Just three months into his first term, Americans had had enough of President Obama’s spending orgy and began to let their voices be heard by organizing tea parties protests.

The White House responded to these “tea parties” by saying these people were nothing but tea-baggers and the White House Press Secretary informed reporters that the president was unaware of the protest.

Now fast forward to August, and Americans are protesting the takeover of our healthcare system, much to the shock of the Democrats in Congress. I didn’t realize only Democrats could protest.

On Aug. 6, 2009, the president stated, “I don’t want the folks who created the mess to do a lot of talking. I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess.”

I’m sorry, but the last time I checked I had the right to voice my opinion. You would think that our community organizer president would be happy when communities organize. Apparently, he’s only happy when they organize to promote his views.

I guess the rest of America isn’t supposed to protest the “biggest power grab since FDR” so they simply call us names. If you disagree with the president’s socialist agenda, you are now part of a mob and are a “right-wing extremist.”

It appears that support for most of the president’s policies have now dipped below 50 percent. I grant that Americans wanted change back in November but not this kind of change. Americans are against the hijacking of our healthcare system, wary of government takeovers of industries, fed up with ballooning deficits, and our growing financial dependency on China.

Despite these poll numbers, liberals want to ram their legislation through, using the president’s charm to do so. And the American people have had enough.

Just like the tea party protests in April and July, the Democrats are labeling today’s town hall meetings as “staged,” “manufactured,” and “phony.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid took the low road and said the Republicans were “acting like babies” simply because they are voicing their opinion. The senator went on to say, “You’ve read about their Astroturf campaign ... They want to convince people they’re grassroots, and they’re not.”

Now that’s mature, isn’t it? Speaker Nancy Pelosi even accused the protesters of “carrying swastikas.” Columnist Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “these people aren’t Nazis, they’re Americans. Some of them looked like they’d actually spent some time fighting Nazis.”

The more Americans read the House bill on healthcare (something we would like the politicians to do) the more they disagree with its content.

Americans are against any takeover that will result in higher taxes, increased deficits or interruption of their existing coverage. This issue, like so many others, affects each and every one of us.

About a letter by Ed Outlaw in a recent edition: despite his claims, my letter was not “full of incorrect statements.” I am simply telling people what the liberals won’t.

It’s obvious Mr. Outlaw and I don’t see eye to eye on healthcare legislation. We can cite article after article in support and in opposition of a government takeover of our healthcare system.

In a recent article by Dr. Ezekial Emanuel, one of the president’s medical advisors, in January of this year, Dr. Emanuel announced “the complete lives system.”

This system would “produce a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most substantial chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated ... age can be established quickly and accurately from identity documents.”

This is where the president’s planned Federal Health Board will come into play and make choices for you on your healthcare.

Mr. Outlaw mentioned that Canadians are satisfied with their health care. A recent survey found that 83 percent of Americans are satisfied with their health care, so why should we change?

If Canadians are satisfied, then why do they come here for life-saving treatments and use the U.S. as a “medical-care safety valve?”

In 1997, Quebec citizen George Zeliotis was told he needed hip replacement surgery and that the wait time was one year, so he got on the list and waited. He was prohibited from purchasing private insurance under Quebec’s existing laws and couldn’t afford to pay for the surgery out of his own pocket.

Meanwhile, Dr. Jacques Chaoulli, an advocate for the private sector when it came to healthcare, attempted to get a license to “operate an independent private hospital” but was denied. The two men joined together and sued the Attorney General of Quebec.

In Chaoulli v. Quebec (2005), Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin of the Canadian Supreme Court stated “access to a waiting list is not access to healthcare” and Canadian Supreme Court Justice Marie Deschamps stated that “this case shows that delays in the public healthcare system are widespread, and that, in some cases, patients die as a result of waiting lists for public healthcare.”

While the decision affected only the Province of Quebec, it could set a precedent for the rest of Canada.

I am aware that Medicare is a government program, but according to the Medicare Trustee’s Report, this program will be bankrupt by 2017. Medicare has provided medical care for seniors, but the government hasn’t been able to run it efficiently, so why would we want them running healthcare for everyone?

When it comes to healthcare in America, one size doesn’t fit all.

Laura Lunsford

Fayetteville, Ga.