In the wake of the House healthcare vote, has the fat lady essentially sung on Tea Party and attendant liberty movements? Ann Althouse writes:
I tend to think people will get used to the change and stop paying attention, and the polls will move back to equilibrium between the parties. People will never be giddy and dreamy about Obama again, but so what? (Note to Althouse haters: “So what?” is a serious question.) We shouldn’t be so optimistic about government. That’s why we resisted the reform. We didn’t trust it. Now that it’s happened, won’t most people get bored with looking at the government and turn back to their immediate lives? The mistrust that made people say “no” will be processed into jadedness and aversion to politics. People will try to live good lives on their own and be fatalistic about how the reforms will affect them. My basic political orientation is aversion to politics, and I found myself thinking, as soon as the vote count reached 216 last night: Well, I hope some good comes of this and the bad isn’t too horribly bad. People aren’t going to stay fired up. The natural process is to stabilize and find normal. Isn’t that why we’re so conservative in the first place?
There’s a good chance Ann is right in this assessment that we are at heart compliant Good Germans or Good Hungarians or whatever. The moderate rise in the stock market today (many had predicted a steep decline) argues for just that return to the status quo ante that she describes.
And yet I wonder. Opposition to Obama’s healthcare reform was grouped around two basic themes. One was ideological – that it was a statist restriction on the freedom envisioned by the founders of our country. The second was economic – we simply can’t afford it. Continuing the first of these themes has everything to do with human will and is subject to the mood of the populace. But the second is cold, hard reality. No jubilation over what happened Sunday night on the part of Obama, Pelosi and company can change that. If we’re headed for bankruptcy, we’re headed for bankruptcy. We may be a culture in denial, but sooner or later we’re all going to have to face the obvious. Entitlements must be paid for.
And I suspect it’s going to be a lot sooner than any of us think. What happened in the House of Representatives Sunday night is that the government voted itself a new credit card – the kind which offers you the opportunity to transfer credit from all your other over-stretched cards at a “special” interest rate that magically escalates into a rate that would make Simon Legree or Shylock blush.
To hide this, the Democrats posted some numbers from the Congressional Budget Office, but you don’t have to read the deathless prose of the CBO’s own The Uncertainty of Budget Projections: A Discussion of Data and Methods to know how accurate they are. Occam’s Razor tells us almost all budget projections are absurd – and ones regarding healthcare are beyond absurd.
So what Althouse may be talking about is a temporary respite. I know how she’s feeling. Riding back from NY to LA Sunday night on JetBlue, I watched the voting on the DirecTV system, but at a certain point I had had enough. I couldn’t take it anymore and switched the damn thing off. I noticed most of the passengers on the plane weren’t watching either. They were tuned to the basketball game or some version of the Real Houswives of wherever.
But it ain’t over. As the man said, it’s the economy, stupid. And the economy isn’t getting any better, not in a discernible way, in any case. And this is only going to make it worse. On top of that, the Obamacrats, in all their newfound glory, will undoubtedly double-down and go for broke with such brilliant ideas as cap-and-trade, further exacerbating the situation. You don’t have to march around in a three-cornered hat or even hold any truths to be self-evident to be royally pissed off about that. You just have to have a modicum of common sense.
So pass the tea and chuck that new credit card in the trash compactor. The game is on.
Looking at the Facebook page of Stupak’s Republican opponent suggests it’s not over. The opponent is a general surgeon in the upper peninsula of Michigan who has been in practice 37 years and has always lived there. His name is Dan Benishek and his facebook page has exploded since Stupak caved yesterday. He doesn’t even have much of a web site yet but he is the next Scott Brown, in my opinion.
Take a look. There were 140 members before the Stupak cave in. There were 1400 when I joined yesterday afternoon.
There’s a creeping irony about America being in economic survival mode and then adding a new cost in the guise of ‘health reform’ that will most assuredly help propel us into our economic collapse.
Stupid, stupid, stupid, America.
I want one of those Hello,Kitty cards too. Does it work on a trip to Bora Bora? (Health care included, of course)
It ain’t over till the alinskiites are gone from this country. I’m teaching my kids exactly what they look like so they’ll keep them out. Freedom is still a dream even if it has been lost.
Roger I can’t even manage to feel angry about it. What I feel is nauseated.
But even if this is common, I think “nauseated” will work just as well as anger to get people to the polls in November. I just want it to stop, and I know I am far from alone.
she is absolutely right. we Americans tend to be complacent. it’ll be hard to keep up the intensity, which is why it’s doubly important for the GOP to start having some ideas and start finding some good candidates. we can’t rely on the healthcare debacle alone to win back the House.
On March 21st, 2010 the United States of America ceased to exist; the corrupt socialists who now own what was once the US Congress have established the new Soviet America Dictatorship. I no longer consider myself to be an American. Pray for the conversion of neo Americans.
http://templeofmut.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/benedict-bart-and-10-of-the-eleven-voted-yes-contact-information/
The above link has the NAMES OF THE STUPAK 12, notes which 11 of the 12 voted “YES,” and contact information.
Having been to the Soviet Union a couple of times, John #8, I must say that’s a tad over-stated. But, hey, these are over-heated times. Enjoy yourself, if that’s what you really think. Of course, acting out of a bit more calm might be more helpful.
New credit card is the same as the old credit card. War credit card. Oil company credit card. Bank credit card. Only this one helps people that are hurting, us.
Oh.. yes the American economy….not only saved from destruction but getting stronger. And now this administration has “manned up” and tried to fix health care, unlike the “cut and runners” from past administrations. So I would say we are going from strength to strength. And there is plenty to talk about before November eh? Don’t you agree?
Mike-K: The count was well over 14,000 members on Dr. Beneshik’s Facebook page when I took a peek this morning.
Delia (2)
Yeah, irony has been creeping up both my legs ever since the Republicans couldn’t keep a majority either the House or Senate. It’s nothing like that “tingling” Chris gets from his idol Barry, either. It’s been that weird sensation of clammy fingers and impending doom you wake up with even though you know you’re not still in a combat zone.
Regards
A Democratic pollster, Doug Schoen, says the result of this will be “cataclysmic” and the fall election outcomes will be “unambiguous.” He is absolutely correct. I disagree with Ann that people will get bored looking at government and turn back to their immediate lives. For many people, especially those in the highest voting demographics (i.e. the elderly), their immediate lives ARE their health care. When the rationing and cutting of services starts, and it will, they will be up in arms (figuratively speaking), more so than the tea parties & protests we saw this time.
Republican candidates take note: if you get elected this fall, it won’t be b/c you’re such a wonderful politician – it’ll be b/c the Dems failed or refused to listen, and you might want to think about keeping your ears open. Just trying to be helpful.
13. rashputin,
Yeah b-b-but…
Scratch some ‘Republicans’ and ya find a moonbat leftoid twit. The leftoid dims infested and infected our politics and institutions of learning whilst America assumed the rot was ‘not too bad’ until it turned out to be gangrenous.
Conservatives have woken up though. We are learning to get out there. Leftists have been doing it for a long time and have it down to an art form. Now, we can learn and grow and save our country or submit and fail our children and their futures.
There’s always hope…just look into a child’s eyes and it’s there and that’s worth fighting for.
11. Poor Citizen,
I hope you can finally ‘afford’ that check-up from the neck-up now. Get it now before the wait-lists start piling up. ;p
When we do go over the falls economically all bets are off. But I’d say there’s a good chance that the socialist myth will be utterly discredited when people are reduced to taking a wheelbarrowfull of dollars to their local militia guarded food warehouse for a loaf of bread.
Roger,
Even the Lakers do not win all their big games. In the ObamaCare contest, the statists were much stronger at all positions, yet the libertarian kept things close right until the buzzer. It was a great game and the Cinderella team almost stole a victory. There’s no shame in that.
The outcome, though disappointing, holds much to relish and great promise for the future. After having to endure 8 years of “compassionate conservatism,” it was great to see not a single member of the House Republican delegation break ranks – how often does that happen? And witnessing the public humiliation of “moderate” politicians from either side of the aisle was truly something to savor – here I’m thinking of Ben Nelson, Anh “Joseph” Cao, and Bart Stupak, among others. Most importantly, though, is that Americans have been presented a true picture of who Democrats and Republicans really are and what they stand for. This is a far different political landscape than any of us could have hoped for just 12 months ago.
These past few months amply demonstrate that ideological conservatism is a marketable world view to those seeking public office and that unprincipled compassion in not. In this respect, the equilibrium point has clearly shifted to the right. We will not be returning to the old equilibrium point any time soon.
Yes, it was a tough one to lose, but there is always next season. And, come next November, there will be a new crop of rookie ideological conservatives joining the big club in Washington. That day can’t come soon enough.
Yours truly,
Neobuzz
Delia (15)
Scratch some ‘Republicans’ and ya find a moonbat leftoid twit.
Can’t argue with that, but I still think it’s smarter to weed the garden instead of giving it away.
Regards
I’ve posted this on my blog yesterday…
I want my country back!
It seems like the ultra-liberals have been able to bribe and coerce enough congress-scumbags to pass the Obamacare. And as I said before, there would be hell to pay for this monstrosity. Obamacare is the very definition of unlimited government – the threat of which was forewarned by the Founding Fathers more than two centuries ago. The federal government, which is up to its neck in debt and unfunded liabilities, decided to launch the biggest entitlement of all times – the medical care for all. The spending on this new entitlement will surely dwarf many if not most of Federal programs and will make the bankruptcy of federal and state governments inevitable. The time of reckoning is at hand, brothers and sisters. Obamacare is the last breath of the liberal order – and it’s time to take America back from the party of thieves and looters.
All patriots of this nation must stand together and fight back. United we will win! There is no blue or red America anymore – there are only those that believe in America the beautiful, America the free, America the shining city on the hill – and those that believe in welfare socialism and government servitude. Today, we fight not only for our personal well-being – but for the dignity and honor of this country, for the right to look into the eyes of our children and say – we defended this nation from the perils of socialism. In November 2010, we will answer the crucial questions of our times – are American people worthy of the efforts of the Founding Fathers? Will American people have the right to proudly say “We are Americans” – or will they forever live in infamy and indignity of welfare socialism?
I am glad that the Democratic Party passed the Rubicon. From now on, there is no coming back for the liberal elites, no talks of compromise and middle-ground. Today, it is abundantly clear that we either will live in Obama’s America or America that our Founding Father envisioned. You cannot have both.
The November elections will be the most important elections in our lifetime. If you don’t vote for America in November – you don’t deserve to be called an American.
Written by a Russian immigrant who loves America and who loves freedom.
I’ve posted this on my blog yesterday….
I want my country back!
It seems like the ultra-liberals have been able to bribe and coerce enough congress-scumbags to pass the Obamacare. And as I said before, there would be hell to pay for this monstrosity. Obamacare is the very definition of unlimited government – the threat of which was forewarned by the Founding Fathers more than two centuries ago. The federal government, which is up to its neck in debt and unfunded liabilities, decided to launch the biggest entitlement of all times – the medical care for all. The spending on this new entitlement will surely dwarf many if not most of Federal programs and will make the bankruptcy of federal and state governments inevitable. The time of reckoning is at hand, brothers and sisters. Obamacare is the last breath of the liberal order – and it’s time to take America back from the party of thieves and looters.
All patriots of this nation must stand together and fight back. United we will win! There is no blue or red America anymore – there are only those that believe in America the beautiful, America the free, America the shining city on the hill – and those that believe in welfare socialism and government servitude. Today, we fight not only for our personal well-being – but for the dignity and honor of this country, for the right to look into the eyes of our children and say – we defended this nation from the perils of socialism. In November 2010, we will answer the crucial questions of our times – are American people worthy of the efforts of the Founding Fathers? Will American people have the right to proudly say “We are Americans” – or will they forever live in infamy and indignity of welfare socialism?
I am glad that the Democratic Party passed the Rubicon. From now on, there is no coming back for the liberal elites, no talks of compromise and middle-ground. Today, it is abundantly clear that we either will live in Obama’s America or America that our Founding Father envisioned. You cannot have both.
The November elections will be the most important elections in our lifetime. If you don’t vote for America in November – you don’t deserve to be called an American.
Written by a Russian immigrant who loves America and who loves freedom.
The Republicans and Democrats left The Constitution behind a long, long time ago, folks.
The ideological divide over the “issues” devolved into vitriolic arguments over which side gets to limit the freedoms of the other.
The Constitution was originally designed not only to limit the size and scope of government, it was designed to prevent us from using the government to interfere in the lives of other Americans.
We have conflated cultural, religious and social institutions with governmental laws and regulations, thereby accepting the rule of men as the valid foundation of our social contract.
We no longer live by The Constitution, as free men and women in America. We live our lives according to which men are in power in Washington, D.C.
We accept Bills of Attainder and Post Ex Facto laws as the rule of the land and dismiss Habeas Corpus as the realm of anarchy.
We dismiss corruption in the men we support and deride the same corruption in others…as long as they bring the pork – other people’s money – home to our neck of the woods. One side supports Social Security while the other supports welfare and nationalized health care…when both sides have corruptly and decadently used the government to take from one American in order to give to another.
We use government to punish and limit the freedoms of others while screaming about any attempt to limit our own freedoms.
In the end, the failure is not in our government, it is in ourselves.
Neobuzz, I agree with most of what you say … except… alas… the Laker analogy is not so good this year. But, as with all things, there is still hope.
19. rashputin:
AMEN to that.
Let the weedin’ commence!
Yes, this “health reform” will bankrupt the country, lead to shortages, force the adoption of health care rationing, deny care, and promote unqualified affirmative action doctors. None of that matters. What is important here is that the democratic party has used taxpayer dollars to buy 30 million votes. Perhaps they angered more people than that, but amnesty will buy another 20 million new votes for them.
You can forget about Republicans getting back either house of congress in November. All the democrats have to do is go into Hipanic and low income neighborhoods and announce that the evil republicans are trying to take their free health care away. They will have all the votes they need.
There should be no mistaking the fact that the USA will suffer economic disaster as a result of this bill. There should be no doubt that many, many people will die as a result of this bill. The democrats will win the next election anyway.
25.battleofthepyramids,
Resistance is futile. The will of THE PEOPLE has not been heard.
Edited by The Electronic ENFORCED New America:
The will of THE PEOPLE has
notbeen heard.SUBMIT. SUBMIT. SUBMIT.
The health care crisis, “the broken system” was an invented perjorative to smoke screen the 50% of government run health care involvement. The escalating costs were about middle class premiums, and the distractor was the 30 million uninsured. How did they come up with that number?
Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs were what were broken and headed for bankrupcy in 2017. Now those programs can be completely destroyed and replaced with a larger monster failure after the 2012 elections.
The Change was to entitle that 30 million and illegal immigrants to the Chicago way of entitlement for votes. It invented an expansion of the poverty class.
The Supreme Court maybe 7 years down the road. The only viable action to contain this beast is a re-assertion of state’s rights in the 10th amendment, sooner rather than later.
Awesome idea posted by “Mark L” over at Ace of Spades:
“Attach a one-line rider to every piece of legislation next year that states that the bill is hereby repealed in its entirety. Force the Democrats to vote on that rider. Every Time. Then hold a press conference to announce that yet again the Democrats have blocked the will of the American people by upholding this corrupt piece of legislation, despite being given one more opportunity to fix the mess they created.
Let normal business continue, but keep introducing the rider. Thus, every week they will be given an opportunity to “right the wrong” they inflicted. The issue would not go away. Every week the Democrats would get a fresh chance to anger the American people.
How long do you think it would take — especially if Democrats’ poll numbers keep dropping — before they would repeal the damn bill (and override a Presidential veto) just to stop the political bleeding?
I’d say it would be gone by August 2011.”
The House has a Credit Score of 15;
Voters will limit, or revoke the card
in November, and they will not care if
it is Blue or Red; Politics is dead.
I feel violated. A bunch of strangers now have the key to my house.
Where I think Althouse is wrong here is in thinking that the health care issue exists in a vacuum, and is the lone controversial item that has the public up in arms. If that were true, and the Democrats had nothing else coming down the pike in Congress after the Senate reconciliation vote, then yes, the public might forget in seven months time.
But that’s not the case with this Congress and this president. They’re like a 3-year-old after devouring a box of Dunkin’ Donuts and a case of Starbuck double-shots — manically hyped up and ready to move on to their next pet cause as soon as possible. Which appears to be immigration reform, but some on the left could want to take another run at Cap and trade, while the SEIU is still trying to get card check another turn at the front of the line.
Any of those, combined with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts at the end of 2010, are just going to continue to pick at the scab of the ObamaCare vote and the deals made by Barack, Harry and Nancy to get it passed. If the Democrats were smart, they’d go into Bill Clinton mode circa 1997 right now, and do nothing for the next half year but push midnight basketball leagues and additional funding for cops on the street to calm the waters, but its not in their DNA to do that, and certainly not coming off this vote, where they think their other goals such as blanket amnesty, draconian environmental controls and de factor mandatory unionization are within their grasp.
Roger–You noted that the stock market went up today. You might also have mentioned a more important market event (IMO). The two year bonds of BerkshireHathaway (Warren Buffet), Procter and Gamble, and Johnson and Johnson, trade at a .0035 LOWER interest rate than the corresponding US Treasuries. That is not supposed to happen. You know all of that stuff about US bonds being the standard “riskless” investment. That is not what the world capital market is thinking. Oh, maybe the pols will say it is those dreaded financial analysts and traders. More ostrich shoot messenger stuff. Palmer.
Let’s do some math. In the last Presidential Election
approximately 120 million Americans voted, out of a
population of 310 million. That means 190 million
citizens did not vote. Allowing for the fact that not
all of the 190 million non-voters would have been eligible
(obviously children, convicted felons, Britney Spears fans
can’t or shouldn’t be allowed to vote), that leaves a
vast number of possible voters up for grabs, far larger
than the number of illegal aliens who would be granted
amnesty. And spare me the argument that the typical
uneducated illegal alien is more likely to vote than
your garden variety lazy American.
Amnesty for illegals should be fiercely opposed though
I think the benefits the Democrats think will accrue to
them for granting it are vastly inflated. Rewarding
illegals for violating our laws is hardly the way to get
citizens, enraged at the health care debacle to cool off.
30. Nancy,
EXACTLY. The body we are housed in, our very FLESH is now government property and the IRS is going to enforce it and the bureauCREEPingEVIL will elect the winners and losers in the game of LIFE and DEATH.
All hail BIG BROTHER (unless you are super rich, the pain will hit you eventually too but just not ask quick-like).
ALL HAIL OBAMACARE.
SUBMIT. SUBMIT. SUBMIT.
Time for PJM to let RR follow BB out the door?
They say the pen is mightier than the sword, but in Althouse’s case, apparently, it is limper than an old man’s penis when the Viagra runs out.
This is a time for lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.
We don’t need limp pens. We need pens that are ready to make war.
Most people will stop caring until the tax bill hits. Given that he signs the bill tomorrow, that’s going to be in either this or next Friday’s paycheck.
Roger – I went to three Tea Parties (the first political protests I had ever attended in my life … I’m GenX FWIW) in the span of two months last year. I tried to follow up by attending monthly meetings of a local 9.12 chapter, but the meetings were 1 hour away and I work two jobs. Daily life consumed the clock for the next many months, as it tends to do.
Then, late last week, knowing the vote was going down this weekend, I signed up for a bus convoy of local Tea Partiers to Washington DC. I was one of those 30,000-40,000 peasants standing out on the Capitol lawn shouting “Kill the Bill!” up at the potentates on the Capitol balcony.
I am seriously considering volunteering for one of the local candidates for Congress, if I can find one whom I think won’t turn out to be a craptard. Campaign volunteering is something else I have never done.
My political involvement will likely go in cycles but I don’t see myself just packing it in and going home for good at any point. I don’t think I have much of a choice. I’m on the very low end of the lower-middle-class and will be one of the first consumed by the poverty beast when the economy crashes. Ann Althouse has the LUXURY of her safe little tenured and pensioned academic niche. I do not. I am scrabbling, from this point on, for a roof over my head, and for the slim chance that I will not have to work until I drop dead from exhaustion or be shunted off into a back hallway of an Obamacare facility and left to die from thirst like that poor bloke in the UK.
As more and more Americans find themselves in my situation, or realize that they & theirs are headed on that trajectory, I assure you, the gloves are going to come off like fall leaves in a cold harsh wind. (sorry to mix metaphors)
I think Ann is in denial, big time, and she’s projecting that denial onto the population at large. The difference between her & a vast percentage of that population is that she has more resources than they do. So she can afford to fool herself a little longer than they can.
You know that picture in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in the room where the upper story of the room starts to rise … and you realize that the seemingly happy portrait of the contented fellow sitting pretty is just the top portino of a of a portrait four guys, all stacked on each other’s shoulders, and the bottom one of who is in quicksand & about to claw like a demon?
That bottom guy is me. After me, it will be someone else’s turn to feel their feet getting sucked into the quicksand.
Jolly good times.
We have only just begun to UNITE.
All people of all shades of melanin who have fought to become an ‘AMERICAN’ knows damned well what that means and what it represents.
Clueless?
AMERICA is supposed to mean FREEDOM! Not ‘freedom’ from rules and regulations but freedom from TYRANNY. Freedom to VOTE and have a SAY.
When our FREEDOM is taken away, HELLO mah dahlin’, hello, muh babyyyyy, hello my ‘good time’ girlllll.
Liberty has been taken away by the commie bastids for far too long. Necessary parts of government are WORTH PAYING FOR. Paying for John’s house by Jane’s taxes because he’s too poor or not smart enough or inspired enough to forge a brighter future for himself is WRONG.
I come from poverty. I come from Democrats.
My husband comes from 11 Catholic children. He comes from Democrats.
My mother was a whore who slept with multiple men and when the men who fathered us (who she actually married and quickly divorced in a time-span of a year or less) I and my siblings didn’t receive child-support from a single one of them and thusly she took welfare payments and considered herself a ‘self-made woman’ via ‘other’ men’s paychecks via her off-and-on work ethic. My mother was the ultimate leftist skank manhater who wanted to be a drug addict and turn her children into drug addicts too and when the results made her look ‘bad’ it was…of course…her children’s fault.
The Leftist brain is truly insane. I grew up with it and survived it and I try to never look back, including keeping my psychotic mental case of a mother as far from my life as possible and as far from my daughter too (who is an adult and finds my mother so repellent that ‘mommy dearest on steroids’ is a ‘kind’ description).
My sister feels the same too.
The strange thing about Leftists is that they can cry and whine their butts off about what victims they as they victimize their own children and repeat the ugliness and ignorance of abuse.
Time to grow up, America. If you abuse your children and leave them to ‘society’ to pick up the pieces, you will have nobody to care for you when ‘you’ are falling to pieces (well, except for the government IRS dude who is watching your diet closely for you).
I think folks should pursue a change of Congress in November in a calm and relatively dispassionate way. There should be a “just do it” approach. Don’t get emotional, just get Congress. Cold, calculating, focused. Less heat. Send them packing like firing someone who is not doing a job. Be immovable. Emotions can be swayed and appealed to. The November vote should simply send them home.
I think from now I will do as Dennis Preger has suggested, referring to the democrats now as Social Democrats. That’s what they’re called in Europe and there certainly is big similarity today.
So, is there anyone out there that thinks that there still is no difference between the two parties? Never did.
Is there anyone out there that believes that Stupak was in anyway not going to vote for this monstrosity? Never did.
Is there anyone out out there that thinks the, what was it 34, ‘blue dogs’ should be congratulated for taking a stand? Not me. It was all agreed to beforehand.
It is my fervent hope that 2010 results in shutting down the Social Democrats.
Well, Roger, you make some excellent points, although since the liabilities of Obamacare will kick in before the benefits do, I don’t think people will be as compliant about it. The Brits are because few of them remember a world without the NHS. What do they have to compare it to? We will retain memories of a world without waiting lists and rationed care, and will not be pleased when those things happen, as they inevitably will.
But you are absolutely right that, whether you remain angry about this or shrug your shoulders and tune into HBO rather than CSPAN, we’re going to run out of money. Margaret Thatcher liked to say that the facts of life are conservative. How you, personally, feel about Obamacare makes no difference, the fact is we can’t afford it.
It is too bad that, down the road, we won’t be able to see the reaction of a now-gloating Democrat when he is told that “sorry, you can’t have the cancer treatment. You’re too old and we have to ration care.” Those laughing now will not be laughing in the future – guaranteed. The problem is that the rest of us (with the exception of our ruling class) will be in the same position.
Althouse has been around the college crowd too long if she thinks this will just fade away. This bill will have an immediate impact on job creation and business investment, and comes just as the effects of the expiration of the Bush tax cuts begins to have an effect. Besides, who has faith in her judgment anyway – she voted for the hopey-changey dude.
If the American public has as short an attention span as Althouse’s bong-addled students and colleagues, then they will deserve their fate.
I also disagree with any conclusion that this will just fade away. This time, it’s different.
The paradigm has changed.
As for the bump in the DOW, that was based upon the big pharma companies, who will benefit – initially – from the new health care law. Realistically, think of it as yet another economic bubble…waiting to pop. refer: Villainous Company: “A Strong Dose of Reality.”
Also, Google:
‘Financial Armageddon’
‘Calculated Risk’
‘The Market Ticker’
‘Zero Hedge’
‘Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis’
‘Iamned’
Roger,
I know this is off topic, but I’ve come up with a new bumper sticker for all us Californians:
MicXey
I think your comments software will strip away my formatting, so just imagine a box around a bold letter X.
Yours truly,
Neobuzz
I can’t even talk to my liberal office mate anymore. He told me he’s in favor of Nationalized Health Care 1) so we’d be like other countries and 2) his UC Davis college-graduated 22-yr old son could get medical coverage “in case he gets shot or something!” and because he’s been turned down twice by HMO’s even though he’s in “good health.”
I’m damned tired of paying for the education and now medical insurance for somebody else’s freeloading kid — especially when dad can afford both himself and the kid is livin’ large at Dad’s house with his dad-supplied car and iPhone.
“it’ll be hard to keep up the intensity”
No it won’t. For those of us who are 20-something, there is no choice – a lot of older folks haven’t yet realized that our current economic ruin means that my generation will be much, much poorer than the previous ones. This is already a done deal – it cannot be reversed. But if they expect us to be a less free generation, as well, then we’re going to pull the world down us and burn it. Enough is enough.
But it ain’t over. As the man said, it’s the economy, stupid.
Great, that’s just wehat we need: more weak, pragmatic pablum for those insufficiently strong in the moral constitution to take liberty straight.
Social Security, anyone? Medicare? Hell, just Medicare Part D? ( for those idiots who think McCain would have been a better choice in the last election?)
That and nothing else is the reason why no entitlement program, once its claws are sunk in, has ever been repealed. No conservative is up to that task and no conservative ever will be. It takes something else to do that job, and if it happens, that something else will have done it.
The Department of Education is still here. So is the Department of Homeland Security. They are the fruit of a century of primitive screwheads posing in politics while evading the ethical principles involved.
It’s the morality, stupid.
Here’s where we are at: if you aren’t human enough to pass this test, Althouse is right, as far as you are concerned.
Is anybody worried that this whole bill might become really popular?
Sounds like some people can’t wait to get back to their complacent lives. Fine, get the hell out of my way, because I will never stop being angry at this, or tire of fighting it. Not as long as I draw breath.
Roger:
I agree with you. They will not leave us alone along enough for us to forget. They will simply move onto their next take over and to hell with the American people. I have never seen such a completely narcissistic and dishonest political class. Never, and I am not a kid either.
Seerak:
I think McCain would have been much better in the last election. And I am not an idiot, I can at least count. Obama and his ilk count on people like you. They know that you will demand the immediate destruction of half the government and when you don’t get it, you will just say “they are all the same”, go home give up and let them have their way.
Well, McCain is better than Obama and so is just about everyone in the Republican party. They may not be perfect, but they did not vote for this monstrosity and they have at least acknowledged the need for real reform.
As for the Department of Education and Department of Homeland Security, you can not see the forest for the trees. I don’t really give a damn about either one of them right now to be honest.
I think Ann is wrong this time because the Democrats have laid the groundwork for an ongoing reminder. First as others have noted they are now giddy with excitement about their “victory” over the American people and will rapidly pursue Tax & Trade, Immigration “Reform”, and a host of other fascist programs.
But they have also set the bomb and its ticking down to detonation. The surtax on pharmaceutical, medical device, etc., manufacturers will be result in layoffs. The healthcare penalties on business will result in layoffs. If business owners are smart they will put a letter in with the layoff notices advising people exactly why they are now on the street.
I think there are going to be more than ample opportunity to stay angry. The Democrats don’t give a d*mn what the American people think so they see no reason to stop now while they are on a roll.
“But the second is cold, hard reality.” This, I think, is the heart of the problem. The culture is infested with Kantians that buy into the primacy of consciousness. They think it’s so, it’s so. Things are always “worse than expected” for them, and will forever require a new scapegoat to square the wrinkles in their designs. That trickling of never ending tweaks to doctors’ conduct, to our permitted use of our bodies, to “5 year plans” will slowly and surely eat the essentials of America away and nobody will really identify the threshold where / when it happened.
For those of us who are 20-something, there is no choice – a lot of older folks haven’t yet realized that our current economic ruin means that my generation will be much, much poorer than the previous ones.
Well, a lot of younger folks haven’t figured out that one either. No use blaming us older folks – many people in your age group happily put the leg shackles on themselves when they voted for Obama. I overheard college kids yesterday morning enthusing about the “free” healthcare they are going to get, no thanks to those mean Republicans and nasty tea partiers. I found I had a very difficult time sympathizing with their future poverty. Very few of your generation – the college-indoctrinated ones, at any rate – seem to “question authority.” Instead of the slacker generation, perhaps they (exceptions like yourself duly noted) should be called the sucker generation.
The sucker generation, I like that. Not to mention the fact that they are going to be surprised when they realize this health care is not “free” anyway.
That’s twice Althouse has been glaringly wrong about Obama, starting with voting for him. Nice girl, but soft in the head.
Most have missed what Obamacare is really about. It is about rationing healthcare for all those millions of boomers who are hitting retirement age (i.e. old age) in order to manage the government side of the costs. We can hardly afford all the chemo, pacemakers, stents, etc.,etc. for the “greatest generation” and government planners know for certain there is no way to afford all this for the boomers who are even more numerous. So, ration the care. When the government official at the Dept. of Healthcare Service Optimization says you do not qualify for chemo or the pacemaker or whatever, you can rest assured you are not going to get it. When he suggests morphine or the Kevorkian cocktail you will select one. He’s not your relative, he doesn’t care and anyway he goes home at 5. But this time there is nowhere to go. This is truly about economics people; the pols have just thrown dust in your eyes so you do not see how it will play out. Once the boomers are gone, no one will remember the good old days and it will not make any difference to those that are left. The boomers will go fast under government healthcare.
This bill really is about government proactively dealing with a social problem. Just not your view of the problem. No repeal of this bill will ever occur no matter who you elect. The real economics will not permit repeal.
I also hope that Althouse is wrong. I believe that the Tea Party movement began after Congress approved the stimulus bill and was largely a consequence of it. It will be interesting to see when and if Moody’s downgrades the US government’s credit rating. This is a concept that the public can easily understand and can easily be stressed by Republican candidates. While I agree that the public tends to be complacent and accepting especially when change is slow, it can also be quite passionate about issues which affect them when provoked by sudden events.
I’d made a CD for myself and fellow partners-in-crime at work. Some of the songs:
Iron Maiden – The Prisoner
Rage Against the Machine – Know Your Enemy, Killing in the Name
Public Enemy – 911 is a Joke
T.S.O.L. – American
Bad Religion – Victim of Authority
DK – Stars and Stripes of Corruption
The Unseen – Goodbye America
Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Power of Equality
Immortal Technique – 4th Branch
The Clash – I’m So Bored with the USA
Bob Seeger – I Feel Like a Number
Ironic, considering many of these songs had been written about their take on Republican policy, Anti-Big Government crusade.
Obama and company packaged the message differently and voila.. infinite useful idiots for the present.
The game HAS BEEN ON. Why do you think it took the Dems this long to pass something so ridiculous as this?
The Tea Party Movement is a permanent force in American politics now. In Ohio, GOP precincts are being led by TPM people. And, many GOP people I’m finding are NOT against the TPM because they are now realizing that its platform overlaps with the GOP platform on fiscal and economic issues along with limited government ala Reagan.
It is a perfect match and the two forces are working together in many places.
It is the hobby of mine for the rest of my life.
This powergrab was Pearl Harbor all over again, and 2010 will be the grueling/grinding Guadalcanal Campaign. 2012 will be the island-hopping campaign.
It’s ON! The grassroots is fired up and knows their freedoms are in danger.
Why would anybody pay attention to Althouse?
Take inventory of your tools of liberty. The fight is now permanent and till our last vote, meeting, rally, or…..(gulp) shot.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=30596392&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=314670616874&aid=-1&id=1433871218
Join a Tea Party group. Become a GOP Precinct Exec. or better yet, lend you services to an existing common-sense conservative PE. Run for school board to prevent the abuses in the public school system. Get on e-mail lists all over local and state issues.
This is only the beginning. The Dems, statists that they are, have awakened the sleeping giant. Live with relatives to save rent. Do what it takes.
We have our crusade, now lets get to work.
The game is just beginning for me. I’ve been meaning to join in the fight, but now I’m really getting involved. I’m going to my first Tea Party meeting this week and plan to be at our local Tax Day Tea Party next month. I hope to meet people and find out how to get even more involved.
In the words of John Paul many Americans have not begun to fight. For many of the Tea Party their public displays of opposition may appear to quiet down but no matter what in Nov every single one will vote against ObamaCare. Many will work for local candidates as they never have before and for many it will be the first time to actively work for a candidate.
Its is the huge silent majority who will be stired into action. Yes, they will move slowly but their movement will go largely unnoticed by the MSM until the polls begin to show the shift. Words will no longer sway they to believe Democrats in the future, Obama has proven that for Democrats words are just that words, not deeds.
One more act in this play (maybe two). After Barry and Co agree to the destruction of Israel the West will have no real moral reason to survive and prosper. And it won’t.
Roger, you’re right about this:
“What happened in the House of Representatives Sunday night is that the government voted itself a new credit card – the kind which offers you the opportunity to transfer credit from all your other over-stretched cards at a “special” interest rate that magically escalates into a rate that would make Simon Legree or Shylock blush.”
Insurance companies are required by laws which vary with the states to keep a certain amount in reserve to cover catastrophes, outbreaks or what ever level of coverage may go statistically awry.
Do not expect the Federal Government to adhere to these rules and expect the states to sue the pants off of the Federal Government when they figure out that the money isn’t there when needed. What a mess! States should plan for the inevitable.
Even worse, the individual should start planning now to cover his or her own health care costs because the money will be gone by the time it is needed and he or she will get the bare minimum or nothing for some illnesses.
Just think of how good the pols feel in Washington right now having averted disaster for a time. They all know they are far too deep in the hole to ever get out and stay in power.
To be as plain as possible: there are billions and billions kept in reserves by insurance companies and the Federal Government will eventually have access to those billions and billions and their mouths are watering. It won’t be enough. They will operate the health care industry in a Ponzi scheme fashion like they Social Security. Business will choke, doctors will choke, and tax paying individuals will choke.
Because it isn’t enough; taxes will go much higher and they will need cap and trade and any other theft gimmick they can put over on the public. 401K; They have a plan for that too.
All of this will not be enough and after a period of time Federal Government will not even be able to pay the interest on their debt.
There is only one other recourse for a tyrannical Government, slaughter of the innocents. It’s coming; it has to, unless we stop it.
Then there will be all out world war. Does anybody really think these corrupt governments will go away when the bank runs dry? I don’t. If history is the teacher the corrupt government will try to take it all.
Don’t like the governments of corrupt men anymore?
Cry out for Gods government. The King of Kings has a plan and He will execute now if we earnestly ask for it. Otherwise we get what we deserve.
Joe Biden got it right today this is a “big f—ing deal” with the emphasis on the word “f—ing.
There is a calm across America, but this time American voters are not going to forget about the passage of the healthcare cause, from now until election day, there will be more threats to our freedoms from the democrats (citizenship for illegal aliens, gun control etc.).
Both sides know it’s just the beginning. Tyranny has a way of popping up its ugly head throughout history & it’s happening again. America’s ancestors fled Europe & it’s tyranny & then fought tyranny in the American Revolution.
They would be proud of us cause we demonstrated in the streets (9/12 March in D.C.), wrote our representatives, sent letters/e-mails & make telephone calls & wrote numerous comments on blogs, but where did it get any of us? Our government has become a tyranny.
booksbyoliver.com
Yesterday March 21,2010 the United States of America which was established in 1789 voted to revoke itself; the USA no longer exists in its place in the new Soviet America and dictatorship.
I think Ann is in denial, big time, and she’s projecting that denial onto the population at large. The difference between her & a vast percentage of that population is that she has more resources than they do. So she can afford to fool herself a little longer than they can
Disclaimer: “The review expressed in this Blog are those of the author and do reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.”
The Health Care Bill is a Living and Breathing Document
It’s the law. Finally, after 14 long months of intense debate between the Democrats and
Republicans the Health Care Bill (HBC) is alive and well. Although the Bill does not offer a cure all, it does offer a way head for many of Americans. To exemplify, health insurance exchanges, subsidies, and insurance reforms.
Let’s begin with health insurance exchanges. It offers the uninsured and self-employed
the ability to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges with subsidies available to individuals and families with income between the 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level. Also, separate exchanges can be created for small businesses to purchase coverage; this is effective the year of 2014. Lastly, funding will be available to states to establish exchanges
within one year of enactment and until January 1, 2015.
Subsidies are granted to individuals and families who make between 100 percent – 400
percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and want to purchase their own health insurance on an exchange is eligible for subsidies. They cannot be eligible for Medicare, Medicaid and cannot be covered by an employer. Further, eligible buyers can receive premium credits and keep in mind that there is a cap for how much they have to contribute to their premiums on a sliding
scale. Federal Poverty Level for family of four is $22,050 Insurance Reforms will be endorsed in six months and insurance companies could no longer denying children coverage based on a preexisting condition. Beginning in 2014, insurance companies cannot deny coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions. Lastly, insurance companies must allow children to stay on their parent’s insurance plans until the age 26years old.
In conclusion, we all know this historical Health Care Bill (HBC) is not perfect. It still needs some tweaking. Don’t you agree? However, the HBC does take some historic steps of providing and allowing the less fortunate access to the best health system in the free world. Hopefully, over the next couple of months and years maybe the two parties can sit down and have a professional debate and tweak the Health Care Bill. The American people definitely deserve it.
Footnote: CBS News.com, 21 March 2010, “Health Care Reform Bill Summary: A Look At What’s in the Bill”, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000846-503544.html
Respectfully,
Keith
CORRECTION made to Disclaimer (do not reflect)
Disclaimer: “The review expressed in this Blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.”
The Health Care Bill is a Living and Breathing Document
It’s the law. Finally, after 14 long months of intense debate between the Democrats and Republicans the Health Care Bill (HBC) is alive and well. Although the Bill does not offer a cure all, it does offer a way head for many of Americans. To exemplify, health insurance exchanges, subsidies, and insurance reforms.
Let’s begin with health insurance exchanges. It offers the uninsured and self-employed the ability to purchase insurance through state-based exchanges with subsidies available to individuals and families with income between the 133 percent and 400 percent of poverty level. Also, separate exchanges can be created for small businesses to purchase coverage; this is effective the year of 2014. Lastly, funding will be available to states to establish exchanges within one year of enactment and until January 1, 2015.
Subsidies are granted to individuals and families who make between 100 percent – 400
percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and want to purchase their own health insurance on an exchange is eligible for subsidies. They cannot be eligible for Medicare, Medicaid and cannot be covered by an employer. Further, eligible buyers can receive premium credits and keep in mind that there is a cap for how much they have to contribute to their premiums on a sliding scale. Federal Poverty Level for family of four is $22,050 Insurance Reforms will be endorsed in six months and insurance companies could no longer denying children coverage based on a preexisting condition. Beginning in 2014, insurance companies cannot deny coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions. Lastly, insurance companies must allow children to stay on their parent’s insurance plans until the age 26years old.
In conclusion, we all know this historical Health Care Bill (HBC) is not perfect. It still needs some tweaking. Don’t you agree? However, the HBC does take some historic steps of providing and allowing the less fortunate access to the best health system in the free world. Hopefully, over the next couple of months and years maybe the two parties can sit down and
have a professional debate and tweak the Health Care Bill. The American people definitely deserve it.
Footnote: CBS News.com, 21 March 2010, “Health Care Reform Bill Summary: A Look At What’s in the Bill”, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000846-503544.html
Disclaimer: “The review expressed in this Blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.”