If Obama can "Opt Out" we should too!

The healthcare takeover battle is long from over.  We are encouraging each of you to contact your city, county, state and federal representatives with your concerns and opinions.  Why the city and county?!  We all know that what happens locally matters nationally, doesn't it make sense to know how your City Councilman or your Mayor feel about the federal government's overreaching powers into the health care industry?  Why the state?!  The battles will continue in the states and the courts, so we encourage you to find out where the candidates stand on the issue of the healthcare and if they support Attorney General, Greg Abbott's lawsuit in federal court.  We also encourage you to ask your State Representatives (and candidates running for the position) and your State Senators (candidates too) if they support the lawsuit and if they will sign on as co-authors to Representative Paxton's proposed legislation "Texas Health Care Freedom Act".  


One final call to action, you can sign Gov. Perry's petition encouraging him to keep fighting and supporting Atty. Gen. Abbott in the lawsuit.   


Our email this week included contact information for local and state officials, if you are not on our list, please join!  


Contact: City of Waco - You can click on the Mayor or any of the Council Members and fill out the webform or call them at City Hall Information Desk (254) 750-5600

Contact: McLennan County - You can email each of these officials by clicking on the link at the site or call them at:

Jim Lewis (County Judge) 254-757-5049

Kelly Snell (Pct.1) 254-757-5061

Lester Gibson (Pct.2) 254-757-5062

Joe Mashek (Pct.3) 254-757-5063

Ray Meadows (Pct.4) 254-757-5064

Contact State Representatives: You can find your State Representative on the Texas website.  If you live in McLennan County your representatives are either Charles "Doc" Anderson or Jim Dunnam.  Their contact information is on our website athttp://www.wacoteaparty.com/ContactReps.html

Contact the Lt. Governor on the web or call him at 512-463-0001

Contact the Governor on the web or call him at (800) 252-9600

Contact the Attorney General by email (yep a real email address!) or by phone at (800) 252-8011

As always, we suggest that you are respectful and courteous when contacting elected officials at all levels. 

We also suggest that you utilize the media, contact your local newspapers, television and radio outlets.  You can also blog or twitter your opinions on the web.  Many news outlets and politicians are on Facebook and Twitter, so if you are a social media bug, don't forget to friend or tweet the media! 




Lastly... Empower Texans had a great summation on their website...

Paxton: Response to passage of HR 3590 Submitted by mjsamuelson on Wed, 03/24/2010 - 11:30am. From State Representative Ken Paxton (R-McKinney), in a special edition of his weekly newsletter: "Following the passage of H.R. 3590, "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," by the U.S. House of Representatives, I am drafting legislation to reject this overreaching bill due to its impact and costs to our State and to Texas taxpayers. I will file this legislation at the first opportunity for consideration next legislative session, which will begin in January 2011. We must be ready to reject federal takeover of our healthcare system. The legislation I am currently drafting will be titled, "The Texas Health Freedom Act." This Act will declare that the public policy of the State of Texas is to exercise sovereign power providing for the rights of Texas residents to choose their own health insurance plan freely without imposition or threat of penalties from the federal or state government. Additionally, this Act gives the Attorney General the express duty to protect the rights and property of the residents of Texans with respect to federal mandates. This bill is modeled after the constitutional amendment that passed in Arizona (HCR 2014) in 2009 and the bill that was signed into law in Idaho (HR 391) on March 17, 2010. I have also joined with my colleagues in the Texas Conservative Coalition to support Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's efforts to scrutinize the federal health care bill for constitutional problems, such as reviewing the mandate that requires all individuals to purchase health insurance coverage to determine if it violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Additionally, the special treatment given to certain states in the legislation violates the "fundamental principles of nondiscrimination that are at the heart of the U.S. Constitution." As a general policy matter, the health care reform legislation is wrong for Texas because it will result in health care rationing, higher taxes, massive increases in federal and state spending and increased health care bureaucracy. The most insidious features of the legislation include the following: · A personal health insurance mandate; · A requirement for businesses with 50 or more employees to offer health insurance to all of their employees or pay penalties; · A significant expansion of the Medicaid program; · An excise tax on health insurance plans with relatively high premiums; and · Penalties on individuals and businesses that do not purchase or provide health coverage. These changes would place the federal government at the center of our nation’s health care system at the expense of individual choice and liberty, free enterprise and competition. Texans deserve better, and I will continue to fight to protect our State's sovereignty and the freedoms of our citizenry."