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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Tea Party Movement Gains Momentum In Jackson County

Standing room crowd attends Monday meeting at Agricultural Center
By Sid Riley

There was a lot of tea served at the Jackson County Agricultural Center near Marianna on Monday night. The large crowd was in excess of one hundred, and extra chairs had to be brought in to seat the overflow.

The subject for the evening was the proposed new socialized national health plan which is being pushed through congress at this moment by the current administration. The overflow turnout at this meeting reflects the level of growing concern which the public has over this issue.

Sandra Helms, who is a leader in the Jackson County Republican Party, delivered a very informative power point presentation on the subject.

Her presentation gave statistics which compared the level of treatment and mortality rates for the United States as compared to several other nations which have government managed socialized medicine programs for several common forms of cancer. The comparison vividly demonstrated that in the United States we are currently receiving much better health care than exists in those other nations. Also, the level of preventive medicine from mammograms, colonoscopies, and PSA tests is much, much higher.

Other problematic issues which were presented to the audience included the extremely high costs of such a program, the rationing of health care which would occur, the potential for decreased incentives for professional development among doctors, and the fact that under this concept it is highly likely that our tax dollars would end up financing abortions.

Elaine Thompson one of the leaders of the local political action movement, “Concerned American Patriots”, which evolved from the Tax Day Tea Party movement in April, spurred those in attendance to become very active in their contacts with our elected officials as they prepare to vote on the Health Plan. She urged them to spend time each day sending e-mail and making telephone calls to our representatives, and to urge friends and family members to do the same.

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