The Republicans arent afraid of the ACA failing. Theyd love that, but by now all but the most delusional know that thats not happening. No, theyre afraid of it *succeeding*, as they know its doing. Why? Because they know that it will put paid to their power. But what Utah Senator Orrin Hatch called a holy war to block health care reform didnt start when Barack Obama took the oath of office in January 2009, but instead when Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993. It was then that former Quayle chief of staff and Republican strategist William Kristol warned his GOP allies that a Clinton victory on health care could guarantee Democratic majorities for the foreseeable future. The Clinton proposal is also a serious political threat to the Republican Party, Kristol wrote in his infamous December 3, 1993, memo titled Defeating President Clintons Health Care Proposal, adding: Its passage in the short run will do nothing to hurt (and everything to help) Democratic electoral prospects in 1996. But the long-term political effects of a successful Clinton health care bill will be even worse--much worse. It will relegitimize middle-class dependence for security on government spending and regulation. It will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests. And it will at the same time strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle class by restraining government. And while I admittedly have a hard time taking Michele Bachmann seriously (and no, she doesnt understand what socialized medicine really means), she does (correctly, I believe) perceive the political threat to the Republican Party: Bachmann stressed the need to repeal President Obamas health care reform law, or so-called Obamacare, before it metastasizes like a cancer and we will not be able to get rid of it. You cant put socialized medicine into a country and think that ever again you can elect a Republican as president - or a conservative or even a tea partier as president - and think that somehow were going to get back to limited government, Bachmann said. It wont happen because socialized medicine is the definition of big government.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Apr 2014 01:45:59 +0000
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