Flagged myself for White House

Geoffrey Lawrence

In light of the official blog of the White House soliciting Americans to report any individuals or publications that have spoken in opposition of the government’s proposed takeover of the health care industry, I decided to save the taxpayers some money and go ahead and report myself. The following is the email that I sent to the Secretary of Censorship at the White House:

Dear Big Brother:

I’d like to take this opportunity to voluntarily “flag” myself for spreading “stubborn” facts about your pending hostile takeover of the American health care industry. I had considered allowing the complaints to filter through the standard bureaucratic maze before the Gestapo are informed with the appropriate intelligence and take measures to stop my “subversive” actions. However, I have resolved to save the taxpayers some money in that regard and go ahead and report myself. Don’t worry, I do not anticipate my generosity toward the American taxpayer to be rewarded so please do not concern yourself with recognizing this magnanimous gesture with any positive feedback.

I recognize that our philosophical differences can never be resolved. I believe in the liberal traditions of limited government, individual rights and free enterprise. This philosophical viewpoint has informed my belief that health care decisions are best when made between an individual and his or her physician. This is best facilitated through an open marketplace for individual insurance policies coupled with health savings accounts and reform of the tax code.

It has become increasingly clear that your viewpoint, Big Brother, is that you should rule with absolute power over all subjects and that one essential component of this form of despotism is to empower government bureaucrats with the ability to arbitrarily determine who lives or who dies by denying health care to those who might threaten your authoritarian control.

In point of highlighting my lack of conformity to the Ministry of Propaganda’s official teachings, please allow me to call your attention to the following publications: Personal and Portable; Health Care for the Newly Unemployed. These have had the audacity to run in private publications that have not fallen under the auspices of official Ministry censorship.

Once again, I am acting only out of compassion for the American taxpayer in order to lower the burden on your expanding bureaucracy. Of course, I am not so presumptuous as to anticipate that constitutional protections might be extended to me regarding these infractions. You, Big Brother, have made clear through the so-called “bailouts” and “stimulus” activities in which you have recently engaged as well as the illegal bankruptcy workout of General Motors that the rule of law has been suspended here in these United States and that the Constitution is no longer in force.

I’d further like to highlight that I still have a meager amount of income that I am able to use to provide for some of my basic needs and which is not being sacrificed for “the greater good.” Please come confiscate it as well as any means I might have available to protect myself from your tyrannical control.

I am looking forward to my new home in one of your new government work camps.

Sincerely,
Geoffrey Lawrence

Geoffrey Lawrence

Geoffrey Lawrence

Director of Research

Geoffrey Lawrence is director of research at Nevada Policy.

Lawrence has broad experience as a financial executive in the public and private sectors and as a think tank analyst. Lawrence has been Chief Financial Officer of several growth-stage and publicly traded manufacturing companies and managed all financial reporting, internal control, and external compliance efforts with regulatory agencies including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  Lawrence has also served as the senior appointee to the Nevada State Controller’s Office, where he oversaw the state’s external financial reporting, covering nearly $10 billion in annual transactions. During each year of Lawrence’s tenure, the state received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting Award from the Government Finance Officers’ Association.

From 2008 to 2014, Lawrence was director of research and legislative affairs at Nevada Policy and helped the institute develop its platform of ideas to advance and defend a free society.  Lawrence has also written for the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation, with particular expertise in state budgets and labor economics.  He was delighted at the opportunity to return to Nevada Policy in 2022 while concurrently serving as research director at the Reason Foundation.

Lawrence holds an M.A. in international economics from American University in Washington, D.C., an M.S. and a B.S. in accounting from Western Governors University, and a B.A. in international relations from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke.  He lives in Las Vegas with his beautiful wife, Jenna, and their two kids, Carson Hayek and Sage Aynne.