In 1958, Joe Stalin said America would never willingly accept communism but would be fed tiny bits of socialism and would wake up one morning living in a communist country. It looks like we are on the verge of being fed our third bit.

Mr. Obama and his Democratic minions are attempting to capture one-seventh of the U.S. economy by setting up a nationalized health-care system. This comes on the heels of nationalizing two car companies and at least three banks.

Of course, Mr. Obama keeps insisting this scheme will reduce costs, improve efficiency and offer coverage to everybody. He says health-care costs are rising at too high a rate but doesn't tell us that 60 percent of this rise is due to government programs already in place.

Mr. Obama is a master at avoiding the obvious when it doesn't square with his plans. After all, he won and as a result has the answer to every problem and a plan for everything. This from a fellow who has never run as much as a Dairy Queen. One can only expect that health care under the Democrats would be a program that would be available to cover 100 percent of the population, but would be financed by the 40 percent who actually pay taxes.

Since it is not incumbent upon the government to make a profit, it would be easy for bureaucrats to price the government plan so cheaply that private insurers would be forced out, leaving what they really want: a single-payer, federally controlled health-care system.

Another wrinkle in the Kennedy plan, the one Mr. Obama prefers, is a means test on your current insurance provider that would see if it is in compliance with all the red tape in the fine print. If it is not and if you do not "voluntarily" sign up for the government plan and notify the government, you will be fined (Sec. 3, Kennedy bill, Wall Street Journal, June 19), how much apparently to be decided later. Doesn't sound very voluntary to me.

Any government-run health plan would be run, I am sure, with the same efficiency as Amtrak, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the postal service and NASA.

If that is not enough, there is one more pressing reason for rejecting this whole idea. With our national debt approaching $12 trillion, we can't afford this stuff. Those of us who are net contributors of tax dollars should be very concerned as regards this effort. Let your members of Congress know your opinion. That's mine; what's yours?
Pete Dennis
Adamsville