If Democrats manage to get health care passed by the House using whatever parliamentary trick or maneuver they choose, the Senate still must take up the bill. The question then becomes, what tricks will they employ to pass a bill through their chamber and how long will this continue to drag out?
It is clear that the American people do not want — and the country does not need — health care reforms at a time of economic crisis.
If the health care bill was the greatest thing since sliced bread, Democrats would be proud to support it and would be lining up to vote for it instead of lining up to be paid off to support it.
Assuming Democrats are successful in passing a bill that the president will sign, they still lose. The American people are against health care reforms as dictated to by a democratically controlled Congress and White House.
Democrats have ignored the majority of Americans and have dismissed their concerns as naiveté and not knowing what is best for them. Well, I predict that Americans will enact their revenge at being dismissed and disrespected this coming November.
Democrats have been hell-bent on expanding government health care for decades. They know that this may be their only opportunity for years to come to accomplish their ultimate goal of government-run, mandated health care for all Americans. There is no question that due to fraud, mismanagement and abuse that Medicare and Medicaid will go bankrupt within the next decade unless serious measures are taken to save it. Likewise, Social Security is on a path to certain bankruptcy unless it is overhauled within the next few years.
Why on earth would Congress want to expand the government’s incompetence in managing health care for our elderly and poor to all Americans? Why is Congress not trying to fix that which is already broken?
Democrats are blinded by ideology and raw power. Instead in concentrating on jobs, reducing the deficit, reining in federal spending and giving Americans hope, Democrats are seeking bigger and more expensive government and just ballooning the deficit.
If health care represents 1/6th of our economy and 5/6ths of the economy is ailing, why concentrate on the 1/6th at the expense of the 5/6th? It is like a fire department dousing a detached garage with water that is not on fire, instead of saving the house that is on fire.
There is no doubt that, if passed, the health care bill will be Constitutionally challenged on many levels. State governments are already looking into ways to refuse to obey mandates that affect their duties and obligations. Republicans most assuredly will call for the bill to be repealed and will make that argument in the 2010 midterm elections.
At a time when Americans in every part of our country are struggling to make ends meet and provide for their families, they are being asked by Democrats to pay into a health care system they will not see a benefit from for years.
Democrats thought they were clever in not beginning the actual health care reforms until after the 2012 presidential elections. Their strategy is to govern by creating programs that they do not have to administer and thus it becomes someone else’s problem.
Well, my message to Democrats is a simple one: you can fool some of the people, like you did in 2008, but you cannot fool enough of the people in 2010.
Bradley A. Blakeman served as deputy assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001-04. He is currently a professor of Politics and Public Policy at Georgetown University and a frequent contributor to the Fox Forum.
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