A.J. DiCintio
There is method in Obama's healthcare madness
By A.J. DiCintio
President Obama and other liberal elites can lie until the limousines come home that the near landslide majority of Americans who reject Obamacare have been duped by fear mongering geniuses of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
But that won't change the truth:
This majority have simply combined their knowledge of the bill's various incarnations with their experience, common sense, and understanding of arguments made by experts and thoughtful commentators to arrive at the conclusion that Obamacare is a treacherous scheme concocted by liberals to federalize 16% of the nation's economy.
The fact is, then, that despite the crocodile tears shed by liberals, the "what" of Obamacare has been discussed at great length — and great suffering by a nauseated public.
However, there has been, sadly, little said about Obamacare's "why" as represented by this question:
Why would Obama and congressional Democrats alienate Conservatives, Moderates, Independents, and Libertarians to the extent that they invite a brutal punishment of the Democratic Party in the next two national elections, at least?
My answer to the question is that political leaders in love with centralized power have forever made choices that astonish us in their perversion of morality and reason.
Here is how I believe that reality pertains to the current crop of true-believers who are willing to suffer any temporary pain to advance "The Revolution."
Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et al. know it is a virtually impossibility that Republicans will achieve a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate as a result of the 2010 Election.
Thus, they reason, any healthcare bill they pass will be protected by a presidential veto at least until January, 2013. Moreover, they are right to conclude that if Obama is re-elected, a veto is almost certain to protect the bill until January, 2017.
This currently powerful coterie of liberals also reason that even if voters place Republicans in control of the presidency and Congress in '12, the fierce protest will mean nothing with respect to repealing Obamacare unless it results in a 60 vote majority in the Senate, a very unlikely result.
Yes, Obama and his minions have every reason to believe that having learned all the ins and outs of the Reconciliation Maneuver from their forcing of Obamacare upon the nation, future Democratic Senators will not fail to filibuster any attempt at repeal, thus making certain there is no bill for a Republican House to "reconcile" and a Republican president to sign.
Finally, Obama and Friends are counting on two other outcomes that have a reasonably good chance of occurring:
(1) As happened with respect to judicial activism (the diabolically insidious liberal "improvement" upon FDR's crude, blatant attempt to "pack" the Supreme Court), a jaded public may come to believe protest is useless and give up the fight over Obamacare.
(2) Because Obamacare does nothing to deal with the real causes of rising healthcare costs, it may actually gain adherents among voters as runaway premiums for health insurance anger citizens and businesses — the anger certain to be intensified to rage if we continue to live in the "new normal," the name the respected PIMCO investment firm gives to its forecast of long-term slower growth for the U.S. economy.
(Regarding the possibility just mentioned, no common sense person can miss the symbiotic relationship that exists between it and Obama's insane Spend, Borrow, and Tax economic policy, which is designed to deal the nation a "new normal" in spades.)
So, what is the most important conclusion we ought to draw from the fact that there is indeed a method in Obama's healthcare madness?
As Edgar Allan Poe's archetypical private eye would have observed, the answer to the question is at once easy and difficult.
The easy part lies in simply admitting that if We the People wish to create a healthcare system that reflects and protects the best of Traditional America, we face a fight almost as profound as the one accepted by America's Founders.
The complex part resides in another question:
If Obama "reconciles" his bill into law, will we be willing to dedicate ourselves to the battle cry that shouts, "Repeal Obamacare!" with the kind of courageous, freedom loving, innovative, resolute spirit that led the Patriots to their astounding victory more than 200 years ago?
© A.J. DiCintio
March 9, 2010
President Obama and other liberal elites can lie until the limousines come home that the near landslide majority of Americans who reject Obamacare have been duped by fear mongering geniuses of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.
But that won't change the truth:
This majority have simply combined their knowledge of the bill's various incarnations with their experience, common sense, and understanding of arguments made by experts and thoughtful commentators to arrive at the conclusion that Obamacare is a treacherous scheme concocted by liberals to federalize 16% of the nation's economy.
The fact is, then, that despite the crocodile tears shed by liberals, the "what" of Obamacare has been discussed at great length — and great suffering by a nauseated public.
However, there has been, sadly, little said about Obamacare's "why" as represented by this question:
Why would Obama and congressional Democrats alienate Conservatives, Moderates, Independents, and Libertarians to the extent that they invite a brutal punishment of the Democratic Party in the next two national elections, at least?
My answer to the question is that political leaders in love with centralized power have forever made choices that astonish us in their perversion of morality and reason.
Here is how I believe that reality pertains to the current crop of true-believers who are willing to suffer any temporary pain to advance "The Revolution."
Obama, Pelosi, Reid, et al. know it is a virtually impossibility that Republicans will achieve a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate as a result of the 2010 Election.
Thus, they reason, any healthcare bill they pass will be protected by a presidential veto at least until January, 2013. Moreover, they are right to conclude that if Obama is re-elected, a veto is almost certain to protect the bill until January, 2017.
This currently powerful coterie of liberals also reason that even if voters place Republicans in control of the presidency and Congress in '12, the fierce protest will mean nothing with respect to repealing Obamacare unless it results in a 60 vote majority in the Senate, a very unlikely result.
Yes, Obama and his minions have every reason to believe that having learned all the ins and outs of the Reconciliation Maneuver from their forcing of Obamacare upon the nation, future Democratic Senators will not fail to filibuster any attempt at repeal, thus making certain there is no bill for a Republican House to "reconcile" and a Republican president to sign.
Finally, Obama and Friends are counting on two other outcomes that have a reasonably good chance of occurring:
(1) As happened with respect to judicial activism (the diabolically insidious liberal "improvement" upon FDR's crude, blatant attempt to "pack" the Supreme Court), a jaded public may come to believe protest is useless and give up the fight over Obamacare.
(2) Because Obamacare does nothing to deal with the real causes of rising healthcare costs, it may actually gain adherents among voters as runaway premiums for health insurance anger citizens and businesses — the anger certain to be intensified to rage if we continue to live in the "new normal," the name the respected PIMCO investment firm gives to its forecast of long-term slower growth for the U.S. economy.
(Regarding the possibility just mentioned, no common sense person can miss the symbiotic relationship that exists between it and Obama's insane Spend, Borrow, and Tax economic policy, which is designed to deal the nation a "new normal" in spades.)
So, what is the most important conclusion we ought to draw from the fact that there is indeed a method in Obama's healthcare madness?
As Edgar Allan Poe's archetypical private eye would have observed, the answer to the question is at once easy and difficult.
The easy part lies in simply admitting that if We the People wish to create a healthcare system that reflects and protects the best of Traditional America, we face a fight almost as profound as the one accepted by America's Founders.
The complex part resides in another question:
If Obama "reconciles" his bill into law, will we be willing to dedicate ourselves to the battle cry that shouts, "Repeal Obamacare!" with the kind of courageous, freedom loving, innovative, resolute spirit that led the Patriots to their astounding victory more than 200 years ago?
© A.J. DiCintio
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(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
