Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Vanity: "Why aren't the Republicans at least trying to help fix Obamacare?"

Posted on 11/04/2013 5:38:25 AM PST by Junk Silver

I keep hearing this Democrat talking point being trotted out, accusing the Republicans of harming their constituents by not doing everything in their power to "fix" the Affordable Health Care Act. This one must test well in focus-groups because it keeps getting repeated. I've yet to hear one Republican answer this coherently. Here's my suggestion for a response:

"If I saw a friend's house being looted would I do everything in my power to stop the looting, or would I walk over and try to negotiate with the looters? Would I call the police and try to get some neighbors to help out, or would I see if I could persuade the looters to delay their looting by a few months, and maybe not take all of the good silverware? To anyone who believes in the principals on which this country was founded the Affordable Care Act is nothing less than government-sanctioned looting of our health care system. The Republican party's only goal is to put a stop to it, not to help it proceed more smoothly."


TOPICS: Government; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: obamacare; repeal; replace; romneycare; romneycare4all; romneycare4ever; romneycare4you; talkingponts; troll
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-70 last
To: Junk Silver

From a purely mercenary view into politics, the right “play” is to let Obamacare crash and burn while keeping their hands clean, standing by and saying “I told you so”.

Problem is, real people are getting really hurt by this, and mostly as innocent bystanders. The self-employed, who are being hit hardest, are probably more likely to vote Republican than the average population, so it’s not a matter of punishing people who brought this upon themselves.

So, how does one balance the two? How can you, as a minority party, help provide relief to those who are being harmed by this policy without indirectly propping up that bad policy? And if you don’t do anything at all, do you take a hit for letting people founder?

It’s not an easy set of decisions to make. There’s going to have to be some tradeoff of practical vs. political, and there will be critics deriding any choice.


61 posted on 11/04/2013 7:09:26 AM PST by kevkrom (It's not "immigration reform", it's an "amnesty bill". Take back the language!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: pgkdan

Doesn’t anyone remember all those contentious Town Hall meetings?

I’d love to see JUST ONE person in the mainstream media say: “The Tea Party was right.”

God Damn right we were.

Everything bad that we said was gonna happen is happening.

And then some! Even WE couldn’t have predicted this cluster***k of the Obamaware rollout.

And it’s gonna get worse. Mad worse.

Kill the beast before it kills us.


62 posted on 11/04/2013 7:32:18 AM PST by privatedrive
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: kevkrom

“From a purely mercenary view into politics, the right “play” is to let Obamacare crash and burn while keeping their hands clean, standing by and saying ‘I told you so’.”

There are a few reasons why we cannot just stand by in this case. Of course the first one is that real people are getting hurt by this, not to mention that our children will be hurt by this their entire lives if we don’t clean up Obama’s mess.

Another problem here is that there simply is no “crash and burn” endgame that will benefit anyone. We will never see Obama, Pelosi and Reid admit that their socialist utopia has failed. They’ll blame the Republicans, blame the insurance companies, and issue one executive order after another. All the while Medicaid’s rolls will keep growing until it becomes a de facto single-payer system. The longer we let this continue, the more people there will be dependent on Medicaid and other subsidies who will be easily persuadable to vote to keep their benefits coming no matter what.

Republicans must not be drawn into making little tweaks to the Affordable Health Care Act, but we must immediately start offering solutions to this disaster and forcing every single Democrat incumbent to vote against these solutions over and over again. By solutions I don’t mean an alternative Big-Government plan, I mean the abolishment of all the mandates, all the regulations and requirements, and all the taxes.


63 posted on 11/04/2013 7:38:53 AM PST by Junk Silver
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: Junk Silver

Because Obamacare is broken beyond repair. (Hey, not a bad slogan for something.) And since the Democrats broke it, then let them try to fix it. I don’t think they can. So they own it. They own it big time.


64 posted on 11/04/2013 7:44:59 AM PST by righttackle44 (Take scalps. Leave the bodies as a warning.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Junk Silver

First of all, if Obamacare were working, Democrats and so called moderates wouldn’t be asking the Republicans to help with it. The whining opens the door for blaming Republicans in the future, when unaffordable healthcare by any name is still unaffordable, and people can’t cooperate with the law. After all, many of them thought they were going to get something for free, or more for less. I even encountered a few people here at FR who thought they would benefit from Obamacare because it would be more affordable. I wonder what those people think now. We are calling it sticker shock, but the increases in premiums and higher deductibles are more than shock. They are deal killers. People can’t afford to fund Obamacare’s mandates.

Even though many on the left are beginning to agree with Republicans that Obamacare needs to be buried in a deep hole, they are loath to give up on their fascist accomplishment, because it has been a political victory for them.


65 posted on 11/04/2013 7:46:57 AM PST by pallis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Junk Silver
"Why aren't the Republicans at least trying to help fix Obamacare?"

Ever try to put shoe polish on a turd?

66 posted on 11/04/2013 8:07:59 AM PST by USS Alaska (If I could...I would.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Junk Silver

The republicans are trying to fix ObamaCare in the only way it can be fixed. If an arsonist is setting your home on fire, you don’t want someone to assist with accelerants that will start a slower, cooler fire less likely to kill as it destroys the home. You want someone to stop the arson.


67 posted on 11/04/2013 2:58:31 PM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MrB

The lawyers wouldn’t like it.


68 posted on 11/04/2013 5:42:45 PM PST by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: skeeter
The problem is that it should not be fixed or replaced. It should be repealed and every other connection between the government and insurance or medicine should be rooted out and repealed. Medicine- "health care" would return to rational market based pricing and rapid scientific advance. Insurance would become insurance again instead of a cash cow for bureaucrats and banks.The only involvement of the government should spring from the Constitution's weights and measures provision i.e. guarantee of contents, truth in labeling, etc. and limited term non extendable patent protection.
69 posted on 11/04/2013 5:43:10 PM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINEhttp://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: dforest
If the Repubnlicans work to "fix" it then they accept its existence and aims. But, then the Republicans are just as much socialist as are the Democrats. They are Democrats.They are the designated Official Opposition wing of the Democrat Party and exist to legitimize the actual one party rule for the time being.Cruz and Lee and a few others are tolerated for the moment but at some point that will end, whether with some sort of arrests or tighter election control.
70 posted on 11/04/2013 5:48:18 PM PST by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson ONLINEhttp://steshaw.org/economics-in-one-lesson/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-70 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson