Why would someone elected to represent Hoosiers in a congressional district where the people are suffering in this economy, and who are strongly pro-life, vote in favor of President Obama's job-killing, deficit-inflating, tax-raising bill?

In the instance of Congressman Brad Ellsworth from Evansville, the answer to this question is even more elusive when you consider that he caved into his national party bosses well before a dubious deal was cut by a colleague of his to trade protection of the unborn for an executive order on federal funding of abortions. Congressman Ellsworth must now explain convincingly to Hoosiers why he voted for higher taxes, more government intervention and for radical liberal policies that Americans have rejected time and time again.

I am dismayed and disturbed by his votes in favor of the Obama-Pelosi health care bill. Why? His actions are directly counter to an overwhelming and consistent majority of Hoosiers who adamantly oppose this intrusion into their personal healthcare. In the end, if you don't listen to your constituents and you don't represent them, then why on Earth are you in Congress?

I was particularly shocked to learn about his decision to vote in favor of Obamacare because I've spent a lot of time in his district in southwestern Indiana. The good people there - who twice helped elect me to the Senate - want to hear about an economic recovery plan that does not include more deficit spending and higher taxes. They want affordable and targeted medicine for a health care system that needs Washington to treat only its real symptoms.

Hoosiers want a prescription for a healthier system that includes a number of fixes for critical ailments such as portability, increased competition in the marketplace to drive down costs, ensuring those with pre-existing conditions can receive the care they need, reforming insurance and medical liability, strengthening transparency and accountability, and pooling options for small business owners and employees without sticking them with massive tax increases.

So when Congressman Ellsworth says he's been talking to Hoosiers, I'm simply not sure which Hoosiers he's been talking to. In my travels across the state there has been consistent, overwhelming opposition to the president's radical health care plan. People don't want nationalized health care; they want a healthier system that can be paid for and they want good jobs.

Just days after Governor Mitch Daniels' statement on the enormously negative impact in Indiana - with billions of dollars in new taxes - Congressman Ellsworth's vote is an enormous error and a stunning example of how members of Congress can lose their way when they listen to their national party bosses like Nancy Pelosi, rather than to the people they represent back home.

There are plenty of reasons to oppose the Obama-Pelosi health care plan, but to think Congressman Ellsworth could support legislation that will raise premiums on Hoosier families, eliminate the Healthy Indiana Plan, raise taxes and cause Hoosiers to lose their jobs is incomprehensible.

When Congressman Ellsworth was given the opportunity to cast a vote on behalf of Hoosiers, he chose instead to side with Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and the national Democrat party bosses. It is time for Congress to stop, to listen to the voters who sent them to Washington, and to put together a rational, targeted approach to true health care reform.

If Congressman Ellsworth doesn't provide a convincing answer for his vote, then Hoosiers may start to wonder about a larger issue here, and that is the matter of standing up for what you believe in. The bottom line is Ellsworth caved to White House pressure.

While serving in the Senate in 1990, I voted against a high profile increase in taxes being proposed by a president of my own party who I supported and respected. I chose to vote against my president because I had pledged to the people of Indiana, as I do again, to not vote for any increase in taxes. Support for the president of your party is important, but it does not mean you have to compromise your basic principles and promises to the people you represent.

Today's health care debacle is more than just about one vote and one issue. Many Hoosiers are now wondering whether it may say something larger about standing on principle, about strength in the face of Washington pressure, and about the type of person we can trust to represent us in the U.S. Senate.