Well they managed to do it. The Senate Finance Committee passed the Baucus bill, thanks in part to a lone Republican Olympia Snowe, who, of course, voted for the bill. When it came to growing the government and attacking liberty, who didn't know that Snowe would go along with it? She is the only Republican to vote for any of the healthcare bills out there right now. She even got a shout out from the president ... how cool is that?! So now, the Senate must take this bill and work to merge it with another one. In other words, there is still A LOT of work to be done. This is far from over. So that is why I will continue to try to educate you about what we have in these healthcare bills.

The most important thing for you to understand is that this is NOT about improving American health care. It is ALL about controlling American health care. It is a bid for government power; a bid for political power. The ultimate goal is to further entrench the Democrat party in power ... from this day on.

Here's something else for you to gnaw on.

One of the reasons that Olympia Snowe may have voted for the Baucus bill is because of what she calls its "low" price tag -- $829 billion over ten years. But let's take a look at the big picture. Did you know that $507 billion of that $829 billion will be covered by NEW federal taxes and fees? That's not according to some insurance industry reports, that is according to the Congressional Budget Office.

CNSNews has a list of the new taxes and fees included in this Baucus bill:

-- $201 billion in new taxes on high-premium health care plans.

-- $83 billion in new taxes paid by workers who will receive less employer-sponsored coverage or lose that coverage altogether but will be compensated with higher wages or monetary benefits, which are taxable.

-- $23 billion in penalty fees paid by employers who do not comply with the federal insurance mandate.

-- $4 billion in penalty fees paid by individuals who don't have health insurance.

-- $16 billion in new income and Medicare payroll tax revenue due to changes in Medicare.

-- $180 billion in other tax revenues items calculated by the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT).

According to the JCT, this $180 billion in new taxes would include: A new tax on prescription drug makers that would account for $22.2 billion over 10 years; a new tax on medical device manufacturers that would bring in $38.6 billion; and a new annual tax on insurance companies would net the government $60.4 billion.

Are you starting to notice a trend here? More taxes. More government. More bureaucrats. The Democrats are creating bigger government with more strings attached to the purse.

Elections have consequences.