Hyperbole much?
“Life is but a walking shadow,
a poor playerthat struts and
frets his hour upon the stage
and then is heard no more:
it is a tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury,
signifying nothing.”
Macbeth Act 5, Scene 5
In the wake of the unprecedented passage of the hotly disputed health care bill this weekend, the right-of-center blogsphere has been practically apoplectic. These guys have been screaming for revolution, activism, and promising repeal if and when the Republican Party takes back control of the house and senate. Fourteen state governments have even filed suit against this legislation based upon it’s unconstitutionality. Despite my own feelings regarding the federal government imposing unprecedented control of what was once the private health insurance industry, I cant help but remember the soliloquy from the fifth act of Macbeth. It seems that all of this sound and fury from the right is little more than a tale told by an idiot signifying nothing. Here’s why.
For one thing, this legislation will not be repealed. Even if the Republican Party were to gain majorities in the house and senate as soon as 2011, many of the entitlements promised by the new legislation will already be in place. No politician could ever enjoy a political victory by promising to take away entitlement goodies from a dependent constituency. Politicians win elections by promising the electorate free stuff. It’s been that way since the beginning of free elections. Nobody ever won an election by promising to take away entitlements. The best those who have opposed the health care bill could hope for is a reform of the health care entitlements similar to the welfare reform legislation of the 1990s. Repealing the health care bill is purely a fantasy being entertained by frustrated conservatives who feel as though the proverbial rug has been pulled out from beneath them.
As far as the state governments filing a lawsuit based upon the unconstitutionality of the bill, this will probably accomplish little if anything at all. Litigation takes time, too much time as a matter of fact. By the time this case is heard in the Supreme Court the health insurance entitlements will already be well entrenched in the national lexicon. Rescinding the bill by way of judicial review will be utterly impractical by then. This of course is assuming that the Supreme Court would even rule in favor of the states. The judiciary as of late has had little use for upholding the U.S. Constitution, especially where state’s rights are concerned. Too many of these judges enjoy the power of “legislating from the bench” as it has been called. Justice Sotomayor has even publicly admitted to such ambitions despite the constitutional checks and balances that would prevent such abuses.
This last option we have been hearing from the right is the option of revolt and revolution. Please, give me a break. That’s not going to happen as long as the vast majority of Americans are fat, dumb, and happy. Revolution only happens when the crap really hits the fan. When people are waiting in line for two to three hours to buy toilet paper, the unemployment numbers break 30%, and the value of the dollar has plummeted to the point that gasoline costs $20 a gallon. If it comes to this, maybe we might see the seeds of revolution being sown. That hasn’t happened yet and it may take decades to even approach that level of civil discord. The Soviet Union plodded along for nearly 80 years until their people were fed up enough to change anything. Another important point to consider is that the current voting public does not consist of rugged individuals such as those seen in what was called “the greatest generation.” Most of the voters are baby boomers and gen-x’ers. Compared to those who came before, most of us have had everything handed to us on a silver platter. We are the affluent results of a decadent culture. You will be hard pressed to find anyone with the spine or stomach for a real revolution against the powers that be. Too many people have too much to lose by throwing off the chains of the Federal government.
The most disturbing aspect of the events of this past weekend is not so much the fact that the bill passed but the manner in which it was passed. The methods used to ramrod this bill to the President’s desk circumvented the very rules of legislative procedure outlined in the U.S. Constitution. This sets a dangerous precedent. If this bill can be rammed through in this fashion, what’s to stop congress from doing the same thing with any other piece of legislation? This is what disturbs me the most. This is a huge step away from being a constitutional republic moving in the direction of oligarchy (which is merely a nice way of saying “collective dictatorship”). Congress can now pass anything they want despite the rule of law and the will of the people. I find it interesting (although not in the least bit surprising) that progressives on the left are quite pleased with the clever machinations which led to congress circumventing constitutional procedure to pass a bill they favored strongly. It makes me wonder how they would feel if a Republican led congress used the same tactic to pass a bill they did not favor. At that point would they cry foul? Would they side with the Constitution then? Does one’s loyalty to his or her political party supersede ones loyalty to the Constitution of this nation?
These are important questions to consider. The impotent sound and fury on the right and the smug self-satisfaction on the left fails to consider that unprecedented power has just been wielded by our elected officials to advance a specific agenda. Congress and the executive branches of government were never meant to hold this much power over the will of the people. In a previous post I predicted the ultimate downfall of this once great republic as it spirals down the vortex of Marxist ideology. This is yet another step on this path. Not so much in the health care bill itself, but the draconian grab for power which made it possible.