State Senator Jane Cunningham is making an effort to secure enough votes to put an opt-out proposal on the 2010 ballot. "We want to shield Missouri from unconstitutional mandates,'' Cunningham said.
A website called TPM is reporting that Cunningham said she had 17 Senate sponsors and co-sponsors, including herself. That's half of the 34-member Senate.
Senator Claire McCaskill (D, MO) has called the idea "pretty dumb," while Democrat Missouri Governor Jay Nixon is urging Missouri lawmakers to "think twice" before adopting any opt out plan. Actually, I would hope our lawmakers would give it more thought than just to "think twice." The KMOX website reports that Nixon is calling for the "loud talkers" from the summer to shut up; now it's time for "cooler heads" to prevail. That's right, Jay, you politicians know so much better than the people do about what is good for all of us. I'm thinking he got the "sit down and shut up" line from Obama--just sayin'. Hey Jay, have you noticed Obama's polls lately?
Nixon argues that it would be "like seceding from the Nation" if Missouri opts out of health care (but he doesn't say if that would be a bug or a feature). And Missouri is far from the only state considering the opt out option. As of the end of December (it's hard to find solid figures on this, because it's not something that's being widely reported), at least 21 states are organizing efforts to opt out of the federal plan.
Reported by a site called AlterNet.org, lawmakers in Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana, Kansas, Texas, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, Arizona, Alabama, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alaska, Minnesota, North Dakota, Georgia Illinois and Florida have introduced ballot measures to protect their states from reform legislation or promised to spearhead such eforts if reform is enacted.
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