What are the Republican congress people afraid of? Obamacare was a bad idea. They promised to repeal it. So repeal it already! Get that done. Then consider whether it needs to be replaced, and if so, what should the replacement look like. Yet it seems to be heresy to question whether we need some sort of governmental healthcare insurance structure. Many people have become accustomed to the handouts provided and the Representatives and Senators are afraid to upset these folks who in their minds are simply votes. So, who are these congress people working for? Not the people who elected them to repeal Obamacare; no, they are working for their own power. Just as are the Democrats. They, too, must see what a disaster Obamacare is, but they used that plan to essentially buy votes and now they use it to keep those votes. Regardless of whether the handouts in Obamacare are good or bad for the country, they will retain it for their own power.
All these people are simply afraid. Afraid to stand up for what is right for the country as a whole if there is any chance that might put their own political futures in jeopardy. Well, if the voters have any sense, the political futures of all those congress people should be in jeopardy due to their lack of backbone.
Let’s look beyond Obamacare to the functioning of the House and the Senate generally. They are frozen, incapable of doing anything for the American people. The Democrats use the rules of House and Senate to stall, to prevent items even coming to the floor for debate or vote. They refuse to deal with Republicans, choosing instead to oppose any and everything they propose simply because they are the party of Trump. And the Republicans who hold majorities in each body, cannot figure out how to combat both the Democrat’s obstructive tactics and their own inability to draft legislation that furthers the agenda upon which they were elected.
Meanwhile, the Republicans’ lack of backbone, their fear and inability to act, along with the Democrats’ fear that if they do not attack and obstruct everything Republican and Trumpian they will lose any power grip they still have on the administrative state, all of this leaves the American people without any real voice in their own government. It leaves us frozen out and in a sort of Hell.
Back to Obamacare. We do not have a right to government provided or subsidized healthcare. Obamacare and its backers has led some to believe that we do, but any government provided healthcare is really provided by the people who pay the taxes that will pay for that healthcare. It is the epitome of big, centralized government of the sort that takes away individual responsibility, independence, and ultimately freedom.
It would take guts, but why not repeal Obamacare today – not a repeal to become effective down the road, but today. Then start from scratch. What do the people want, what do they need, how can we achieve the best health care (not health insurance, but health care!) and do we want to turn our healthcare decisions and management over to the government?
Of course, to repeal Obamacare outright and immediately takes a lot of guts because it would indeed cause a bit of chaos. But sometimes chaos is a necessary precursor to improvement. Let’s face it, Obamacare was always a bad bill and it only gets worse: more expensive, less coverage. But what about Medicaid you may ask. Well, let’s discuss whom we want Medicaid to cover and are we both willing and do we have the tax base to cover those people. Should able bodied folks capable of working but choosing not to be provided by the state with health insurance? Let’s address that head on, regardless of whom it upsets and whom perhaps it removes from the benefits. Our representatives and senators won’t do this because they are afraid. They want to please everyone who might be a possible vote. In the process, they do nothing for the people who did vote for them, and nothing for the country.
These alleged leaders in our Congress are really weak and fearful. Few if any are willing to stand up to the existent administrative state; they are not willing to rock the boat. They huff and they puff, but show me a Democrat who is willing to reach across the aisle or even in any way counter their party line, and show me a Republican who is not more concerned with not upsetting the apple-cart of his or her own political career than with the people whom they are meant to represent.
And we, the people, have allowed this to happen. Too many do not take the time to educate themselves about issues beyond their immediate gratifications, but to also understand the broader and long-term ramifications of those issue. Too many do not take the time to educate themselves about the candidates beyond their party affiliation or whether they are someone they’d like to have dinner with, or many other hopelessly superficial reasons. We the people also need to find our backbones and demand more from those whom we elect. Again, the country depends on it. I don’t know if Hell ever freezes, but the fear running rampant in the halls of congress is freezing out any movement forward for America, and it sure feels like Hell.
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