Dear employees:

You will find enclosed copies of petition signatures from Georgia District 2. As you can see, this petition states that its signatories are against the federal government’s involvement in our health care. We realize that once the federal government gets its foot in the door, it will only be a matter of time that the federal government will have complete control of our health care. Control of our health care is tantamount to control of our lives.

I should consider this letter as “preaching to the choir”; however, a few recent quotations by Sen. Chambliss that I have read greatly disturb me, specifically, that Americans should be under one health care umbrella; “when you spread the risk, you can keep the cost down.” And “The Senate is a family. We are all good friends within the Senate, and Senator Kennedy was a great legislator.” Sen. Chambliss, you were not sent to Washington to make friends; you were sent to Washington to represent your constituents back home. Perhaps you have been in Washington too long.

Rep. Bishop received the original petition copies at his town hall meeting in Bainbridge on Aug. 20. It was noted then and now that neither of our two senators have been to Bainbridge in an open town hall meeting. Rep. Bishop spoke to an audience of 700 people. He took questions for three of the four hours that he stood behind the podium. Do either of our two senators have a record of tirelessly listening to their constituents that long and to that large of a crowd of concerned citizens? If you had, I believe you would have learned as Rep. Bishop did that 95 percent of his audience is against nationalizing our health care, and that we have read House Resolution 3200 and found that it is not about saving money, but is about funding studies, ingratiating special interest groups, gaining control over families and family planning, funding the U.S./Mexico border, ad nauseum. Who among you have read this 1,017-page bill? We have done your job for you and have roundly voted “No.”

Further, if this bill were about saving money, it would not have incremental increases up to the year 2019 that require no further legislation. The funds in the bill are a minimum of $40 billion for the first year (2010), without actually funding health care itself or without including the cost of implementing a government run system. Shame on each of you for lying to us!

We have seen for ourselves that not only do you not write the bills that you vote on, you do not read them either. If we have sent the brightest and best among us to represent us, we have obviously been wasting our time. Shame on us! We will not make that mistake again. If you believe what the mainstream media is telling you, that we are an angry Astroturf mob, you are misguided. Trust that we are average citizens who have become greatly alarmed at what is happening in Washington, and at the very least, are revolted by what we have learned, seen and read. Further trust that that revulsion will become revolution in 2010.

Our senators and representatives continue to say that their message is not yet right, that they have not yet been able to sell it to the American public. You are not listening! It is not the process; it’s the premise! You can present it on a silver platter, sprinkled with gold, but we still know what’s underneath it. It is not, I repeat, NOT within your right to force on us something that goes against our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We should not have to fight so hard against our own government. But we will fight you as hard as we can to keep our liberty, our life and our pursuit of happiness, and that of our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Many of you continue to remind us that senior citizens who are currently “enjoying” the benefits of Social Security and Medicare should not complain. Might I remind you that for years we and our employers have paid into these two systems because it was mandated; we did not have the choice of not paying into the systems. The current payroll tax rate is 15.3 percent. At what point is enough enough? Even God only asks for 10 percent! Those two systems are broken and broke. Our children and grandchildren are already paying for the benefits we “reap” because our “investments” have long been spent. Private enterprise could do a much better job, but then, politicians wouldn’t have something to use for campaign fodder. We realize you have no intention of fixing these two systems, and that is yet another reason (beyond our freedoms) that we want you to keep your hands off our health care.

If any of you have been hoping to leave a legacy by your public service, your vote for any, ANY, federal health care program will be your legacy, your defining moment, the moment that you cast your vote for the destruction of our great country.

I urge you on behalf of my fellow petitioners to rethink any yes vote for a federal health care plan. Please consider the alternatives of limited regulatory changes that encourage personal affordability, portability and responsibility (i.e., ownership), and leave the rest to the 50 states and their citizens.

Most sincerely,Sheila M. Knight-LaneYour Employer, a constituent and voter