Richard K. Armey: “Well, Mr. Speaker, there they go again, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle feigning moral outrage about…”

“Well, Mr. Speaker, there they go again, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle feigning moral outrage about something they think they might have imagined they read accurately reported in the paper. The outrage of the week apparently is the fact that I had the temerity to admit publicly that, if I lived in a free world, I would have a world in which I would be free to choose personally and individually that I, as an individual American citizen, would have the freedom to decide for myself whether or not I would enroll myself in a Government-provided benefits program. Now I do not have the freedom today to decline from paying my FICA taxes to fund that program for those that are enrolled in it today, and I accept that I pay my taxes. I just made the observation yesterday that, when I am 65, I would like to be free to choose not to become, in any extent, a ward of the state. I would like to choose, if I dare make the choice for myself, to not have the Government decide any part of my health care destiny.”