Our View

Democrats, Republicans and Independents unite! We must kill the Obama and congressional health-care plans.

And we still have a good chance at success.

After contacting Rick Scott, the Naples resident who heads up Conservatives for Patients Rights, last week on who’s winning the war over establishing or rejecting a single-payer, government-owned health-care system, Scott e-mailed:

“We are winning. Have not won yet. If you know of anyone who might want to contribute to Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, please let me know. With the economy tanking and without anyone really knowing Obama’s plans, he has less than 50% support. We will win.”

Be sure to read Scott’s essay below, too, which appeared last week on RealClearPolitics.com. Scott is real clear on putting the proposed health-care plans into perspective.

The amount of additional spending — on top of the $1.5 trillion national deficit expected this year — would require another $1.5 trillion to $3.5 trillion of government borrowing.

As Scott points out: How could that possibly be interpreted as reducing the cost of health care.
Don’t delay. Help Scott defeat these horrific proposals with contributions or call any Democratic senator or congressman you know and tell him: Vote no on these socio-economic, health-care disasters.

+ Siekmann calls it right
There’s something squirrelly about the Longboat Key Town Commission spending $25,000 on a consultant to fight roundabouts on N. Tamiami Trail.

It seems as though one of the first steps would be for Mayor Lee Rothenberg to meet face to face with Sarasota Mayor Richard Clapp. Call it a little peaceful detente session, during which Rothenberg could convey cordially the commission’s views on roundabouts and also find out whether the city even cares about keys’ residents views on roundabouts. He also could find out the city’s positions and motivations. Create a dialogue.

Meantime, while we’re coming around to the idea of roundabouts as a viable option for the smooth flow of traffic, Vice Mayor Bob Siekmann, nonetheless, succinctly challenged the rationale for roundabouts at, say, U.S. 41 and Gulfstream.

“Why do anything to make access more difficult?” Siekmann wrote in a letter to one of the city’s chief roundabout advocates, Rod Warner.

“Sarasota originally proposed roundabouts as a way to provide improved pedestrian access to the bayfront. That argument clearly didn’t wash. Now the argument emphasizes improved traffic flow. Until a clear and consistent message justifying roundabouts can be articulated, the project and the millions of dollars it requires does not deserve our support,” Siekmann wrote. He’s right.