Who's Really Behind The TennCare Protest

July 8, 2005

 

At this writing, the TennCare protesters continue to occupy the governor's office. They demand redress to their grievances or they'll continue their “sit-in.” I can only imagine the reaction had the anti-income tax protesters pulled the same stunt. Several batons up-side the head and they would've been dragged out by their feet.

 

So, who is behind this ongoing protest?

 

It's a group called The Nashville Peace & Justice Center. Let me give you some background on these folks. In March of 2003 I did a little investigating. I discovered that the NPJC listed the Communist Party USA as a member organization. After that interesting finding I made another startling discovery.  The address listed for the NPJC was the very same address listed on the Communist Party USA's website for the Middle Tennessee Chapter of CPUSA.  After I announced this on the air on March 24, 2003, the CPUSA website was down for a period of hours.  When it returned, the Nashville address had been deleted.  However, through the wonder of technology, we posted the page on our website at PhilValentine.com before it was changed to cover their tracks. 

 

Another member organization listed on the NPJC website was the Board of Church & Society, Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church. After our exposure of the Communist Party affiliation with NPJC, enraged Methodists swamped the Board of Church & Society with angry calls and e-mails. They ultimately pulled their membership from the NPJC.

 

That brings us to the current protest. The NPJC is a pro-big government organization, plain and simple. My sources tell me that many of those participating in the protests at the governor's office are actually paid agitators. Their sole purpose is a bigger, more bloated government. They use issues like TennCare to further their cause. Notice how this organization never mentions eliminating TennCare fraud. Who is on the program is immaterial to them. The bigger the better.

 

I did another little investigative piece recently. I took some names out of the local media reports of people who claimed their TennCare benefits would be cut and ran a cross-check with Davidson County property records. Granted some were common names like John Smith so I concentrated on the unusual names. I hit a perfect match with a lady we'll just call “Candy.” It turns out there were two properties owned by Candy. One was a $386,000 condo in the fashionable Green Hills section of Nashville. The other was a $500,000 condo in the posh Belle Meade neighborhood. People like Candy need to scale back on their personal life before they come to me for help paying their health insurance.

 

So, why do organizations like the Nashville Peace & Justice Center exploit issues like TennCare? It's simple. You see, keeping a bloated program like TennCare alive puts upward pressure on a state income tax. A state income tax allows the big government lovers to spend all kinds of new money on all sorts of new and unnecessary programs. It's all about dependence. Government dependence means control. Control means power. The only way the left can take control is by convincing enough people that big government is their friend.

 

One in four people in Tennessee are on TennCare. It is a national disgrace. We are now reaching a point where too many people are riding the wagon and not enough are pulling. The wagon is coming to a halt and it won't be too much longer before it begins sliding back down the hill. It's time those who are able got off the wagon and started helping the rest of us pull.