Democrats changing their tune after Brown's victory, can stopping HC reform backfire?
As the Brown supporters run amok in Massachusetts comparing yesterday's election to the battle of Lexington and Concord, Democrats in Washington are scheming. Indeed, some of the rhetoric has dramatically changed from a full blown liberal charge to a more thoughtful and amicable tone. While some have proudly declared ObamaCare deceased, I think otherwise and find this new tone troubling. Allow me to share with you why a Brown victory may have very unintended consequences.
As discussed earlier, I objected to supporting Brown for the sole reason of stopping ObamaCare because I refused to believe that six months of negotiations would be flushed down the toilet. If he were just a slightly better candidate and had some semblance of Constitutional thought in him I would have gladly given my support, but as a candidate he was and still is more liberal than McCain. My main point at the time was that ObamaCare would pass as is and indeed still favor that outcome. For that to happen the House simply votes on the Senate version of the bill and declare victory. There is always budgetary reconciliation, but that is political kamikaze - the Democrats may score a hit, but they will be dead. So what else is there?
Here are some quotes from leading Democrats (more here):
Barney Frank(MA): "But our respect for democratic procedures must rule out any effort to pass a health care bill as if the Massachusetts election had not happened."
Diane Feinstein(CA): "I think we do go slower on health care. People do not understand it. it is so big it is beyond their comprehension."
Anthony Weiner(NY): "Large numbers of independent voters saying they're upset about health care, that's not just their fault, that's our fault too"
So what do you see? Keep in mind that the quotes are from some of the most progressive and liberal members of the Democrat party hailing from some of the bluest areas in America. They are not stupid, they have been paying attention and they know perfectly well that the health care reform bill is extremely unpopular. Every single poll from every single source suggested the American public rejected the bill. Yet it did not prevent the same Democrats from trying to pass it anyway. So what gives?
Here is the way I see it. Obama and our freshly minted liberal Congress in 2008 either accidentally or purposely misread the election of 2008. Obama is on tape promoting the virtues of a single payer universal health care system and I bet the three aforementioned Democrats would be equally happy with a Canadian/English style system. So they crafted a bill by themselves, purposely shutting out the Republicans on all negotiations. Some incorrectly believe that the Republicans were obstructionist, but they were deliberately shut out. Republicans have their own set of proposals, not anything meaningful, but far better than the current bill, yet they have been ignored. Why? Democrats riding on a wave of populism wanted to single-handedly transform our health care system thinking they were doing their constituency a favor. As the polls started coming in showing massive opposition they dismissed the results in their typical elitist fashion assuming that we stupid folks just did not get it. Nothing else explains the dead of night votes, secret deals and bribes, they were "doing it for our sake", but all of a sudden, they got an epiphany!
Here is the epiphany, I think they figured out that for the time being they are seriously over-reaching. We all know that our current system is broken and they assumed it was broken enough and people pissed off enough such that they could cram another entitlement program while raking in hundreds of billions in fresh revenues to soak up our crushing deficit. Wrong. It's not quite broken enough, we do not have enough federal intrusion and enough poisoning of the market to convince Americans that socialized medicine is the ticket. So what can Brown do for you? Brown can be the impetus that changes the entire tone of Washington.
As you can tell from the quotes the Democrats appear to be willing to play ball and playing ball is precisely what we do not want. Republicans function best as an opposition minority party; as you can see during Obama's first year. Republicans galvanized the public and brought outrage to the streets. What if this is about to change? There are aspects of the bill that the GOP dislikes, but they dislike being shut out from debate even more. So now the Democrats invite Republicans to the table, drop a few provisions, add a few GOP goodies and hammer out a version palatable to enough Republicans for passage. They will proudly slap a bi-partisan label on it and ship it to Obama. Worst case scenario instigated by what originally was meant to be an ObamaCare death blow. Crazy, but possible.
There is one other possibility, which is ironically the opposite of my previous idea. Because these quotes happen to come from some of the most liberal lawmakers, it is possible that they are trying to walk away from the bill to appease their liberal constituencies. Many progressive Americans are upset at a lack of a robust public option and upset their representatives support a bill they deem to be a gift for insurance companies and large pharmaceuticals. It is entirely possible that our left-leaning lawmakers are using this opportunity as political cover to undo the damage caused by supporting a bill many liberals dislike. After all, if Howard Dean suggested to start over, then it is obvious this bill stinks to high heaven.
If this last scenario plays out, rest assured that it will only be a matter of time until this thing comes back. Just like HillaryCare died and came back as ObamaCare, ObamaCare will die and come back as something more potent and more capable of passing. Believe it or not, our best option is reconciliation which will enrage the populace and provide an opportunity for Republicans to run as ObamaCare destroyers. Even passing the bill as is will have the desired effect of awakening the beast. This is the only way to permanently defeat and destroy a Federal attempt at health care takeover, failure to do so will ultimately result in Bernie Sanders' prophecy:
As discussed earlier, I objected to supporting Brown for the sole reason of stopping ObamaCare because I refused to believe that six months of negotiations would be flushed down the toilet. If he were just a slightly better candidate and had some semblance of Constitutional thought in him I would have gladly given my support, but as a candidate he was and still is more liberal than McCain. My main point at the time was that ObamaCare would pass as is and indeed still favor that outcome. For that to happen the House simply votes on the Senate version of the bill and declare victory. There is always budgetary reconciliation, but that is political kamikaze - the Democrats may score a hit, but they will be dead. So what else is there?
Here are some quotes from leading Democrats (more here):
Barney Frank(MA): "But our respect for democratic procedures must rule out any effort to pass a health care bill as if the Massachusetts election had not happened."
Diane Feinstein(CA): "I think we do go slower on health care. People do not understand it. it is so big it is beyond their comprehension."
Anthony Weiner(NY): "Large numbers of independent voters saying they're upset about health care, that's not just their fault, that's our fault too"
So what do you see? Keep in mind that the quotes are from some of the most progressive and liberal members of the Democrat party hailing from some of the bluest areas in America. They are not stupid, they have been paying attention and they know perfectly well that the health care reform bill is extremely unpopular. Every single poll from every single source suggested the American public rejected the bill. Yet it did not prevent the same Democrats from trying to pass it anyway. So what gives?
Here is the way I see it. Obama and our freshly minted liberal Congress in 2008 either accidentally or purposely misread the election of 2008. Obama is on tape promoting the virtues of a single payer universal health care system and I bet the three aforementioned Democrats would be equally happy with a Canadian/English style system. So they crafted a bill by themselves, purposely shutting out the Republicans on all negotiations. Some incorrectly believe that the Republicans were obstructionist, but they were deliberately shut out. Republicans have their own set of proposals, not anything meaningful, but far better than the current bill, yet they have been ignored. Why? Democrats riding on a wave of populism wanted to single-handedly transform our health care system thinking they were doing their constituency a favor. As the polls started coming in showing massive opposition they dismissed the results in their typical elitist fashion assuming that we stupid folks just did not get it. Nothing else explains the dead of night votes, secret deals and bribes, they were "doing it for our sake", but all of a sudden, they got an epiphany!
Here is the epiphany, I think they figured out that for the time being they are seriously over-reaching. We all know that our current system is broken and they assumed it was broken enough and people pissed off enough such that they could cram another entitlement program while raking in hundreds of billions in fresh revenues to soak up our crushing deficit. Wrong. It's not quite broken enough, we do not have enough federal intrusion and enough poisoning of the market to convince Americans that socialized medicine is the ticket. So what can Brown do for you? Brown can be the impetus that changes the entire tone of Washington.
As you can tell from the quotes the Democrats appear to be willing to play ball and playing ball is precisely what we do not want. Republicans function best as an opposition minority party; as you can see during Obama's first year. Republicans galvanized the public and brought outrage to the streets. What if this is about to change? There are aspects of the bill that the GOP dislikes, but they dislike being shut out from debate even more. So now the Democrats invite Republicans to the table, drop a few provisions, add a few GOP goodies and hammer out a version palatable to enough Republicans for passage. They will proudly slap a bi-partisan label on it and ship it to Obama. Worst case scenario instigated by what originally was meant to be an ObamaCare death blow. Crazy, but possible.
There is one other possibility, which is ironically the opposite of my previous idea. Because these quotes happen to come from some of the most liberal lawmakers, it is possible that they are trying to walk away from the bill to appease their liberal constituencies. Many progressive Americans are upset at a lack of a robust public option and upset their representatives support a bill they deem to be a gift for insurance companies and large pharmaceuticals. It is entirely possible that our left-leaning lawmakers are using this opportunity as political cover to undo the damage caused by supporting a bill many liberals dislike. After all, if Howard Dean suggested to start over, then it is obvious this bill stinks to high heaven.
If this last scenario plays out, rest assured that it will only be a matter of time until this thing comes back. Just like HillaryCare died and came back as ObamaCare, ObamaCare will die and come back as something more potent and more capable of passing. Believe it or not, our best option is reconciliation which will enrage the populace and provide an opportunity for Republicans to run as ObamaCare destroyers. Even passing the bill as is will have the desired effect of awakening the beast. This is the only way to permanently defeat and destroy a Federal attempt at health care takeover, failure to do so will ultimately result in Bernie Sanders' prophecy:
"At the end of the day - not this year, not next year, but sometime in the future - this country will come to understand that if we are going to provide comprehensive quality care to all of our people, the only way we will do that is through a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system, and I am glad to be able to start that debate by offering this amendment."Stay vigilant.
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