Since March, the health insurance industries have spent $133 million and the pharmaceutical corporations $162 million in lobbying to defeat health care reform legislation.

The public relations firm that created the phony swift boat ads, that helped to derail the election of John Kerry, is once again working for the Republican party and their bosses — big health insurance businesses. They are using the same deceptive tactics to defeat Democratic health care reform legislation.

Republican congressmen and their surrogates are lying to the American people about the health care reform plan, constantly repeating lies and falsehoods, such as government takeover, death panels for the elderly, instead of a living will which millions of Americans already have.

This all becomes part of a staged, well-organized, well-funded consortium of many far right-wing facets, all working in conjunction with each other, knowingly or not, to make sure Obama and the Democrats fail.

Apparently, most of those angry individuals who are disrupting town hall meetings have not come to the realization that Obama won the election and one of his campaign promises was  health care reform, including the public option, not mandatory, to compete with big insurance businesses — to keep them honest.

Those Republican congressmen who holler “no socialized medicine” are hypocrites, since members of Congress have practically free lucrative health insurance, more than 10 options to choose from, plus the use of government hospitals like Walter Reed, all subsidized by American taxpayers.

Also subsidized are Medicare, Medicaid, the veterans, health and human services, federal postal workers, the military and federal employees. Non-medical subsidies are also funded in part for the human good such as the airlines, Amtrack, PBS, farmers, the arts, transportation and highways. The list goes on.

One can only feel sorry for those people who are trying to sabotage health care reform legislation, because at some point they may have a family member, relative or friend who become one of the 46 million uninsured, denied coverage for pre-existing condition, overweight, can’t pay a sky-high premium, forced into medical bankruptcy to keep their house because of a catastrophic illness.

Whether you are a conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican or independent, without health care reform the greedy health insurance conglomerates retain the status quo and the rip off continues.

Mr. President, even though the waters have been muddied, the majority of the American people who voted for you are still behind you. Go for it.

T. Dan Hopkins

Lakeside