Americans for Prosperity stopped off in Asheville today while making thirty North Carolina stops in six days on their Hands off My Healthcare tour. The crowd was estimated to be about half what it could have been because dufuses like me were spreading the word that the rally would take place in the Ingle’s parking lot on Brevard Road. According to second-hand reports, when the manager was asked to be prepared for 300 people, he said, “Not in my parking lot.” The event took place in the parking lot of Ryan’s, a little down the road.
AFP’s Dallas Woodhouse, the JLF’s Roy Cordato, Civitas’ Marianne Suarez, and practitioner Mark Hopp covered the bases: (1) fraud runs rampant, (2) tort reform is needed to put an end to defensive procedures, (3) government should allow individuals more choice in their selection of insurance providers, (4) government bureaucracies introduce inefficiencies into whatever they are set up to address, (5) laws that diminish the supply of healthcare, like those requiring certificates of need, need to be repealed, (6) the costs of universal coverage are astronomical and will require tax hikes and cuts, and the elderly will be the first to be cut, (7) middle-income people are among the wealthy Americans the president wants to pay for the plan, (8) mandating healthcare provision will reduce the number of jobs offered, (9) the politicians who say this will work are the ones who promised Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would only cost taxpayers $2 million, and then some.
Attendees were urged to sign the AFP petition, call Heath Shuler (202) 225-6401 and Kay Hagan (202) 224-6342, and explain the downsides of socializing America to Obamaniks (not in so many words).
