President Obama and current Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, are not about to roll over in the face of the incoming Republican Senate majority. Their first confirmation victory in the remaining days of the current congress occurred Monday evening with the confirmation of 37 year old Dr. Vivek Murthy as U.S. Surgeon General.
Murthy's nomination has been in limbo since he was first nominated in 2013. It seems everyone of Obama's nominations has been made on the basis of strong political allegiance to the president's radical ideological agenda, rather than what is in the best interest of America and Americans.
The
position of U.S. Surgeon General would seem to have no place for
politics, but it is now obvious it has become politicized with the
confirmation of a doctor with little practical experience and a strong
desire to politicize the position along the exact radical political
lines and agenda of the president.
What makes this otherwise nondescript position rather important in these times, revolves around two points to be made.
Again,
Dr. Murthy is medically inexperienced, which makes it questionable if
he is actually qualified for the position of the nation's Surgeon
General. Murthy's greatest activity has been centered around his
creation of an activist group called Doctors for America, which was
originally called Doctors for Obama and is essentially a propaganda
machine for all things on President Obama's agenda, the most significant
of which is gun control of all things.
The
second and most important point to be made is that Murthy brings
blatant politics to the position of Surgeon General. In particular,
he is a political hack with a political activist agenda bent upon
using the power of his office to push for wide ranging and radical
national gun control laws, rules and regulations by co-opting the
lagging liberal gun control agenda and declaring guns to be a national
health concern.
Needless to say, the NRA
considers Murthy a most serious detriment to an individual's
exercise of their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Republicans in the new Congress will have to be very vigilant in
monitoring his activities as he uses his position as a bully
pulpit for national gun control. Republicans will be further challenged
to rein in Murthy as he tries to use his position for gun control
objectives.
Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) voted
no because of his concern with Murthy's strident political
activism in the anti-gun movement. When Manchin voted against Murthy,
you know there is concern among even some Democrats about Murthy's
extreme activism on gun control issues. However, even with Manchin's
"no" vote, the Democrats managed a 51-43 vote for confirmation of Murthy
with their current majority in the Senate, which will change on January
3, 2015, with a Republican majority of 54-46.
Here
are some of the radical items on Dr. Murthy's agenda as Surgeon General
as propounded by the group Doctors for America, which he founded. Some
of these items are recycled liberal goals, but some are even more
radical than liberals have even thought to push for.
- A federal ban on the sale of assault weapons and ammunition
- Buyback programs
- Strengthening “regulations for guns used for hunting, sport, and self-protection”
- Universal background checks and licenses for anyone purchasing guns and ammunition
- Mandatory firearm safety training and testing
- Regulation of private sales and transfers of guns and ammunition
- Mandatory waiting periods of at least 48 hours
- Limits on the purchase of ammunition
- Better policing of neighborhoods with a high concentration of gun violence
- Prohibit laws preventing physicians from discussing gun safety with patients.
- Remove the provision in the Affordable Care Act and other federal policies that prohibit physicians from documenting gun ownership.
- Invest in improving access to mental health resources.
- Reinstating CDC and NIH funding for firearms injury and death prevention research.
- Removing restrictions in the Affordable Care Act and other legislation that prohibits databases and data collection on gun violence programs.
- Ensuring that newly implemented programs are studied carefully to assess impact.
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Rob Janicki is a retired educator, strong supporter of the 2nd amendment and all around good guy, as well as owner/operator of the website Wired Right and owes me 20 bucks.