Earlier today, I received this alert while lying in my sick bed. From the Washington Examiner: “BREAKING: Obama will allow insurers to continue sale of canceled policies”. Which was, obviously, just President’s attempt to get out in front of the growing rebellion from vulnerable Democrats up for re-election, and the “bi-partisan” Republicans who believe they’ve devised and ingenious political plan to cause the President “excruciating political pain,” as our friend Jim Geraghty put it this morning.
But rather than react to what the Dems will now try to spin as Obama’s hard-work and realistic assessment of a glorious Utopian plan in need of a few minor tweaks — which at this point even the most brainwashed of progressive drones know is absolute rubbish — I’m going to react instead to the GOP establishment’s (what they believe to be politically cagey) solution: take up Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu’s plan to allow people to keep their existing policies — the ones that Democrat Senators like Mary Landrieu voted by law that these companies can no longer provide. Meaning, the GOP is finding it has a political card to play by supporting a plan that allows people to keep their insurance (Obama’s decree allows for a temporary stay on having your life turned upside down and your disposal income replaced by increased medical payments under the compulsion of law, policed by the IRS as a “tax” that no one ever voted was a tax, nor can even be a tax under specific taxing authority granted Congress).
Many establishment Republicans are literally giddy over the political fallout for the Democrats, particularly Obama, who isn’t up for re-election and will of course veto such a bill. But the question is, what does the “Upton Plan,” which House Republicans are being asked to act upon, really all about? That is, what does it do in terms of precedent?
Here’s how it breaks down: the Democrats, with a supermajority, forced through legislation (using an unconstitutional method to get around the election of Scott Brown to “Ted Kennedy’s seat”) through Congress without a single GOP vote. That legislation, rewritten and since amended on the fly (again, unconstitutionally) by the President and upheld by John Roberts’ complete re-imagining of the legislative intent as it is understand by way of legal convention, reached its implementation date. And has failed spectacularly.
So now vulnerable Democrats are looking for ways to save their own political skins — against the protestations of the President, Reid, and Pelosi, who are trying hard to hold the caucus together (for the Greater Good of the Party mission, comrades!) — by passing new legislation that would would compel insurers to sell policies that, in the first instance, break the federal ACA law; and that in the second instance, they can’t possibly afford to provide, so long as the underlying conceit of ObamaCare remains, namely, that the government can dictate to Americans to buy healthcare insurance — and that the insurance they are required to buy meets some universal standard against which all previous tailored or private policies have been decreed substandard.
Or to put it another way, the Upton Plan pushes a Democratic cover for their own earlier ignorance and malfeasance, while simultaneously promoting the idea that the government — having caused private insurers by way of the law that government passed to drop people from existing coverage — now must step in to prevent those insurers from doing what they were compelled to do. How this helps the already millions of people who have been dropped is of course not discussed: because what is really at the heart of this is the government’s having decided that, in addition to having the power to compel citizens to enter into contracts and purchase products against their own will and against what they believe to be their own best interests, they also have the power to step in and tell private entities that they must sell certain products by government command.
Which, if you think about it, is where we’ve been heading all along: because a government that can force Christian bakers to make available to gay couples products that they do not otherwise offer, is a government that can compel private industry to sell products they don’t wish to, or can’t afford to, sell. And the offshoot of that is that they can then, by a very simple judicial chain of opinion that is likely to flow from such an “amendment” to ACA, compel doctors to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients for pennies on the dollar; to make health care accessible to certain geographic regions; and to control the treatments doctors are permitted to prescribe.
Or, if you prefer, the GOP is pushing for the legal precedent first uttered, idiotically, by Bush the younger: they need to destroy the private market in order to save it.
And this is being cheered on by many “conservative” outlets as a wondrous political maneuver! It will keep the Dems on the defensive. It will show that the GOP is willing to reach across the aisle to find political solutions to difficult problems created by government in the first place — that is, that they are bravely willing to use more government to fix the deleterious and nearly surreal effects of more government!
Now, contrast this strategy to the Cruz, Lee, TEA party strategy that the GOP establishment went out of its way to sabotage: under that plan, the implementation would have been delayed so that the conversation about the perils of what was coming could have been discussed in a way it had never been discussed before the law was rushed through. It would have shown, had the GOP remained united, that for Republicans, it was important — if not crucial — to stop the law from going into effect before millions began losing their coverage. And this is while conceding that they would have lost the battle — but at the same time, forced every single Democrat to deny the consequences that we’ve now seen borne of implementation.
There was the TEA Party end game. And the GOP establishment blew it. Because had they remained united, it would have meant that sticking to actual conservative principles turned out to be the “pragmatic” and politically savvy thing to do. Which I believe I may have mentioned before (back in 2009, just in advance of my excommunication from the pundit club) is one aspect of pragmatism and realism that is routinely eschewed by those who lay claim to the labels, all while dismissing idealists as True Believers or zealots or Hobbits or “purists”:
As many pundits will patiently explain to you, ideological purity and idealism doesn’t win elections, so if not pragmatism, what?
To which I reply, pragmatism is fine. But why not use our idealism pragmatically — which is to say, why not make it our strategy to use idealism as our cudgel against the media and the left in such a way that their tactic of misrepresentation and outrage no longer pays dividends? Why not make it our strategy to destroy their tactics — and in so doing, reaffirm the very principles at the heart of classical liberalism?
Instead, GOP establishment types attacked the TEA Party plan — the only plan to try, or at least show that something was being tried — to prevent the pain and suffering and worry and uncertainty many Americans are now needlessly experiencing. And the GOP did this because they believed that, politically, letting the law expose itself as a monstrosity was a better political plan — a more viable political endgame.
For them. And fuck the American people if they can’t just suck it up while they’re crafting a political strategy.
So here we are: once again snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, the GOP establishment is looking to introduce legislation that makes private enterprise essentially a stepchild of government. It is setting the conditions, with Democrats, for future attacks on free markets and individual liberty, disguising this muddleheaded thinking as “compassionate.” When what they should be doing, now that we’ve seen the effects of this law — and this is in advance of all those on waivers who will lose their coverage in a year (93 million, the White House knew of) — is pushing for its defunding or outright repeal.
And guess what? They have another continuing resolution / debt ceiling debate that they can use as leverage to do so.
Does it matter that it won’t pass the Senate, if the Senate Dems stick together? No. Because it lays the problem and obstructionism of reform directly at the feet of leftwing ideologues.
More likely, though, is that vulnerable Senators will break ranks and provide the votes to surrender to save their own political hides. At which point, Obama’s veto will be the final, conclusion showcase of his dictatorial designs on the American people.
The establishment mush pile wanted an end game from conservatives? Well there it is: you will lose your doctor, your health care policy, your disposable income, and your individual autonomy because that’s what the President or Senate Democrats demand.
But rather that do what’s right — even given this second opportunity — they are ready instead to support law compelling private industry to break previous law, and then somehow bring back into the fold those whose policies have already been canceled at prices equal to what they were when those cancellations took place, without addressing the cause of the price spikes to begin with, namely, the ridiculous idea that we can somehow have a government run system, implemented through private insurers but being directed by bureaucrats and requiring thousands of new policing agents, bureaucratic screening agencies, etc, that claims to cover every one under raised standards of care, and yet somehow make the costs go down.
Or rather, the idea is ridiculous in the context of capitalism. In the context of authoritarianism, it could work. Except for the part where doctors simply quit, pharma stops innovating, and “universal health insurance” is nothing more than a shiny, empty package of promises with nothing at all inside it.
I guess what we can do is hope that Cruz, Lee, et al., once again risk the wrath of the neo-statist right and do the right thing: not allow for such constant “fixes” that at each stage lessen our liberties; but rather fight the pernicious intent of the law, which is to do precisely that in the first place.
Discuss.
Me, I’m still barking like a pneumonia-ridden seal and will return to my bed for now. Though after a nap I hope to return and post on the now prevalent progressive talking point that cancellation of “substandard” (read: not egalitarian plans written by social engineers and progressive Utopians) plans is actually a good thing. It’s just that the bulk of Americans who aren’t them are too stupid to recognize it, and too ill-equipped even to pretend to make those decisions for themselves in the first place.
This moment, this very moment, might be a good time to write your Congressmen and Senators to assert that those representatives should oppose the Upton plan and the Landrieu plan, both.
But whatever you do, don’t demand that the ClownDisaster be impeached for political high crimes and misdemeanors against the American republic and its people, since such a demand will only cause mirth and guffaws to issue from the chests of our wiser overseers, the sophisticate cynics who rule. You’ve nothing to do with it.
The “Keep Your Plan” schemes in congress won’t work. What people want is a bifurcated system: one for them, with a policy that is truly affordable, with access to their own doctors, with the coverage they want; and one for everyone else. It can’t happen. “Keep Your Plan,” maybe works for year, if the actuarial costs are hidden or subsidized by the Feds. But January 2015 will roll around and we’ll be back here, except the midterm elections will be over, and premiums will be even worse because insurance companies will have to recoup their losses some way.
Repeal is the only thing to do, and the reasons for it must be explained to the populace. Otherwise, we’re sunk. This failure on the part of the Administration is a gift; we better use it wisely.
All my phones and headsets with mute buttons are broken or out of batteries and I have a two hour call coming up… and I have gas from the herbal tea that was supposed to calm my whooping cough and dry mouth from my sniffle medicine. So I sound like a farting walrus sucking on a huge lollipop.
WHY DOESN’T OBAMACARE COVER TELEPHONE HEADSETS?!
– The problem with repeal is the horse has already left the barn. You are not going to see any way that the lost policies will be restored, other than an obscene hike in the premiums, which leaves you, and them, no better off in the eyes of the public than we are now.
– At this juncture its not clear theres any way out of this mess, period, short of total collapse and starting from scratch. The polity is fun and interesting, but besides the point. The health care system is esesentially destroyed for now.
There is no impetus to “help” Obama and Company out of this hole. I say we take several giant steps back from the ACA and watch it burn. We can make s’mores over the smoldering careers of the presidential ass-kissers.
They can scream “Those fuckers! They won’t help! They never tried to help!”
“Yup”, we can say. “We told you so.”
– An even better analogy woiuld be that the ship has sailed and we are in the process of locating the obligatory iceberg, while the passengers (voters) run hither and yon with no idea what todays menu will consist of, and the crew (congress) fight over who gets to keep the sheet music when the whole shit-eree goes down.
“Those fuckers! They won’t help! They never tried to help!”
– Actually Leigh, I’d tend to want to hand them lit sticks of dynomite every time they begged for help. If we have to endure such a massive failure in our rights and protections as citizens, not to mention the loss of life and limb this total fuckup will pulmegate, I say the least we can do is make sure as many statists as possible take the gas.
Cans of diesel and boxes of wooden matches would work, too.
And right on cue. “A new insanity.”
This:
reminds me of this.
Why do people refuse to notice that socialist paradises typically look like 3rd-world shitholes from the outside? Our Scandi friends excluded, of course.
The health care system is esesentially destroyed for now.
True, dat.
Have any blackmarket insurance products been noticed? Are there insurers outside the reach of US jurisdiction covertly entering a market ripe for the taking?
Andy McCarthy once again steps up to the issue.
the GOP establishment is looking to introduce legislation that makes private enterprise essentially a stepchild of government.
Hey Benito! That thing you invented is raising its ugly head again.
“The Fuhrer’s positon has always been clear on this legislation.”
“Ja vohl, mein Fuhrer! Brilliant! Just brilliant, sir!”
Sen. Cruz last night on Megyn Kelly’s hour.
– Who would have ever dreamed we would see the embodiment of Peter Sellers Dr. Strangelove.
– The situation we now find ourselves in, thanks directly to the tireless efforts of the Progressives to hunt down and fuck up every aspect of our lives, is “Nuke it from orbit Captain…..its the only way to be sure.”
Cruz is a hoot: he keeps emphasizing that the “reasonable, pragmatic” thing to do is full repeal.
REASONABLE! PRAGMATIC!
Right in their smug faces.
– Well, I guess it makes sense if you are forced out of political survival to ask the Bumbler to fuck off and stay away from your campaign.
– Even the pecker-headed yes men are starting to quiver.
It’s a fine convenience that full repeal also happens to be the only moral thing to do.
In a follow-up, McCarthy acknowledges the technical issues plaguing the comments section at NRO. Heh.
I think the GOP establishment’s instinct to support the Upton plan is based on two beliefs, one good, the other atrocious.
1) They’re right to think that standing put, with our hands in our pockets, would make us look callous to the few undecided voters who are actually paying attention to what Congress does.
2) They’re absolutely wrong to limit our options to statist solutions.
They should be raising hell about how the people who created this problem are in no position to offer solutions. McCarthy is right, they should be using this swing in momentum to push for nothing less than scrapping Obamacare.
If that means gridlock until the 2014 midterms (at the earliest), so be it. Let’s present a true choice rather than an echo: let’s let the voters choose between the statist band-aid offered by Obamacare’s authors or the truly comprehensive solution (repeal) presented by its now prescient opponents.
…but all that assumes that the establishment has the guts and the desire to fight for us. I don’t think they do, so it’s high time to primary the worst of them, Sowell’s concerns be damned.
– The front page Lede over at HuffNPoop ( we record off the net so you don’t have too):
DAMAGE CONTROL
Obama: Insurers Can Offer Current Plans For Another Year
*insert picture of a distressed Bumblefuck here*
President ‘Deeply Regrets’ Cancellations… ‘That’s On Me’… Vows: ‘We’re Going To Get It Right’… Some Dems Offer Praise… Boehner ‘Highly Skeptical’… Wonkblog: Insurance Fix Will Create ‘A Big Mess’… Chait: ‘Everybody Is Bullsh*tting’
“Breakdown of rule of law.”
Presbo has begun to speak of himself in the third person again.
“When the president says . . . ” he said.
Ted Cruz snickers at you, sir.
And Washington State tells Il Duce “No.”
“You guys don’t write about things that go right…..” (Hey you cheer leader lackeys…..you’re not doing what you were trained and paid for, now get busy – Audacious expectations.
– The Bumbler saying that insureres can delay cancellations for a year5 doesn’t mean squat. The ACA has given the companies the perfect excuse to dump borderline and bad policies for their bottom line. WTF would they not take advantage.
– Well Washington is probably one of the lowest insured users in the nation, so a great many of the Lefties up there are probably going onto Medicare and don’t want policy cancellation litigation to foul up the works just when they had a chance for a massive new entitlement expansion, which I suspect is true for a lot of the centers of Lefty populations.
– When this is all done the only people with insurance will be the rich who buy from foriegn companies, and the 49 million plus food stamp recipients, and that will be Medicare, not health insurance.
– Hellofajob Barry!
Silicon Valley says “Fuck these guys”
BBH, I have a theory (oh no! you say) that the Wan is now going to ignore the shit out of his “signature legislation” and concentrate on Amnesty, now.
And raising our taxes.
Where’s hellomynameisstupid to tell us this is all part of the plan and we’re all a bunch of dumkopfs?
Boehner mouths support for, one would reasonably assume, full repeal by saying “The only way to fully protect the American people is to scrap this law, once and for all. There is no way to fix this.”
Sounded pretty good, except he also said “the House will act on the Upton plan”.
So which is it? “Keeping your plan” (which is beyond government’s power at this point) isn’t “scrapping the law”.
Oh, link
Mondamay, Upton/Landrieu face the same problems as today’s edict. States still regulate insurance which is not interstate commerce by design. Obama, in attempting to get ahead of the ‘Pubs politically, actually provided them with cover for doing nothing. The states take the ‘Pubs and insurance companies off the hook.
Sir, how dare you say that anything is beyond the government’s power! BLASPHEMER!!! NO UNICORN DRUMSTICKS FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!!
I can’t wait for steverino to weigh in on just how stunningly well all of this is going.
Me either.
Lemme help: “You’re only laughing because you’re a racist bastard who hates Obama because of his skin and because you’re a horrible monster who wants people to die of pneumonia because they can’t see a surgeon every time they get the sniffles! How do you live with yourself?”
I’m glad you brought that up, Squid.
Do you remember when anyone who criticized any aspect of Obamacare was a raaaaacist? Well, the Wan proved today that he’s a racisty racist. An Uncle Tom!
I have a problem with any sentence that starts with, “Obama will allow…”.
‘Bama don’t allow no guitar pickin’ ‘roun’ heah.
I guess he’s still hooked up to the Borg hivemind, downloading talking points.
I guess he’s still hooked up to the Borg hivemind, downloading talking points.
The talking point are simple and short; there’s no way they should take this long to download. I suspect that the real delay is that stevebot6000 need to install a new operating system that uses the new and improved LeftyLogic 6.2 engine, allowing the system to make absolutely no sense at all why still believing it’s infallible.
That kind of shit takes some hard-core programming.
The holdup is, he has to get his talking points from healthcare.gov
I rise from my sick bed [having gotten the flu from a flu shot] to find that Law And Order has been cancelled?!? The longest running show in America is kaput?!?
I’m going back to bed and hope for the delirium to return.