Thomas Sowell: ‘Defund Obamacare’ effort ‘futile and foredoomed’

The Daily Caller ^ | 9-24-2013 | Caroline May

[Little Ray]

We know we don’t have to down with sword in hand - Obama is gone 21 January 2017.

Since the ‘Pubbies don’t have the guts to impeach him and his co-conspirators (and since there is no chance of any convictions from the Senate) for their multitude of crimes, we’re left with damage control. That means de-funding ObamaCare and throwing monkey wrenches in his plans where ever we can.

[LyinLibs]

I LOVE Sowell, but on this point he (and the phalanx of French Republicans) are dead wrong.

Since when do we say, “Don’t resist Hitler because it provides a distraction that will be exploited by Goebbels?”

That logic is absurd. Of course Axelrod/Goebbels will use anything and everything to distract from their Marxist coup and prop up Obamatollah.

That will ALWAYS be true. It’s a “constant.” Why in hell would we use that fact as an excuse to ‘not fight’ tyranny?

Are the Roves and Krauthammers psychic? Do they gave the gift of clairvoyance? They can tell us with certainty that opponents of Death Panels will LOSE, therefore should surrender before the fight begins?

Obamatollah is a pathological liar and many drones awakened to it when he abandoned 36 Americans in Benghazi, then concocted a sick lie about an obscure YouTube video to cover his treason.

Following that, Omoslem has just changed the law to legalize his weapons shipments to AL QAEDA terrorists. This is the politician that’s so clever we won’t dare oppose him on Obamacare because we’ll lose public opinion?

[Elsie]

Thomas Sowell: ‘Defund Obamacare’ effort ‘futile and foredoomed’

So?

At LEAST the American people will KNOW that we tried, when they see the world caving in around them!

[VerySadAmerican]

Isn’t that a hell of a note! It’s going to destroy our country and it should be defunded but republicans shouldn’t try to defund it. obama and Roberts should be impeached but they shouldn’t be impeached.

When a person runs on a certain issue and attempts to do what he promised, his efforts are futile.

And obama doesn’t need cover from the scandals. The rinos and the press give him all the cover he needs.

[LyinLibs]

I LOVE Sowell, but on this point he (and the phalanx of French Republicans) are dead wrong.

Since when do we say, “Don’t resist Hitler because it provides a distraction that will be exploited by Goebbels?”

That logic is absurd. Of course Axelrod/Goebbels will use anything and everything to distract from their Marxist coup and prop up Obamatollah.

That will ALWAYS be true. It’s a “constant.” Why in hell would we use that fact as an excuse to ‘not fight’ tyranny?

Are the Roves and Krauthammers psychic? Do they gave the gift of clairvoyance? They can tell us with certainty that opponents of Death Panels will LOSE, therefore should surrender before the fight begins?

Obamatollah is a pathological liar and many drones awakened to it when he abandoned 36 Americans in Benghazi, then concocted a sick lie about an obscure YouTube video to cover his treason.

Following that, Omoslem has just changed the law to legalize his weapons shipments to AL QAEDA terrorists. THIS is the politician that’s so clever we won’t dare oppose him on Obamacare because we’ll lose public opinion?

By the standard declared by Sowell (and by Rove; Krauthammer; the entire GOP), the more devious the Tyrant, the less we should resist. Their logic being, "This particular Tyrant is so devilish, so evil, so calculating, that resisting him only plays into his hands and gives him a weapon to use against you. Therefore, just do whatever to Tyrant wants and keep your head down."

That sounds like "Just go with the flow, and hopefully the alligator will eat you last."

That strategy sounds great until the alligator finished eating everybody else and finally arrives at your house to eat you. At that moment, Sowell/Krauthammer/Rove don't swoop down wearing a red cape and save you from the alligator -- because they #1 Are still hiding, or #2 Got eaten by the alligator already.

[frog in a pot]

After a couple of years of ObamaCare we will have our own Stasi knocking on our doors and hauling us off while our neighbors cower in their homes peeking through the curtains in terror. Soon a lot of your neighbors are going to be informants in order to buy themselves a little protection.

Too many of our elected "betters" apparently fail to comprehend the potential. They seem to ignore that government operated health care has always been a key element of socialism and totalitarian forms of government.

There is a good chance this blog will be brought to the attention of Dr. Sowell. It will be very interesting if we have a chance to learn what he thinks of Jim Robinson's #11. Sowell is a former Marine and should recognize a call to arms.

[Amendment10]

I think that Sowell has a good point, especially when 2014 elections are taken into consideration.

More specifically, patriots have repeatedly shown themselves to be “fire fighters” and not “fire preventers,” imo, with respect to using their voting muscle to keep corrupt Congress on its leash of constitutionally limited powers. So patriots arguably need to get kicked in the teeth with constitutionally indefensible Obamacare taxes so that they get off their couches on election day in 2014 and elect more Constitution-respecting conservatives to Congress.

[Weirdad]

Absolutely.

[Idaho_Cowboy]

It’s rare that Dr. Sowell is incorrect about something, which makes times like this really noteworthy. Resistance is *not* futile! We may not win this time, but sometimes it’s better to fight and lose than not to fight at all.

---

I think the problem is people forget this isn't a game, and life will not continue as we know. We are facing the end of our freedoms.

If this really is the end of America as we know it, then you have to take the view that you fight to the last man. Throw the hail Mary's and break out the fake punts and two point conversions.

The term for the limpwristed Republicans at this point: “collaborateur”. They think it is better to go along with the tyranny of Obamacare to try to make it less tyrannical; instead of joining the opposition. Resistance isn't always a bad thing; ask the Free French Resistance during the occupation. Resisting the Nazi's was futile until D Day. With all due respect to Dr Thomas Sowell, I'm very weary of these "Vichy Republicans". At least at the end of the day we know which side Ted Cruz is on.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Sometimes you just have to fight even if you do lose. Ted Cruz is awesome as he stands practically alone railing against the machine.

[Ann Archy]

Et tu, Thomas??

[servo1969]

When Wendy Davis filibustered for abortion in Texas it was inspiring! She was so strong standing there for all of us in her pink running shoes! What a hero for women everywhere!

Now when Ted Cruz filibusters to hold up a bill that he can’t stop if only to send a message that most of America doesn’t want this? Idiot. Wacko bird. Terrorist. Anarchist. Holding America hostage. This is not helpful. GOP: We will not support this.

The difference is striking, no? Dems circle the wagons even to protect adulterers and rapists. The GOP won’t stand for anything unless the nightly news says it’s okay.

[LyinLibs]

Wow, Ted Cruz just made my point from earlier.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3070776/posts

[william clark]

As much as I respect Sowell, I have to disagree with him on this one, mainly because he’s using the same argument that was used to de-fang the eligibility question. So the GOP weenies jumped on the bandwagon of bashing “birthers” in order to make themselves look rational and reasonable as they used the excuse of not wanting to distract from the “real” problems with Obama and his agenda that they were supposedly going to battle.

That argument might play better against the defunding strategy had it showed even the slightest trace of having worked when Obama’s eligibility was the issue under discussion. But then, if it had worked, we wouldn’t even be arguing about a defunding strategy now. We wouldn’t have to. We never saw the GOP put up much of a fight against Obama on anything, so here we are.

[smokingfrog]

That may be the best we can do at this point in time.

[supercat]

Since when do we say, “Don’t resist Hitler because it provides a distraction that will be exploited by Goebbels?”

One might argue for avoiding means of resistance whose effectiveness would be slight relative to the enemy propaganda value, and focusing on means which are more effective or whose portrayal cannot be as effectively manipulated. On the other hand, one must also be mindful of how the enemy propaganda ministry will portray one's failure to engage.

A more important issue, which I think many conservatives fail to consider, is the importance of expectation in game theory. Even if certain forms of retaliation against various actions by an adversary would never be to one's immediate benefit, it may be advantageous to have an adversary believe that one would be willing to engage in them anyway. The value of maintaining such expectation may far exceed the cost of the necessary retaliations.

Fundamentally, few things are more important to a society than ensuring that bad actions are perceived as having a negative expected value. It doesn't matter too much whether the value is massively negative or only slightly; if a bad action has a positive expected value, and is perceived as such, participation in that action can and often will spiral out of control. The only way to rein it in will be to do whatever it takes to force the expected value be negative. Because resources spent treating the symptoms will in many cases contribute to the positive expected value, no quantity of resources will be sufficient to provide lasting relief.

[LyinLibs]

“......if a bad action has a positive expected value, and is perceived as such, participation in that action can and often will spiral out of control.”

Agree totally.

I also notice the GOP has spent the past 5 years aggressively pursuing a strategy of “Curl into a ball and play dead.”

That strategy has consistently failed the American people while Obamatollah and his Moslem/Commie brigade steamrolls every core value the USA was founded upon.

There are many reasons to try the Ted Cruz strategy against Obamacare, but even the rank-and-file GOP morons should understand “Our strategy since 2008 ISN’T WORKING, so let’s try SOMETHING (anything) else.”

[A CA Guy]

Nonsense, this is the only spotlight on Democrats and Obama that exists.
The press isn't going to go after Democrats and the establishment GOP (which should get no donations) work with Democrats.

To hell with the non-conservative GOP politicians and their staffs.

[supercat]

So the GOP weenies jumped on the bandwagon of bashing “birthers” in order to make themselves look rational

What annoyed me with that issue is that the GOP could have easily supported the "birthers" without being spun as irrational kooks if they presented the issue as being analogous to the store clerk who demands that a 90-year-old show ID to buy cigarettes. If there's a policy which requires checking everyone's ID, no matter how many store clerks would let it slide when dealing with people who couldn't plausibly be underage, a store clerk should not be faulted for demanding any customer's ID as a matter of course. A customer who is of good character should not bristle at the demand, but regard the presentation of identification as a required formality.

Actually, the Republicans should have done one better: they said something like "A candidate who is of good character should be eager to authorize the release sufficient records to prove clearly and unambiguously that the candidate is eligible. While we don't particularly disbelieve Obama's eligibility, we believe that his refusal to provide such records demonstrates bad character, if not a belief that rules should not apply to him".

[supercat]

...so let’s try SOMETHING (anything) else.”

The way to encourage civility is to fight slightly cleaner than one's opponent. The Republicans' reluctance to get their hands dirty might be admirable if they were dealing with honorable opponents, but they're not. Their opponents have demonstrated sufficient dishonor that Republicans should flat out state that good-faith negotiations are not possible. Instead, they need to flat out call the Democrats' actions as illegitimate, and make clear that resistance to illegitimate statutes upholds the Law, and attempted enforcement of such statutes constitutes lawlessness.