By Ken Connor
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
The hallmark distinction between Liberals and
Conservatives in America is our radically divergent view of government and its
role in the lives of citizens. Liberals are convinced that a strong central
government is necessary to ensure that everyone "gets their fair
share," while Conservatives believe that free markets are the best
mechanism for allocating resources. Liberals value equality of results, while
Conservatives value equality of opportunity.
Historically, Liberals have had a rhetorical advantage
with their brand of "equality" talk. They are viewed as champions of
the disadvantaged and downtrodden, while Conservatives are demonized as
heartless worms who care nothing about the plight of the have-nots. Perhaps no
policy debate highlighted this contrast more than the one that preceded the
passage of Obamacare. As we are now painfully aware, Obamacare is a law that's
long on sentiment and short on sensibleness. Democrats were so focused on the
symbolic value of the legislation that they neglected to consider the logistics
of its implementation. The idea was all that ever mattered – the idea of
comprehensive, affordable, accessible health care for all without exception. We
were told that the Affordable Care Act would realize this vision, although no
one seemed quite able to tell us how. We needed to pass the law so we could
find out what was in it, remember?
Fast forward to today. The President and his
congressional counterparts got their way and Obamacare is the law of the land.
The genie is out of the bottle and the American people are finally getting
their chance to find out exactly what this law is all about. Turns out all
those mean Republicans were onto something when they questioned the wisdom of
entrusting one sixth of the U.S. economy to an ideologically-driven president
and his bureaucratic minions. From the start, this law has been about one
thing: the redistribution of wealth under the guise of health care reform. The
President wants a single payer system and Obamacare was engineered to push the
system in that direction. We were told that the law would increase competition
and lower costs but the opposite is happening. People were promised that they
could keep their insurance if they like it and keep their doctors, but the
opposite is happening. Now we're being told that these broken promises are
unintended consequences. The President simply didn't realize how complicated
overhauling the health care system would be. Imagine that! A community
organizer with zero business experience didn't realize how difficult it would
be to reconfigure America's hugely complex health care system.
Perhaps if Mr. Obama had paid heed to the concerns of his
Republican detractors instead of ramming Obamacare down America's throat, he
wouldn't be in such a miserable pickle today. Perhaps if he'd set his pride
aside he would have realized that it takes more that grand speeches and soaring
rhetoric to implement positive change. But the President is nothing if not
determined. Contrary to his promises as a presidential candidate, he is not a
bipartisan unifier and he rejects substantive compromise out of hand. He has
the mandate, and it's his way or the highway.
This lack of compromise means that Obamacare's disastrous
rollout falls squarely on the President's shoulders. Congressional Democrats up
for reelection can't get far enough away from this debacle and have joined
Republicans in calling for a delay in the further implementation of the law. In
a desperate attempt to plug the holes in this sinking legislative ship, the
President is attempting to amend the law by unconstitutional Executive fiat.
The magnitude of this disaster is almost enough to make
Obama's harshest critics feel a bit of pity for the embattled president and his
"signature legislative achievement." Almost. The fact is, Mr. Obama
is reaping what he sowed. He allowed ideology to drive the formulation of
policy with zero regard for concrete logistical considerations. He entrusted
the Obamacare website to the corrupt forces of crony capitalism, resulting in
an utterly dysfunctional website at a half billion dollar cost to taxpayers.
How this will play out remains to be seen. It is unclear
whether this current disaster will pave the way for the complete repeal of
Obamacare, but it is clear that going forward Obamacare will not look like the
version envisioned by its architects. The American people simply won't allow
the government to take away their liberty in such a personal area of life. It
goes against everything this country represents.
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