 31, 2012 | 5 p.m. EST