Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Is Dean Koontz Trying to Tell Us Something?

I read quite a bit. I like polished writers that have a nice turn of phrase, that create characters with depth and humor and which demonstrate a deeper knowledge behind their writing. Rick Riordan, Tony Hillerman, Faye Kellerman, J.A. Jance, Stephen Saylor, Grisham, Neil Gaiman and more list among writers I enjoy for their writing styles. I also read a great deal of non-fiction. Since I have spent my Spring Break nursing the Grandfather of all Sinus Infections as well as reading consistently about the shenanigans going on in Washington, this particular passage struck me as almost prescient. It's from Dean Koontz ' 1994 book " Dark Rivers of the Heart." While you read this, keep in mind who was in power then and who is in power now. Oh, and before I forget, if you want another interesting political view of the world read a book titled "Gideon" by Russell Andrews. It's ten years old, so you will have to seek it out, but it was a bestseller and some libraries may still have it.

"....May I give you something to think about?" he asked again and then continued without waiting for a response."What's happened to you couldn't happen to a United States Representative or Senator."...
"...Most people are unaware of it,:" said the stranger," but for decades, politicians have exempted current and future members of the U.S. Congress from most of the laws they pass. Asset forfeiture, for one. If cops nail a senator peddling cocaine out of his Cadillac by a schoolyard, his car can't be seized the way your house was."..."
"...You might be able to prosecute him for drug dealing and get a conviction---unless his fellow politicians just censor him or expel him from Congress and, at the same time, arrange his immunity from prosecution. But you couldn't seize his assets for drug dealing of any of the other two hundred offenses for which they seize yours."...
"...Harris said, "who are you?"
Ignoring the question , the stranger went on in that soft voice: "Politicians pay no Social Security taxes. They have their own retirement fund. And they don't rob it to finance other programs, the way they drain Social Security. Their programs are safe..."
"...The stranger said, "They exempt themselves from healthcare plans they intend to force on you, so someday you'll have to wait months for things like gallbladder surgery, but they'll get the care they need on demand. Somehow we've allowed ourselves to be ruled by the greediest and most envious among us...."


Keep in mind, Koontz wrote this TEN YEARS AGO. This was after the last debacle with foisting nationalized healthcare in terms of an attempted redistribution of wealth was put to rest as the Clintons vandalized their way out of office. It is time to put this bill to rest. IT IS A BAD BILL. It is not about health care even a tiny bit. Sure, they will appease certain demographic groups with small tokens that are seized from the bulk of one sixth of our economy, but in the end this simply dissolves the middle class leaving only the ruling elite and the rest of us. And that, my friends, is what totalitarian regimes are all about. You should fear far more the velvet glove approach than you do violence because at least forced change let's you know what you are in for.

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