Healthy Doubt
Nancy Pelosi says we need to "pass the [health care] bill so you can find out what's in it..."
At least she's being honest. Forget knowing how it will affect us after it's passed, no one even knows what's in it now. The plan is vote first, determine the contents later. The idea (if I understand correctly) is the House passes the Senate bill, the President signs it and then it's thrown into reconciliation to be changed in ways generally not contemplated by the process. Of course, it's quite possible reconciliation will fail, in which case the Senate bill--which a majority of the House finds unacceptable--will be law. (There are even stranger schemes that allow the House to pass the Senate bill without officially voting on it.)
Pelosi understands what she's doing. The particulars don't matter. The point is the bill, no matter what's in it, or how much it costs, gives the government a much bigger role in our health care system. Once that's done, it'll be easy to keep increasing government power and shoving out competitors. Also, once it's passed, it'll be very had to get rid of, and eventually the people will get used to it.
This whole process is rare, perhaps unique, in our history. Major bills tend to pass with bipartisan support, and the ruling party isn't doing it because they figure it's likely they'll be kicked out anyway so they might as well vote for it now.
If the bill does pass, it will probably lead to campaigns over the next few elections to repeal the bill. This is also unusual, but then, you generally don't see major bills shoved down the public's throat.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:27 AM
4 Comments:
Democrats -- ignore this advice -- pass the bill. LAGuy, however nice a guy he may be, is not your friend.
Use the historic majority you earned just a year ago to accomplish one of the main goals of numerous administrations over the past 50 years. It's difficult, and people do get cold feet, but the main aspects of the bill are supported by solid majorities. The nervousness about "this bill" has been stoked by inflammatory rhetoric. The Republican call to "start over" is a transparent red herring (does that make it pink?) -- essentially saying they can find nothing to agree upon. Their "offer" to work on it together if you just start from scratch is a Trojan Horse.
Gee, I wish I had enough influence that people would worry about my opinion.
I didn't say Dems shouldn't pass the bill. In fact, I thought I said the opposite. I'm not trying to scare them. I am giving as clear-eyed an analysis as possible, while most so-called pundits are just boosters i disguise.
In general, it's politically good to pass controversial bills in a bipartisan manner because neither side wants to get the blame if things go bad.
It's impossible to know what the big issues will be in the future, but I'd guess passing this bill against the will of the public (and it is against their will--it's unbelievable that some are saying the public wants it) will cause a gusher of anger. What do you think Scott Brown was about? Unless something significantly changes, this anger will continue, and could bring down the House, the Senate and the White House for the Dems.
It's almost impossible to know, as well, how the bill will work out, since Americans want a bunch of different things--saving money, not paying for health care, having the best care possible, etc. But I am on record predicting after a decade people will love this bill, because once you start giving people free stuff, they don't want it to stop. And since the costs will be tremendous, but mostly hidden (especially in lack of innovation), it'll do its greatest damage at the same time.
Sorry -- I didn't interpret the talking point language "shoved down their throat" with which you ended the post as indicating you thought they should pass it.
I said Pelosi understands what she's doing. That means she gets that it's worth all the hassle. Indeed, my point is it's perfectly understandable they should be willing to shove it down the public's throat. And if you can't see that's what they're doing, then simply ask yourself why they've been trying to pass it for nine months--if the public wanted it, it'd be a done deal long ago and they could be concentrating on useless jobs programs right now. Instead, (as you indicate) we've got this historical anomaly where there are far more Democrats in office than the public wants, so they might as well take advantage of it.
I think Pelosi is smart enough to realize that they're trying to shove this down the throat of the public, but she, like any politician, figures she's knows what's best for us. I would also hope, despite her public protestations, that she sees through any cant about this bill being secretly popular, or that somehow, after exhaustive discussion, the only reason for any present unpopularity is unfair rhetoric coming only from one side.
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