Categories
ideological culture national politics & policies too much government

The Ratchet Still Holds

Sharing

Government grows by a ratchet effect. 

When Democrats gained unified control over Congress and the Executive Branch in 2009 they understandably moved to increase the size and scope of government, rather than, say, swiftly follow through with President Obama’s various promises to withdraw from foreign interventions. Adding new stuff? More politic. 

Thus the legislation called (by opponents) “Obamacare.”

Democrats hoped that the wide number of people who would bear the initial costs would soon forget about them (the reform is already causing substantial increases in private insurance rates) while the smaller group of people who make obvious gains in services would solidly rank behind the reforms. 

A slight miscalculation. Americans reacted against Obamacare immediately, and gave control of the House back to the Republicans. 

Who, yesterday, voted to repeal Obamacare.

But since Democrats control the Senate, the bill will die there. If by some miracle it passed, the president will veto. 

In the ratchet they trust. 

Hoping dispersed costs will eventually be lost sight of, and feeling certain that the concentrated effects will indeed nurture a voting bloc, progressive Democrats see a bright future for ever-​expanding government incursion into medicine. As with most government encroachments, if it doesn’t work as advertised, more intrusiveness will be the next proposal for “reform.”

So far Democrats have plied their obvious advantage, reducing the repeal effort to symbolic action. Let’s hope Republicans can muster something more.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

6 replies on “The Ratchet Still Holds”

The attraction of Obamacare:

A trillion dollars of new spending, 138 or so new commissions and regulators getting between you and your doctor, 100,000 pages of new regulation and, essentially, a federal government takeover of a sixth of the U.S. economy.

It MUST be overturned, repealed, eradicated or the fundemental loss of liberty in this country will be devastating. What we knew as freedoms and prosperity will only be a dream to our children.

My health insurance premiums went up over 35% this month. Is this only the beginning of what we will be forced to pay in order to support the parasites?

I fail to see the correlation between the health plan and insurance companies raising rates of 50%. Is it a matter of Greed is Good? I do not hear that my Medicare is a big government take over. I do not hear about the insurance companies standing between you and your doctor. Making everyone pay for health insurance hardly makes them parasites.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *