The Hyjacking of Healthcare is now THE Issue

As I watch the agony of the House Democrats telling their sob stories to try to justify the greatest legislative mistake in modern times, I cannot imagine the incredible stupidity and arrogance that is driving their suicide pact. To think that this vote will somehow put these issues behind us is one of the most naive political hypotheses ever espoused. This issue will dominate the next two election cycles and will create a giant scythe that cuts down hundreds of Democrats at all levels of government. We have come to accept that only about half of the public votes, but conservative voters are significantly more likely to vote even in normal times (hence the inevitable 6-8 point difference in polls of "adults" versus polls of "likely voters"). But now we will see a growing disparity, with conservative voters making the elections a crusade against evil. There may be no counterpart to what is happening in our political history. Congressman Stupak's opponent, just announced apparently, is getting about one new hit a second on his FaceBook page. Expect that new polling in the coming weeks will see an acceleration of the trends of the last year and an emerging certainty that the Democrats will lose the House and probably the Senate. Given voter turnout dynamics, there is no safe seat for the party of Big Govwernment, Big Spending and Big Debt. [Scott Brown only lost Barney Frank's district by 500 votes, so no Democrat will be safe].

The singular issue of the next ten years or more will be federal spending and the deficit. The crisis in Greece is an omen of things to come as the US may join several other nations in a sudden realization that the price of the modern welfare state cannot be sustained with aging populations and the flight of entrepreneurs. The delusional assumptions given to the CBO will not change reality and the impact of passing the bill will itself slow economic recovery even more and lower revenue growth, making the deficit worse. Implementation of the healthcare bill, which appears to be passing, will stretch out for years and create a new controversy every month. The tax burden will kick in immediately and combined with the regulatory uncertainty will have a significant negative impact of job growth, which will only add to the Democrats' political Waterloo.


March 21, 2010 will go down in history as the high water mark of so-called American liberalism. Watching the last week as reluctant Representatives were essentially bribed with our tax dollars and IOUs from out children and grandchildren was painful. The whole notion that government exists to take from the productive public and redistribute the wealth in exchange for political support must stop. More than any other issue, the giant and amorphous healthcare bill has reminded Americans of how far from the proper function of government we have drifting.     

The price is not only our liberties, but the solvency of our nation.

We can retake Congress in 2010 and the new Congress can start to repeal this monstrosity by cutting off appropriations,  delaying executive appointments to the multitude of new agencies, conducting oversight of the actual program costs, and a dozen other programs that will assure that the will of the American people prevails over the Leftist dream of more dependency on government.


NOTE; If the Sunday night news is correct on the Senate Parliamentarian's view that the Social Security  provisions in the House "reconciliation" bill will disqualify it as not in order due to violation of the Congressional Budget Act rules, then the senate bill will be the law. That means that the tax on union benefits and the pro-abortion language will be the law, just for starters. None of the cover that House members thought they had in "reconciliation" will be there and the Democrats will have the Senate version that is unpopular even within their own base. We will then see the Democrats being compelled to go back to Congress and start an amendment process from scratch, since reconciliation is impossible. That means re-voting the whole thing  in pieces to get the House changes enacted, including a full Senate 60-vote hurdle. If nervous Democrats think that this vote and a simple Senate vote is the end game, they will be surprised IMO.  Healthcare amendments and fixes will likely be a major topic of legislation right up until the election this year.  Robbie Burns comes to mind, "Oh what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive!"

UPDATE: Stupak's opponent's FaceBook page went from a few hundred followers to 11,000 by 2 AM Monday morning. He will get the deserved blame more than most other House Members for this and I expect that every one of his last-minute YES voters will be defeated in the election. Bold prediction, and I have not check the last two election margins, but I cannot help but think that the conservatives in their districts will be on the warpath - beginning today.