When Teddy Roosevelt first proposed a system of single payer insurance for the United States, it was popular and quite nearly a done deal. That is, until the AMA intervened and began a whisper campaign about how it would "socialize health care" and place patients under government control. During the 21st century battle for universal health care, President Obama was able to get the AMA on board with it, which is part of the reason it actually passed.

How did he do that? Well, part of the reason it worked is because the AMA has splintered into subgroups, sometimes according to specialty and other times according to political bent. One of the more prominent (and scary!) splinter groups is the American Association of Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), of which Rand Paul is a member.

The AAPS just had a tea party on September 18th. Not only did Rand Paul attend, so did our favorite Nevada teabagger, Sharron Angle. And not only Sharron Angle, but Georgia's Paul Broun, also a doctor.

This group holds some pretty interesting views for an organization that's supposed to be comprised of doctors. Here's their manifesto against health care reform with my italicized remarks next to each point:

Subject physicians to the greater control of insurance company oversight Yeah, there's some government-run healthcare for ya...

Deter innovation by physicians because insurance companies won't allow it - And this is different from today how?

Impoverish patients by forcing them to pay for expensive insurance they may not use. Of all the points, this one is the most absurd. Yes, I'm looking at my poor little dead retirement account when I say that.

Enrich insurance companies at the expense of patients and physicians Again, this is different from today how, exactly?

Eliminate the growing market of self-paying patients Also? Eliminates bankruptcy due to medical debt.

Bankrupt government programs and potentially lead to a government takeover Oh, from their concerns to God's ears. Please, let it be so.

Cause many physicians to stop practicing, leading to shortages and long waiting lines Petulant physicians? Say it isn't so!

This organization boasts about fighting "HillaryCare" and winning, and they've currently filed suit to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Folks, these are doctors. Did I miss something, or aren't they supposed to care about people dying because they have no access to health care? Is it really just all about the almighty dollar?

Health care reform notwithstanding, a read of their website really suggests their subname is "John Birchers' Working Physician Subgroup." Or something else, darker.

Where I put on my tinfoil hat and marvel

One of their recommended essays on the site is entitled Isaiah's Job and is recommended reading for those with a "touch of the libertarian blues." The author, Albert Jay Nock, delineates between the "masses" and the "Remnant". Here is a description of each:

As the word masses is commonly used, it suggests agglomerations of poor and underprivileged people, laboring people, proletarians. But it means nothing like that; it means simply the majority. The mass-man is one who has neither the force of intellect to apprehend the principles issuing in what we know as the humane life, nor the force of character to adhere to those principles steadily and strictly as laws of conduct; and because such people make up the great, the overwhelming majority of mankind, they are called collectively the masses. The line of differentiation between the masses and the Remnant is set invariably by quality, not by circumstance. The Remnant are those who by force of intellect are able to apprehend these principles, and by force of character are able, at least measurably, to cleave to them. The masses are those who are unable to do either.

In other words, there are those appointed, and the rest of us. Those appointed are the "Isaiah group", which not only was Isaiah himself, but the remaining few God chose to spare when he destroyed Jerusalem. And this essayist believes with all his heart that he is one of them.

You do not know, and will never know, who the Remnant are, nor where they are, nor how many of them there are, nor what they are doing or will do. Two things you know, and no more: first, that they exist; second, that they will find you. Except for these two certainties, working for the Remnant means working in impenetrable darkness; and this, I should say, is just the condition calculated most effectively to pique the interest of any prophet who is properly gifted with the imagination, insight, and intellectual curiosity necessary to a successful pursuit of his trade.

And they dare to call progressives elites?

Other pillars of the AAPS platform

Repeal Medicare. Put insurance companies out of business. Let doctors set their own fees, and if patients can't pay, well, that's one less "mass-man" to have to deal with. Freedom, to these people is anarchy. Anarchy is liberty. Liberty is freedom.

Vaccinations? Only if you feel like it. If you don't, well, God will know his own.

When these goals are realized, the Remnant will have established the correct social order.

This is what Rand Paul stands for. This is what Sharron Angle stands for. This is what already-elected Paul Broun stands for.

Strangely, however, their anarchical libertarian stance erodes when it comes to abortion, and then bounces back to some really bizarre views. They adamantly oppose abortion and a woman's right to choose, do not accept HIV as the cause of AIDS, suggested that Barack Obama is a hypnotist who seduced the masses into voting for him in 2008, and more. Here's what they said about Obama as hypnotist:

The paper goes on to say that Obama’s “mesmerized, cult-like, grade-school-crush-like worship by millions is not because ‘Obama is the greatest leader of a generation’ who simply hasn’t accomplished anything, who magically ‘inspires’ by giving speeches. Obama is committing perhaps the biggest fraud and deception in American history.” The AAPS article notes that the Obama campaign logo “might just be the letter ‘O,’ but it also resembles a crystal ball, a favorite of hypnotists.”

Let's just call them what they are: White-coat wingnuts. It scares me more that these guys are licensed to practice medicine than the idea of them being in politics.

Jack Conway is now dead even with Rand Paul. Let's send Rand back to the white coat wingnuts, and elect someone who doesn't consider their consituents "mass-men".