Ignore Wal-Mart’s Self-Serving Endorsement, Government Care Will Fail

Whoever would have thought it would be possible for a guy like Sam Walton to start a business -- in a wide spot in the road like Bentonville, Ark. -- that would really amount to anything? It's even less imaginable that this business -- Wal-Mart -- would become the world's largest retailer, with an army of employees and millions of customers.

Volkswagen may have been the "people's car," but I've always thought of Wal-Mart as the "people's company." It employs everyday folks like us and saves billions of dollars for its customers around the world. Wal-Mart is certainly the epitome of the all-American entrepreneurial success story -- and a triumph of the freemarket system. At least that's the way it used to be.

These days, Mr. Walton's successor as CEO, Mike Duke, apparently feels that Wal-Mart can't compete any more. Wal-Mart needs the help of the federal government to "level the playing field." The giant retailer supports a mandate that would require all businesses -- except certain "yet to be determined" small businesses -- to (1) furnish health insurance coverage to their employees at levels designated by the federal government, or (2) pay a fee into a government fund to pay for such insurance. Mr. Duke expressed this desire in a recent letter to the Obama administration.

I never met Sam Walton, but something tells me that he wouldn't approve of his company's endorsement of this intrusion of the federal government into the affairs of private business.

I have a great deal of difficulty with the government mandating that business be required to provide health insurance. I can't seem to find that in the powers designated to the federal government in the Constitution.

But it's worse than just a government mandate. I'm convinced that this and other steps are all links in a chain that will ultimately bind us in a single-payer, government-controlled health care system like those currently failing in Canada, England, and Western Europe.

Whenever I speak to folks who are promoting government-provided health insurance, I always have some questions for them:

• Which one of our existing major American social programs do these folks think universal health care should be patterned after? Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid? The common thread that runs among these programs is that they are all costing many times what was originally projected -- and they are all fundamentally broke.

• Which successful universal health plan that exists in another country should we model our plan after? My investigations indicate that the Canadian, British, and Western European plans are failing and that many of these plans are now privatizing portions of their public health programs. An entire industry exists in the northern United States to service Canadians fleeing their county's health care system.

• Where is the money coming from to pay for any new health program? Everyone seems to think that the U.S. can weather any financial storm. But if one takes just a few minutes to add up our current income and expenses, we can't even come close to paying our existing obligations. It's just a matter of time until we will be paying dearly for our continual overextensions.

I have found many things truly amazing about the progressive onslaught against our freedoms -- and the reactions from various segments of our society to this invasion.

Near the top of the list of amazements has been the surrender of many large companies, and even industries, to the progressive agenda. Their mantra seems to be "We need to protect our bottom line and be favored by the current administration."

They seem to miss the point that their businesses -- and the nation -- cannot continue to prosper if they must endure an unending array of new costs, taxes, mandates, and regulations imposed by the federal government.

It's apparent to me that if we want to maintain our liberties and restore the American dream, the defense will have to be conducted by individuals and small groups who come together to influence our senators and congressmen -- and who replace those senators and congressmen who fail to be influenced.

Call your senators and congressmen today and tell them we want to make our own health insurance decisions, and we don't need any more government mandates. Then pay careful attention to how your representatives vote. Congressional elections are a little more than a year away.

Bob Bailie was selected the Master Entrepreneur for the state of Virginia in 1998. His business, Service Partners LLC, was named the fastestgrowing large company in Central Virginia in 1999. He lives in Mechanicsville. Contact him at .