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November 8, 2009

House votes Obamacare in, freedom out

Topics: Political News and commentaries

Rationality, common sense, proportionality, and prudence have all left the building. In the middle of a weekend night when few people were paying attention, the House voted after virtually zero debate, to - at the very least - increase taxes and regulation. As VodkaPundit notes - the exact opposit of what you do to cure high unemployment and sluggish growth

On a vote of 220-215 , at 11:15 pm, Democrats in the House of Representatives narrowly passed sweeping health care reform legislation that no one has thoroughly read or knows what's actually in it, would, if passed in the Senate in the same form, do much worse than simply raise taxes and increase regulation (yes, for the middle-class as well). It would radically transform the health-care of every American, usher in rationing of benefits and long wait lines, destroy freedom of choice, destroy private insurance in the long run, and cost $1.2 trillion.

Sound like a good idea? Apparently Nancy Pelosi thinks so, and compared the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later - both of which are already going broke (nothing to worry about though - Democratic aides on Capitol Hill have provided a mock timeline that has shown how the future colonization of Mars could bring with it new, greenish taxpayers who would alter the long-range projections - which makes about as much sense as passing Obamacare).

Rick Moran over at Right Wing Nuthouse sums it up best:

A bill nobody has read, that contains nobody knows what, that no one has a clue of what kind of impact it will have on the current health care system, with a cost known only to God, has been passed with no formal hearings, extraordinarily limited debate, and in a totally partisan manner (minus one Republican who doesn't have a prayer in 2010).

[...] If we had a rational government, any one of those realities would have derailed health care reform long ago. But rationality has left the building, as has common sense, proportionality, wisdom, and that fine old conservative virtue, prudence.

National Health Care Reform represents a new way of governing; the blind, leading the deaf and dumb, toward an unknowable future - driving the engine of government at full speed, and without any brakes. Can't see that break in the tracks up ahead? Ooops! My bad. We'll pick up the pieces later.

But Stacy McCain manages to find some glimmer of hope in the House's passage of Obamacare:

What are the chances the Senate will pass it? Dunno. But at least now they will be debating actual legislation, rather than a hypothetical. The House bill is chock full of specifics that can be highlighted as arguments against passage, and any senator looking for an excuse to vote "no" can point to those 39 Democrats who voted against it in the House.

The factor that proponents of "reform" have always on their side -- until last night -- was the advantage of advocating a nebulous good. "Reform" is one of those glittering generalities (like "democracy" and "rights") that politicians are afraid to be against. Being "anti-reform" is sort of like being anti-Girl Scouts.

With passage of the House bill, proponents of this measure have forfeited the glittering-generality advantage. The specifics of this massive legislation will likely prove its undoing.

Freedom-loving Americans that find little to cheer about over the passage of Pelosi's health-care bill had better do more than "hope" Stacy is right. They'd better start phoning and emailing their senator and tell him/her how they intend to vote in 2010 and 2012 if Obamacare is passed in it's current form.

Posted by Abdul at November 8, 2009 10:16 AM

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