On the evening of this Veterans Day, I pause and give thanks to all those veterans that have helped keep America the Home of the Brave and the Land of the Free.

As I look to that 70 square miles surrounded by reality known as Washington, D.C., I fear that our freedom and liberties won by blood, sweat, and treasure for over 235 years will soon set as the sun does over the mountains of Western Maryland.

The pro-statists running the U.S. government are hell bent on taking away our liberty and freedom. Whether it’s through Cap and Trade, government run health care, or abdication of our sovereignty through the Copenhagen Treaty, it’s all about control and power and cutting America down to size.

These statists wretch at the thought of America as “a shining city on a hill whose beacon guides freedom-loving people everywhere.” Each issue is merely a diversion to accomplish the goal of taking America down and enslaving the American people.

The current “red herring” is the government take over of health care. Almost 2,000 pages in the House bill that will fine you and punish you if you do not do what the government wants, and it will eliminate the health care coverage you have now within five years.

Before you dismiss my concerns as just some guy from God-fearing, gun-toting, backwoods Maryland, rest assured, that after 13 years in the health care industry, I advocate reforms regarding health care in the United States.

If the President and Congress were really serious about doing something real and meaningful about health care instead of expanding government control and bureaucracy, they would look at real and meaningful reform.

For example, the President said in September that he was going to pay for government run health care partially through saving $500 billion by eliminating fraud and waste in Medicare. Time out! Err ... shouldn’t we do that anyway? Makes sense, right? You are telling me that you’ve got that much monkey business going on in Medicare and you me to trust you with the whole health care system? Wow.

How about tax reform? Let’s cut personal and corporate income taxes. Let’s eliminate capital gains taxes. Let cut loose the power of the American economy with real stimulus so businesses can grow and hire people and offer them health insurance through their employment. Put some jingle in my pocket so I can buy goods and services and that will create more jobs and allow those people to do the same.

Any meaningful reform must include reforms to our health justice system. The U.S. civil justice system is one of the most expensive in the world, yet it never effectively compensates persons from medical negligence nor encourages the elimination of medical errors.

Out of fear of malpractice suits, physicians are required to practice defensive medicine. Tort reform would cost nothing to the American taxpayer and reduce medical costs. As long as the trial lawyers bar remains one of the biggest Democrat donors, it’s no wonder it’s been a nonstarter with you.

We stand at a very unique crossroads, and you have choices to make. Continue down the path you’ve been traveling and put America’s best days behind Her with a vote for government run health care, or preserve that hard fought liberty and freedom and push for true reform in the American Tradition as suggested above.

Don’t be a rubber stamp for the statist leadership in Washington. Your constituents (your employers) expect better of you.

Richard R. Biancone Jr.

LaVale