ObamaCare may accomplish what Republicans and Tea Party members could not. It may reverse the Road to Socialism that this country has been on for the better part of a century.Posted on 10/22/2013 7:46:44 AM PDT by smoothsailing
October 22, 2013
ObamaCare may accomplish what Republicans and Tea Party members could not. It may reverse the Road to Socialism that this country has been on for the better part of a century.
A recent post, No Cause For Celebration, argued that nothing has changed from an economic perspective as a result of the recent government shutdown. From a political perspective a major inflection, even turning point, may have occurred.
Talk of a “Grand Bargain” before January 15 is delusional.
Simpson-Bowles provided a framework for a grand bargain early in the President’s first term. Obama and the Democrat Party ignored every recommendation of their own commission. The reaction to this effort suggests that the Democrats did not understand the mathematics of the revenue-spending-promises problem or that they didn’t believe it would blowup on their watch.
Now we are several years deeper into the hole. Today’s version of Simpson-Bowles would have to be substantially more painful to accomplish the same end.
Neither Obama nor his fellow Democrats have any stomach for revisiting this issue.
January 15 is not far away. Spending will continue to rise. Movement further down the Road to Ruin will occur.
There is one possibility, never dreamed of by Democrats that may alter dramatically the political equation. ObamaCare may do what the politicians were unable to — reverse the march toward ever bigger government.
Politics and its practitioners have never been held in lower esteem. Both parties were diminished by the shutdown as was the President.
In terms of winners-losers, all lost. Most of the pundits believe the Republicans lost more than the Democrats. That may be so, but I am not sure this judgment holds over time. John Hayward provides his opinion on what may happen:
The Democrat “victory” is preserving a disaster that’s only going to get worse once more people can log into it and see their sky-high premiums. A party can be bled to death with “wins” like that. Hearings into the disastrous Healthcare.gov launch – a no-bid contract to a firm with cozy Obama connections – should be percolating right along as the midterm elections get under way. Remind voters, at every opportunity, that this is what Democrats shut down the government to protect.
Never stop reminding them about Obama’s Shutdown Theater antics, too. The Republicans didn’t do a good job of keeping our memories of Sequester Theater fresh. The director of the National Park Service just admitted, in congressional testimony, that all those outrageous open-air monument closings were discussed with the White House. If Obama defenders want to trot out the Empty Chair defense, fine: ask how much of this titanic government is operating on a rogue basis, and suggest maybe the President should golf less and manage more. Obama’s perpetual cover-ups and evasions of responsibility should be an anchor around his neck, a card he should never be allowed to play without facing ridicule. A lot of people out there in flyover country – including a lot of the folks who didn’t vote in 2012 – are getting really sick and tired of hearing those buck-never-got-here excuses. –John Hayward
The Democrats may have backed themselves into a corner from which there is no escape. They have taken an existential position on ObamaCare; they are all in and must fight for their Frankenstein monster no matter what.
ObamaCare represents President Obama’s signature program, arguably his only real success. For about a century universal healthcare has been the dream of every Socialist. Like all Socialist dreams, it looks better in the dream than when the lights go on. Now it is here with more than its share of warts and defects. The old warning about being careful what you wish for seems especially appropriate.
As the details of ObamaCare become known, it is likely that their blind commitment to this dysfunctional program will torpedo whatever advantage they might have gained from the shutdown. They are stuck defending what will increasingly be seen as indefensible. Here are but a few links regarding the problems:
The botched sign-up process is bad, but it is only the beginning. Here are but a few of the consequences from ObamaCare:
ObamaCare may end of whatever effectiveness Obama may have had in his lame duck period. ObamaCare will fail spectacularly.
While it represents the culmination of Liberalism’s dream, its failures present an existential threat to Liberalism itself. One can only hope that this failure will cause the basic tenets of Liberalism to be re-examined. If so, ObamaCare, despite the immense short-term dislocations and pains it causes, may do the country a great service — It may sound the death knell for the Social Welfare State.
How ironic might it be that this Holy Grail of Liberalism might turn out to be a cup of hemlock unwittingly consumed by Democrats.
Collectivism requires the fertile soil of an ignorant and morally malleable citizenry. It cannot grow in an honest or godly culture.
We, being what we are today, are perfectly ripe for a progressive utopia.
“They will institute a single payer system. As soon as those who are old enough to remember quality healthcare have died off, the rest will not know any difference and will be told that we have the best healthcare and they will believe it.”
I agree 100%.
Hadn't given that a thought!
The begining of the end of liberalism.
“A nice wish, but unlikely. Highly unlikely.”
Absolutely.
If anything, efforts will be renewed to bring
“social justice” to the United States by the hardcore left which hides behind children and “morality”.
IMHO
The free market isn’t just a good political idea. It is a natural force. Remove artificial, top-down pseudo-markets, and natural, healthy free markets will reappear by themselves. It’s like gravity. You can play at defying it, but in the end gravity, and free markets, cannot be avoided. The only alternative is cooperation. Marx is fiction. Adam Smith is reality. In the end, reality always wins.
That’s sharp and something a lot of FReepers don’t get about politics. You have to have 60% of Likely Voters backing your change if you want to see it succeed. You have to show that it won’t do harm or that it is in keeping with established traditions, customs and fairness. Then you have to overcome the lies from the opposition and their capon media. That’s hard.
You and I agree, but a lot of FReepers don’t. We’re up against a century of government schooling and media lies starting with Teddy’s crusade against trusts and the misnamed “robber” barons.
People, including nearly every teacher and journalist, don’t like or trust the free market. They are collectivists and believe and trust government to solve problems. It’s a high hill to climb.
Take a look at all the liberal businessmen and billionaires. How can they jive their politics with their business experience?
Now tonight Megyn Kelly plays Rush telling his listeners this: that Obama purposely created that Obamacare website broken so we demand government single payer health-care,
Now I am convinced that Rush just says this stupid stuff to see exactly how dumb his listeners are. He is just playing them. Rush, its working on a few.
Rush can't believe his own nonsense. He couldnt run a business if he did.
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