Obamacare: resisting progressive evil

By Alan Caruba

The author and conservative icon, Ayn Rand, wrote that "The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default; by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles."

The subject of evil is an ancient one and all the great religions grapplewith it, seek to identify it, to codify behavior against it, and to offer solace when one suffers from it.

I am by training a journalist, not a philosopher, so I tend to come at the subject of evil by noting what others have to say about it.

Edmund Burke (1729-1797), a British statesman, gained immortality when he wrote, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." He, like you, lived in turbulent times, but a study of history reveals that there has never been anything other than turbulent times for nations that have acquired the status of empire or for those ground under the heel of some despot.

Evil is a hothouse flower that blooms everywhere and all the time.

Evil flourishes best in times when money loses its value and chaos threatens. It can be argued that the steps taken at the end of the Bush term helped stabilize the financial crisis. It was largely brought about by a combination of government social justice programs like Fannie Mae and the natural greed of Wall Street. Only lately have we heard economists argue that enterprises deemed "too big to fail" should have been allowed to fail.

What make our present times so volatile are unemployment rates comparable to that of the 1930s during the Great Depression. I have news for you. We are in a new Great Depression. The foreclosures and failed businesses unable to secure banking lines of credit are the results of the same governmental errors that were intended to end the 1930s Depression and which are being repeated today. Just as it was then, the massive government spending only exacerbates the situation.

Stepping into the vacuum of anger and anguish in order to exploit it, we are witnessing the effort and intention to transform our economic system. It bespeaks a quest for power and the worst future imaginable by an administration determined to ignore the wishes of the majority of Americans.

I refer specifically to the Obama administration's and Democrat controlled Congress's manic focus on Medicare "reform" at a time when the only focus government should have is the relief of the taxpayer and the provision of incentives for businesses, large and small. The only cure for a Depression is jobs! Jobs! Jobs!

A recent Wall Street Journal editorial titled "Abuse of Power" said, "A string of electoral defeats and the great unpopularity of Obamacare can't stop Democrats from their self-appointed rendezvous with liberal destiny — ramming a bill through Congress on a narrow partisan vote."

"What we are about to witness is an extraordinary abuse of traditional Senate rules to pass a bill merely because they think it's good for the rest of us, and because they fear their chance to build a European welfare state may never come again."

This "progressive" intent to change American society and its healthcare system, to expand a federal government so bloated it is already incapable of functioning effectively, and to impose a socialism whose two main pieces of legislation, Social Security and Medicare, are broke, is simply evil.

The evil is particularly evident in the words and actions of Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who has actually urged Democrats in the House to drink the Obamacare Kool-Aid even if it means they will be defeated for election in November! As with all communists, ideology trumps common sense every time.

I think there is the potential for a significant difference between the peaceful gathering of nearly a million Americans in Washington, D.C. on September 12th of last year to protest Obamacare and the planned march in September of this year. If the crowd was angry last year — and it was — this year they well could go looking for Congressional Democrats like angry villagers in pursuit of Frankenstein.

We would do well to remember that the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770 in which British soldiers fired on civilians. It led to the Boston Tea Party in 1773. After that, the Revolution was firmly set in motion.

Justifiably angry Americans are not going to be in a mood to allow Congress and the White House to continue the mad spending calculated to be closing in on a national debt of $17 trillion.

Americans will not peacefully accept the government takeover of the healthcare sector; one sixth of the nation's economy.

Americans are not happy that the government and auto union now own General Motors.

Americans will no longer wait forever for our vast domestic reserves of oil to be opened for our use. Drill here and drill now will be heard. The same is true for Obama's and the Greens' war on coal and nuclear power.

Americans who came before us hung cattle rustlers as a warning to others, fought a Civil War to preserve the Union, fought the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese Empire in Asia at the same time, and then faced off with the Soviet Union for nearly a half century until it collapsed. After 9/11 we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq to degrade al Qaeda, the Taliban, and the despot, Saddam Hussein.

The coming midterm elections will, it is hoped, remove the "progressives" from Congress. The brakes on the Obama Express need to be applied because that train is taking America off the cliff.

If that doesn't happen, there are lots of Americans today, many that have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, who will not peacefully surrender to evil.

© Alan Caruba