Despite promises to the contrary, not only have Washington liberals been non-transparent in the passage of the federal takeover of the healthcare industry, they’re now being equally secretive in its implementation. President Obama’s secretary of health and human services was in Texas for an invite-only community discussion. I bet your invitation was lost in the mail, too.

Patrick Henry famously said, “The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.” In America, the people are the rulers. But when we abdicate our power, opportunistic politicians fill the vacuum.

Case in point. Today in the DFW metroplex, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius held a closed-door meeting at the Heritage Senior Center to discuss aspects of Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare.

It was reported to Empower Texans by individuals who tried to enter the meeting at this public meeting place, that they and others were turned away at the door. They were unceremoniously told it was an invite-only event. So much for open government.

Who put together the invitation list, and who was invited? After all, this is a government program poised to restrict healthcare options for all Americans, and will impact Texas taxpayers in the billions of dollars.

The Administration is bent on thrusting this legislation onto the American people by hook, crook, and out-right deception, as needed.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and others have filed suit against the federal government, in part, over its use of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause to compel American’s not participating in commerce to purchase health insurance.

Now administration officials at the Justice Department are shifting their legal tact, and suggesting that the legislation falls within the Congressional power to “lay and collect taxes.” So it really is what we said along: just a big money grab.

The only problem with that is Congress and the Administration sold the 2,000-page bill promising that it was not a new tax. But who expects Washington liberals to keep their promises, let alone know what they’re voting on?

This is a good argument for reading the bill before it’s passed. If it was made available, maybe members of Congress and active observers would have actually known what was in it, and what the legal ramifications were.

And there wouldn’t need to be covert briefings for select groups about what’s now the law of the land.

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