Last week I suggested that upcoming healthcare summit at the White House was just for show – a play fake to give Obama the appearance of bi-partisanship, but was really intended to set the stage for congressional liberals to “go nuclear” and ram ObamaCare through Congress using budget reconciliation rules. We got some unfortunate evidence validating my concerns yesterday.

More than a dozen Senate Democrats and 119 House Democrats are asking the president not only to use reconciliation, but also to include the most radical ideas, such as the so-called “public option.” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), the third highest ranking House Democrat, said yesterday, “If you’re not going to do a 60-vote strategy, but instead a 50-plus-one strategy [reconciliation], the public option could very well be part of this package.”

This is a very disturbing development. Here’s why: The public option is a gigantic leap toward socialism and Big Government control over your life. The public option is the vehicle liberals will use to achieve single-payer socialized medicine in America. Barney Frank admits it. The radical Left knows it. And Barack Obama wants it.

On Monday, Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid announced a grand compromise on healthcare “reform” legislation. To please the leftwing base of his party, Reid’s bill would include a government-run public option – the first step toward socialized medicine in America. That’s not my opinion, but Barney Franks’. To attract the votes of moderate Democrats, Reid announced that his plan would allow states to opt-out of the public option.

The state legislature would have to vote on legislation to opt-out, and the governor would have to sign the opt-out bill. But here’s the catch: There is no opting-out of the taxes to pay for this new $1 trillion entitlement program. All the taxes and penalties would remain in effect, so citizens of states that opt-out would still end up paying for a program they can’t access. As Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said, “the big [liberal] states will [opt-in] and the rest of us will end up paying for their excesses.” Remember what happened to the conservative governors who tried to “opt-out” of the stimulus money?

Last night on MSNBC, leftwing radical Ed Schultz was effusive with praise for Harry Reid’s “opt-out” deception. Schultz stated flatly what drives liberal politics: get constituents hooked on government programs and you have a guaranteed voting base. Schultz said of the public option:

“This is a great move by the Democrats. …Once you give it [the public option] to them, they don’t want to give it up. That’s the way it’s gonna be. I think this is a great move by Harry Reid. The public option is a public option. And it is – it is – the first step toward single payer [socialized medicine]. That’s what we progressives want. This is just the road to get there.”

It couldn’t be clearer than that. Liberal politicians and leftwing progressives are taking us down the road toward socialism, toward confiscatory tax rates, even bigger government, greater spending and more debt.

Your freedom is at stake. The standard of living you have enjoyed will be denied to your children and grandchildren if this new trillion-dollar entitlement program passes. And the quality of healthcare that is available today will be destroyed if government gets involved.