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Government Running Amok
There can be no doubt about it, the Federal Government led by the Clinton-Gore administration is running amok. The inherent liberal urge to embark on crusades to right every perceived wrong, combined with government power and a cynical self-serving streak, is turning the Federal Government into little more than a legalized version of the mob.
I thought things were getting bad when Andrew Cuomo, who I am beginning ot think is the most dangerous man in America, decided that his position as HUD Commissioner gave him the right to bully Smith & Wesson into compliance with his enlightened views on gun safety. I have written elsewhere of "undemocracy in action", and this is a wonderful example of how the Clinton administration is turning this concept into an art. To hell with what the people think or want, they are going to use the power of government to get the result they want.
This morning I read something that had me hovering somewhere between stunned disbelief and cynical weariness. It appears that the Federal Government has sued the six-company group of silicone breast implant manufacturers in order to recover Medicare costs allegedly spent treating women who reported illnesses related to those implants. The original lawsuit that resulted in a huge settlement pool of cash was a classic example of the new America of government of the lawyers, by the lawyers, and for the lawyers.
There was absolutely no medical evidence that silicone breast implants had any relationship whatsoever to the array of alleged complications, primarily with various connective tissue disorders. In fact, the research that has been done concretely proves that absolutely no relationship exists, that the prevalence of such disorders is no greater in women with silicone breast implants than in those without implants. Despite having the facts on their side, facing bankruptcy, implant manufacturers caved in and created a huge settlement.
So there sits a huge pool of cash, in theory destined for the "victims". But the government has never been prone to sitting back and letting individual citizens get a hold of cash when they can figure out a way to get their sticky fingers on it first. So they sued, claiming under the Medical Cost Recover Act, that they deserve a chunk of the money because Medicare had to fork out payments to treat the victims. To which one must respond, victims of what? It seems to me the only victims here are the companies who manufactured a safe, legal product and those women who will be unable to get breast implants because it has become too dangerous to manufacture them. But, if only because it can, the government is elbowing aside greedy lawyers and would-be victims to get its hairy nose into the trough first.
I am not one to toss labels around lightly, but this administration is starting to look scarily fascist. Communism, in its practical form, exercised economic power direct ownership of the "means of production". Fascism, in its practical form, relies on co-opting the private sphere through bullying and intimidation of those who don’t play nice combined with "strategic partnerships" with those who do. When I look at what is happening in America today, to Microsoft, to the tobacco industry, to firearms manufacturers, and now to the silicone implant industry, to any company that dares to violate the favored "liberal" worldview, it worries me a great deal. Our government is running amok, trampling the principles of a democratic society and throwing its weight around like the 800 pound gorilla it is.