Posted on 03/19/2017 5:26:57 AM PDT by Kaslin
There is an interesting phenomenon that happens among red state Democrats in the Senate every six years. They suddenly start sounding conservative when their re-election bid approaches.
They talk more conservatively. They act more conservatively. They vote more conservatively, at least until they get re-elected and can go back to holding the Democratic Party line in the Senate.
The same phenomenon happens in the Republican Party. Only last year, the American people called their bluff, put them in power, and now expect them to do what they promised. Republicans are terrified at the prospect.
Politicians are quite good at making promises and coming up with excuses as to why those promises went unfulfilled. “We control only one-half of one-third of the government,” we heard in 2011 as an excuse for why the promise of Obamacare repeal was “impossible.”
In 2015, Republicans were given the Senate, therefore control of one branch of government. The refrain changed to, “No matter what we pass, the president will veto it, and we don’t have the votes to override that veto.”
OK, fine. That’s all true. But the problem was they didn’t even try. Congress has power as a co-equal branch of government, yet no effort was exerted toward the promise on which they campaigned.
So now voters have given a second branch of government to the Republicans, and what do we have?
House Republicans have introduced the “American Health Care Act,” the legislative equivalent of Hangover 2. Hangover 2 was a slightly different version of The Hangover, but aside from the setting, you wouldn’t know the difference.
The biggest problem with the AHCA is it leaves in place the concept that it is the responsibility of the federal government to provide health insurance for Americans who don’t have employer-provided coverage. Aside from changing tax law to allow people in the individual market to buy insurance with pre-tax dollars and allowing for the purchase of insurance across state lines, the federal government has no business in the health insurance game.
A true conservative plan would allow the states to become 50 petri dishes able to experiment with ways to make insurance affordable. Eventually best practices would win out and be adopted by others. But that wouldn’t empower the feds, so we’re talking about subsidies, tax credits and a federal regulatory scheme only slightly less arduous than what currently exists.
There’s plenty of blame for this to go around, but the lion’s share has to rest firmly with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. He got the opportunity he and his colleagues have been asking for, and he gave us a bill that is only slightly better than the system it seeks to replace. No one hires someone who says, “Make me captain of the Titanic and I’ll make sure it sinks 20 minutes later.” Yet that’s what the Republican plan does.
Seven years they had to come up with an idea, and we get a tweak. For seven years, we were told they knew the way, and we get this.
It’s not as though Republicans are burning up the rest of the agenda, they’ve done next to nothing since Jan. 20. After years of “hurry up,” all we’ve gotten is “wait.”
I get that Republicans are afraid of health policy. As a health policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation a decade ago, I briefed many of them on the issue and saw the terror in their eyes as they waited for just enough information to be able to answer basic questions on an issue they’ve ceded to Democrats for years. But for the last seven years, they’ve sworn they had the answers. So where are the answers? The AHCA is not it.
You don’t have to understand the complexities of health insurance markets and impact of regulations on them to understand the Constitution and the limits it places on the federal government. That shouldn’t be a bridge too far considering they swear an oath to it at the start of every term. One would hope they would’ve read it, if not understood it, before they pledged to defend it.
And you don’t have to be a legislative historian to recognize the idea Republicans have proposed of a “three-pronged approach” is insane when even they acknowledge the second “prong” is regulatory and easily could be reversed by a Democratic administration and the third will be blocked even more easily by a filibuster in the Senate. Republicans swear they need a trident to kill Obamacare when a spear would do. Like a Band-Aid – just rip it out of existence, Senate parliamentarian be damned.
Nearly every member of the Republican caucus campaigned on repealing Obamacare and told voters they were “constitutional conservatives.” Nothing they’ve done since would lead anyone to believe either claim was true.
If there’s positive about the process around the AHCA, it’s that so far it is moving slowly. Unlike Obamacare’s passage, Republicans have been transparent. Unfortunately what they’ve cooked up so far is transparently awful. It’s time to scrap the patch and unleash the free market.
Unless the AHCA is fundamentally transformed to the point states are free to experiment, the market is free to function, and individuals are free to make their own choices, everything we have been told will have been a lie, the whole thing should be scrapped and Obamacare allowed to collapse. Both parties will be blamed, and both parties will be to blame.
A golden opportunity in the cause of liberty will have been squandered because, after seven years of talk, Republicans could not do the one thing they told us they would; the reason they were in the position to disappoint us in the first place. It’s time to start over and do it right – if Speaker Ryan and the rest of Republican leadership actually have it in them to do what they’ve campaigned on.
As I said last year it's easy to see why Ryan, McConnell and their cronies wanted Trump to lose. First they would still be the head honchos of the party. Second with Hillary as president they could have an excuse for getting nothing done, and could use the threat of Hillary with a democrat congress to force conservatives to vote for them. Now if they don't produce voters may decide a democrat congress might not be so bad with Trump as president.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I rue the thought of democrats in control of anything but ... mac/ryan and a number of other rinos are a problem in need of a solution.
Republicans who "play along to get along" have a more comfortable lifestyle. They have an easier time raising money. They are wined and dined by lobbyists. They get attractive women (or boys) supplied to them (and some of the hottest women in the US go to work in DC).
They can philander around, get drunk, and behave badly, and the press will show no interest in them -- PROVIDED they play along with the Establishment. It's a very attractive bargain.
Most of the people back home believe their rep’s campaign rhetoric and think their guy/gal is single handedly running DC. They’re not. They are just a cog in the wheel of a corrupt political machine.
You are right in your perceptions of DC. Basically, politicians live in two worlds. Few voters understand this sad reality.
perfectly reasoned and practical analysis.
unfortunately (grin)
And Ryan was forced into the job. Why give the speaker job to someone who never wanted it?
Great? Amnesty? Debt out of control? Tax increase? Social security age increase? Ok is more like it. We haven’t had a great president.
Me too. I’ve self-insured my whole life. I have car insurance, that’s it.
So we elected Trump. Fantastic. A good 4 years at least of him and him only sticking it to the left. Lets face it, he’s on an island, we support him but he’s alone. No one is on board with him in congress. No one will get on board with him in congress. No one will get on board with him in the judicial branch.
Where that leaves us, the American people, is in a stalemate for the next 4 to 8 years. Probably only 4. I voted for him, I support him, but his actions so far have demonstrated a few things. He doesn’t have knowledge of the constitution. If he did, or his staff did, he would have ignored the courts ruling against his first immigration EO. that didn’t happen and now the courts have leverage for future EO from this president and future presidents. Second, Even his so called republican constituents are blasting him. We the American people voted for Trump to change things in DC. Guess what, We Americans were stupid enough to also elect the GOPe back to DC and more likely will do it again. History tends to repeat itself.
Finally, I’ve taken note of multiple articles, whether fake news or not, that have brought to light more and more leftists purchasing firearms. this is alarming since the left is so for gun control. The political and news hacks are all setting up a violent confrontation in my opinion. This will not end well. What’s slowly coming to a boil is not due to the repeal and replace of the ACA.
Yes!
The only force Trump has behind him is the majority of the American People.
Ok, got ya!
Reagan was a GOOD President.
I am so from a RINO... LOL... We have voted against him in the primary but SC has open primaries and dems can vote in them as well. So in essence when they know they won’t win they cross over and vote for LG in the primary. So they get they’re liberal either way. I will never vote for LG again I may not vote for the dem but I won’t vote for him.
But why would you vote for a demonrat?
That's it in AZ. Suddenly, I am getting emails from Open Border Flake. Sample subject matter:
BREAKING: Flake Votes to Confirm DeVos as Secretary of Education
BREAKING: Flake Meets with Supreme Court Nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch
Sen. Flake's Roundup Report: Courting Controversy, Deep-Sixing the 9th Circuit
Flake Protects Second Amendment, States' Rights
ad nauseum
In the coming election I will bestir myself and try to help to Primary the weasel.
Yup: ‘Nearly every member of the Republican caucus campaigned on repealing Obamacare and told voters they were “constitutional conservatives.” Nothing they’ve done since would lead anyone to believe either claim was true.’
Washington DC, killing USConstitution daily.
Republican party, destroying USConstitution daily.
You’ve voted for plenty of them, we call the RINOs because we are too stupid to call them the Democrats that they are.
When we succumb to "single payer" socialized communist medicine, as we surely will, I at least hope I can celebrate the death by gluttony of the parasitic, casino, insurance companies that wrought this disaster in the first place.
Speaking of which...I thought I had started a thread with this article but it isn’t showing up...
“What election? Republicans have already handed Congress to the Democrats”
By Daniel Horowitz Sept 14, 2018
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