Progressive Democrats are telling the opponents of Obamacare to chill out. Once the American people understand what is in the legislation, they argue, it will be as popular as Social Security and Medicare. I don’t think so.
Republican amendments to the reconciliation bill were defeated last night in the Senate on a party-line vote. The amendments – and their defeat by the Progressives in charge of the Senate – are instructive in highlighting what Obamacare is really all about.
Here are just a few of the amendments to improve health care reform that were defeated by the triumphant Progressives:
- a measure to prevent Medicare from being raided for new entitlements and to use Medicare savings to save Medicare;
- a measure to prevent convicted child molesters and rapists from getting reimbursed by the government for drugs like Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction;
- a measure to certify that no households earning less than $250,000 will see increased taxes as a result of health care reform; and
- a measure to certify that Americans will not have to change their health insurance as a result of the bill if they do not want to.
And in perhaps the most hypocritical, self-serving action of all, the Senate Democrats voted to defeat Republican Senator Grassley’s amendment to make sure the President, Cabinet Members, all White House Senior staff and Congressional Committee and Leadership Staff are purchasing health insurance through the health insurance exchanges established by Obamacare for the rest of us!
The New York Times today is running an op-ed piece by a political scientist entitled “The Fight Is Over, the Myths Remain.” The author repeats what The Times itself has argued – that the opponents of Obamacare are spreading lies and distortions about Obamacare.
The most significant objection to Obamacare all along (aside from its leading the country to bankruptcy) has been the far-reaching power of the federal government over our lives that is central to Obamacare. This is no myth or Republican scare tactic. None other than Democratic Congressman John Dingell (Michigan), a long-time ardent supporter of universal health care, said as much:
The harsh fact of the matter is when you’re going to pass legislation to cover 300 million people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people
“Control the people” – that is the true agenda of the Obamacare Progressives. The rest is just icing on the cake.