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The Right Prescription
Health Care Role Reversal
Now it is the left that is on the defensive.
The gladiators have laid down their weapons over health care. One has prevailed…for the moment. Unlike the combatants of Rome, those of ideology do not fight to the death — just the opposite — they fight to perpetuity. And that fight is now about to take its most novel twist in decades.
Today’s gladiators of the mind do resemble the ancient of the Coliseum in one regard. In Rome, there were two classic types, pitted one against the other. Each had specialized equipment they mastered.
Similarly, America’s two ideological camps each have held their positions on health care for so long that they have become masters of their particular weapons and armor.
Conservatives fought to defend the status quo of the private sector health care system. In doing so, they also had to defend that system’s eccentricities, its foibles, and its failures.
Their prime weapon was theory: that the private sector with competition was more efficient and productive than a public sector could be. They were also armed with facts and figures. Yet even when right, they could seem wrong. Their blows were always aimed at the head, but many a well-aimed fact merely glanced off. The skull can be very resilient to reason, to cold tools in what was often a hot debate.
Liberals on the other hand, fought to advance utopia. In their attack, every failure of the status quo — was not laid at the feet of the perversity of America’s bizarre health care system (the product of WWII’s tax-favored, employer-provided peculiarity) — became an opportunity.
Their weapons were promises — that the public sector with mandates could perform far better in theory than it ever had in fact. They were armed too with the anecdote — emotion-laden tales of suffering that seemed to indict the system allowing them. Even when wrong, they could seem right. Their blows were always aimed at the heart. And the heart can be a very accessible place to such weapons. Even a “fact” that defied logic could often penetrate.
Apparently, the role of the Left proved easier than the Right’s. The former could strike anywhere; the latter had to defend everywhere. While the Left never struck a single fatal blow, the Right died the death of a thousand cuts. The prevailing logic was: If the private sector could be this bad, how could a government system not be better?
Now with Congress’s passage and the President’s signing of the health care bill, the long-established roles are reversed. Each combatant now will put on the other’s armor and wield the other’s weapons.
The public sector, not the private sector, is placed at the center of the new health care system. Where the Left once merely regulated the nation’s health care system, now they “own it.” Every failure henceforth will be a government failure. Every anecdote, conservatives’ to wield.
As experience has shown, the conservatives’ new panoply comprises potent weapons indeed. The public sector has had limited experience in running things — and even less success — as Amtrak and USPS prove. It holds the whip-hand over one-sixth of America’s economy. And with far more riding on it than ever rode a train or arrived in a letter.
The new plan also does not start on a strong foundation with the public. A recent Quinnipiac University poll (of 1,907 registered voters, margin of error +/-2.2%) showed only 36% approving the “proposed changes to the health care system under considerations in Congress,” while 54% disapproved. And the results actually got worse from there.
Fifty-seven percent thought it would be “too expensive” versus 34% who thought “the cost is about right.” Just 17% thought it would improve “the quality health care you receive,” compared to 41% who thought the quality would be hurt. Fifty-five percent thought it would “increase your health care costs” and only 10% thought it would decrease them. Only 2% felt it would reduce their taxes — 73% thought it would increase them. Just 10% felt it would reduce the federal budget deficit, compared to 72% who felt it would increase it. When asked “do you think that would be worth it?” 69% said no.
Health care cost increases will now show up in the federal budget — a far more detailed measure than were the amorphous increases attributed to the old system and spread across society. Any and all faults with the new system — denied coverage, delayed treatments, fraud, etc. — will all flow back to the public sector. Bureaucrats will replace insurers as boogey-men, politicians will trade places with HMOs.
The private sector system ran for 65 years and provided the vast majority of Americans health care satisfactory enough to, well, last 65 years. Yet eventually it was worn down by the Left. The weapons of the heart proved the more effective in the last contest. Now the Right gets to wield them. How long will it take conservatives to master them? And more importantly, how long can the new public sector system withstand them?
About the Author
J.T. Young served in the Department of Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget from 2001 to 2004 and as a Congressional staff member from 1987 to 2000.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (95) | Leave a comment
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FTM| 4.27.10 @ 6:25AM
Point well taken. However I think that the entire issue is moot, how will Obama's plan survive the Supreme Court? Where is it written that the Federal Government can require a private citizen to buy anything? The absence of precedence equates to the issue being fairly simple to determine meaning that the liberal members of the court don't have a nail on which to hang a dissenting arguement, again, where in the constitution does the Federal government derive the authority to require a private citizen to purchase anything? I think that in the end the entire issure will turn out to be "much ado about nothing."
Tom| 4.27.10 @ 8:58AM
I wish I shared your optimism. I don't. The Constitution has been stretched in ways the framers would have never envisioned.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 1:25PM
The stretching of the Constitution was predicted by the Founders, Jefferson and Madison in particular, but they fully expected the country to use the Amendment process to the Constitution that they provided to us to make the changes that the country needs. The fact that our politicians are lazy or have no guts is not the Framers fault.
REMEMBER NOVEMBER!| 4.29.10 @ 7:11PM
Our Framers couldn't have known that the democrat party would turn into a bunch of traitorous Marxists, either. Liberals are not only gutless, they are unAmerican as well.
Grzmlyk| 4.27.10 @ 8:12PM
The Constitution means what liberals want it to mean. The commerce clause alone - who knew it was in the eye of the beholder? - has casued this country endless grief, and that's how they'll bring SCOTUS to heel.
After Obama gets the Supreme court he wants, the Constitution itself will be declared unconstitutional.
Carol| 4.27.10 @ 6:42AM
As far as the left giving a damn about what happens to people when this abomination is rolled out, they could care less. Progressives are heartless, evil people.
I want this entire thing to be repealed, to be torn up, to be thrown in the pile of progressive dogma.
Now that freak Peter Orzag says a powerful board will decide who gets healthcare. Whitey need not apply. No doctors will be on the ACORN, SEIU, NAACP, La Raza infested board, just angry minorities who want white people to pay for all the bad things that have happened to their victims.
megapotamus | 4.27.10 @ 8:21AM
Carol overstates the case. Just a bit. Really Leftists are neurotic and stupid in the trenches: astonishingly ignorant and full of ill temper brought on by a realization of their own inadequacies remedied by a vigorous march with Big Brother (the leaders of course are as you say). But it is important tactically to always keep in mind that they truly see themselves as struggling mightily and virtuously against Evil. And yes, that means YOU. The basic problem with the Right or we might just say, sense, is the tendency to indulge childish fantasies as just that. No longer. And do not think that fellow Righties are immune to the appeal of free candy. Press your fellows and you will find that they often support insane gub run ponzi schemes that benefit themselves or their loved ones. The good news is contained in the bad news. Socialism fails, always and everywhere on practical grounds. The New Deal and the New Society were actuarially bankrupt the day they were introduced. It is no different with O-care except the account is already dry. Personally I am of good cheer. There is little further reason for embittered arguments. We are out of the hypothetical and into the real. Leftism cannot abide reality. Fantasy is always a luxury good and budgets do not support that now, not at your house, not at the White House. Just hold on and be ready to act without TOO loud an I-told-you-so.
Tom| 4.27.10 @ 9:01AM
I had an interesting e-mail exchange with a friend of mine. She sent me a link about Republicans blocking debate on the new 'financial reform bill'. I sent her back the link to the text of the actual bill and she did not know why. I told her it would help to read what exactly being blocked and she said "I know what is being blocked, financial reform." The whole thing was absurd in the extreme.
Steve A| 4.27.10 @ 9:53AM
Tom,
No surprise here. Rule #1 of Liberals: facts, logic, history& results take a back seat to emotion. Here is the depth of your friends thinking: " Wall street is evil, we need reform, why bother to read the bill & try to determine if it makes sense."
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 1:32PM
You pay now, so what's your beef? If you are insured, you already pay for the uninsured. This way, they all pay along with you, all 30,000,000 of them. Ever talk to anyone on Medicare? They have the same type of board that decides healthcare positions, and nobody that has Medicare wants to do without it. Wake up and get out of the right-wing echo chamber; companies making profit off of someone else's sickness is shameful, if not violation of Christian principles. Medicare for all!
Doorgunner| 4.27.10 @ 2:02PM
Violation of Christian principles? Pretty hilarious stuff, there, from a Lefty.
And in the time it took me to write that, another hundred doctors opted out of the Medicare program.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 6:15PM
Somebody needs to study his Bible, or attending Bible class. Remember, "a camel can fit through the eye of needle sooner than a rich man will enter heaven". You can't take it with you. Do you really need to be reminded of the Christian way - Really?
Aindyin| 4.27.10 @ 6:49PM
Well it also says the poor will always be with us and that we are to shun homosexuals and the like. So whats your point. I currently am a victim of a gov run health plan (tricare) and wish it on no one.
Patrick| 4.27.10 @ 9:56PM
It gets better before that quote Aindyin,
"But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5"Why wasn't this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages." 6He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it."
A liberal who cries foul on behalf of the poor always has his hands in the purse.
Clark| 4.27.10 @ 8:05PM
While my mother was on Medicare she dislocated an artificial hip joint. To be blunt, she had the ball part of a ball and socket joint jabbing around in the soft tissue of her hip. Every movement was excruciating. Medicare "regulations" did not pay for an ambulance to transport her to the hospital. They expected us to transport her in our car. I considered that to have been cruel and unusual punishment for a 90 year old woman. We paid the $800 cost of the ambulance out of pocket to avoid submitting her to that pain. I don't look forward to "Medicare for all" - not the cost, the "regulations" or the pain. [See how J.T. is right about how the "weapons" change hands?]
Brian Mc| 4.27.10 @ 7:59AM
Grandpa Joe, while dying of cancer, taught me that there are only two types of people in the world, victims and victors. By hook, or crook, I refuse to be a 'victim' especially when it comes to socialist health care. And, in so doing, by fighting this atrocity, this criminal indoctrination into communism, I will become the victor...just so long as my grandsons, in the end, see me as I saw my Grandpa Joe.
Franklin| 4.27.10 @ 1:36PM
Let's hope you impart better wisdom to your grandsons. Apparently, what was left out of your grandfather's teaching was that little thing called Christianity. "Do unto others as they would do unto you" - not "Do unto others before they do it to you." You're no victim, you will enjoy the blessings of healthcare along with the rest of us, and 30,000,000 more to boot.
carnot| 4.27.10 @ 3:24PM
one assumes you clicked your heels 3 times before passing this gem of wisdom and prediction.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 6:22PM
You already lost the war a long time ago, y'all are just in denial. Since Ronald Reagan the conservative movement has been on a slippery slope to oblivion. Look at your leaders today, Michelle "Nutbag" Bachman, Sarah " I can see my house from Russia", John "I'm no Maverick" McCain, Mitt "Healthcare for All" Romney, or how about Newt "has been" Gingrich. And, now you have the John Birch Society back in conservative vogue? How that Michael Steeley kind of Lesbian Bondage Club membership working out for ya? Your protestations will not change the course of history. The future belongs to the Progressives. History teaches us that as well. A country moves forward, not backward, or it ceases to exist.
Aindyin| 4.27.10 @ 6:54PM
As I look at all of the former great countries of the world I see failing economies and social order. All of these failing countries suffer from the propgressive desease. Remember that a car going off a cliff is still progressing forward until it ceases to exist. But maybe in obamas 57 states this wont happen?
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 10:17PM
It is when the Great countries as you say stopped progressing that they failed. And, none for the same set of reasons. But, are you trying to tell us that the great scientific, economic, religious and cultural advances in the world have come from Conservatism? You better check what your smoking. Conservatism, by it's very nature tends to "conserve" or keep the status quo, resistant to change. That's why y'all long for the good old days where you can put the women, blacks, gays and other undesirables, in your eyes, back in the proverbial bottle. The "rugged" individualism you so glorify, would horrify you if you actually lived it. Like living in the old west was romantic, instead of facing the true reality of backward, dangerous and hard-tack lives where the life expectancy was hardly 40 years old by 1900. If you want that kind of life, move to lawless, Governmentless Somalia, but you better be packing, 'cause you're on your own there. But you can keep what you make and shoot anyone in your way.
chester arthur| 4.27.10 @ 11:43PM
Let's not forget that Somalia is overrun by socialists and communist thugs.GREAT EXAMPLE of the socialist progressive movement.
Grzmlyk| 4.27.10 @ 8:26PM
Brilliant words from Useful Idiot #552,918,45.
Human nature never changes; folly is never "evolved" out of the human psyche. As you so magnificently - if inadvertently - prove.
You yourself cite a 2,000 year old document to describe rich people. Ironic, then, that you do not understand that which you use as an intellectual crutch.
The changes that progressives mistake for "moving foward" have been wrought not by the enlightened thinking of the few superior umbermenschen, but by technological advancement and the societal disruption that attends it.
We are the same deeply flawed creatures that have existed since mankind first learned the rudiments of agriculture.
Progressivism is a chimera that serves only to institutionalize and insulate greed and corruption, elevating nobody's life except the corruptocrats, but instead doling out misery in equal shares to all but the aforementioned corruptocrats and the pawns they manipulate to justify their own avarice.
Go build your utopia elsewhere. Know that Utopia means in Greek? "No place."
chester arthur| 4.27.10 @ 11:41PM
Let's not forget,'where's my secretary ?'FDR,where's all the secretaries'JFK,'Where's my pants?'Bill Clinton,and 'Where's my college records,school records and birth certificate?BHO.And what is 'forward?'Is it forward to go back to the dark ages of government by the priviledged class?Is less freedom progress?'Or is the progressive(liberal free thinkers in lockstep)movement the last delusional incarnation of the socialist plague ?
Shamus| 4.27.10 @ 8:14AM
It's time for income equality.
Don't give federal workers a raise until their average pay is below that of the private sector.
Spoonman| 4.27.10 @ 8:29AM
Shamus, don't forget those fools that were elected to Congress - subtract the pay raises that they just voted for themselves and their staff which holding social security recipients to no increase. Take away their retirement program where they reap millions vested after a very short vesting period; take away their favored heathcare program and make them participate in the bogus system they are trying to push on working citizens of this great country!
Big Fish| 4.27.10 @ 7:24PM
Er, Spoonman, Members of Congress just voted against a pay raise for themselves. And the new law requires them -- and their staffs -- to participate in the new healrh care exchanges.
chester arthur| 4.27.10 @ 11:46PM
Er,is Pelosi giving up her 757?Will Obama not spend several million on a date night this week?And will the Congress that will 'participate' give up the private medical offices that cater to their whim?Er,answer?
Big Fish| 4.28.10 @ 9:42AM
The perks available to Pelosi were also available to --and used by -- Denny Hastert when the Republicans were in charge. As were Obama's when Bush was in the White House. I guess I must have missed your complaints about them then.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 1:39PM
Agreed!
REMEMBER NOVEMBER!| 4.29.10 @ 7:15PM
That includes piece of crap astroturf trolls like you, LibReader.
Melvin| 4.27.10 @ 8:17AM
"You damn right, accusing me of being an angry white male." Why am I angry? I'm angry for being blamed for slavery in which my family had nothing absolutely nothing to do with and many Blacks and Hispanics rub by face in it every single day.
I'm tired of of the quotas, the special treatment, the laws that are intended to silence me when I rise to my defense.
I'm angry of being called a racist, bigoted homophobe by people who don't even know me.
I'm angry for being blamed all the social problems that many Black Americans, and Hispanics have brought upon themselves.
I'm angry at those who enter my Country illegally and blame me for stealing California, Arizona, and Texas.
I'm tired of seeing a Mexican draped with the flag of Mexico urinating on the flag of my Country during the Cinco Demayo celebration in California.
And most of all I'm just plain tired, of what I thought was my President telling me over the main stream media that he is appealing to Latinos, African-Americans, Women and Youth to turn out in force for the 2010 mid-term elections.
My father taught me to treat others as I wish to be treated and now my President is telling me, the same vile crap that I hear every single day.
So answer this? What the hell is the use anymore? No matter how much I try, it just isn't enough for some.
Melvin| 4.27.10 @ 8:22AM
I posted this here inaccurately, I meant to post this on another article in the American Spectator. I apologize.
Louis Jenkins| 4.27.10 @ 8:50AM
Actually I thought it was pretty good. Get a grip Melvin, lock and load. The new day is soon to arrive.
Melvin| 4.27.10 @ 9:06AM
I attached my preivous post to the wrong spot. But anyway I know Louis what your saying, I prepared for that as well, but I still believe in the system that our founding fathers put into place.
Call it a pipe dream, call it believing in something that used to be.
But nevertheless I am going to fight in anyway I can whether it be one way or.... the another.
Richard| 4.27.10 @ 11:34AM
Yes, why would any white male vote democrat? Only if they have something wrong with their minds.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 1:48PM
Not true Richard. There are a lot of reasons, which a good chunk of white male voters apparently share with me. Instead of fighting the Demographic shifts in this country, maybe Melvin should consider if he, or his ancestors caused any of the ills he mentions today. Then get over it, and instead of blaming everyone else that isn't "like him", whatever that means, take personal responsibility for himself and stop judging others, or blaming others for what he doesn't like. While I agree that some of the awful moves that he describes of others are disgusting, it is their right in this country to free speech. You must defend the worst person's right to free speech, or you diminish your right to it as well.
carnot| 4.27.10 @ 3:27PM
jeepers...you're such a gosh darn great person!
and so felicitous with stirring, free advice!
Melvin| 4.27.10 @ 3:53PM
I don't have to apologize for a damn thing that I am being accused of on a daily basis, by people that don't even know me.
Purpleguy, do you know me, do you know who my character is, do you know my ancestors are and they're character but you judge me and tell me to get over it because of demographic shifts.
They merely assume by me being white that I am responsible for the social ills of minorities and therefore lay the guilt at my feet.
I am just tossing the responsibility back where it squarely belongs.
I'm not like white liberal sops, who bow their heads and say, "Yea, maybe your right, I am responsible."
I'm not going to answer for something that I didn't do.
No one or no government is going to lay the blame at my feet.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 6:12PM
The sins of the father are visited on the sons. It may not be fair, and it may hurt, but it has always been and will always be. You live with your ancestry, like it or not.
Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 4.27.10 @ 6:25PM
"It is a far better thing to remain quiet & not let anyone know you are a fool, than to speak up & dispel all doubt" - Abraham Lincoln
Melvin| 4.27.10 @ 9:15PM
Is this absolutely the best you can come up with Purpleguy. "Sins of the Father." Might work with a middle schooler but not with me.
Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 4.27.10 @ 6:28PM
Melvin, you are absolutely right. Purpleguy is talking out of his ass again. Reading these threads I see he is prone to doing it frequently. Shelby Steele wrote "White Guilt" with folks like Purpleguy in mind.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 10:05PM
Somehow I don't think y'all are bothered by "white guilt". If you have any guilt, it's for how you feel today, not what your ancestors may have done. Besides, it's healthy that you discuss your prejudices for all the world to see. It's good to let it out. It's cleansing and good to flush the crap out of your system. Melvin's diatribe and your support of it show more about you than the people you are mad at. "Methinks you dost protest too much".
chester arthur| 4.27.10 @ 11:49PM
Yes,it would be nice if people like Al Sharpton quit blaming people who don't look like them for their 'problems'.As far as ancestors,if you didn't do anything wrong to anyone,don't feel guilt for something you didn't do,or maybe weren't alive when they happened.Of course,if people do that,Sharpton might have to get a job.
REMEMBER NOVEMBER!| 4.29.10 @ 7:17PM
Purple Balls Guy isn't a democrat--the arse is a fascist liberal named Liberal Screeder. Sociopaths like this moron have no conscience.
Sieg heil, Liberal Screeder!
Tim*| 4.27.10 @ 8:27AM
Obama & The Democrats never closed the sale & Americans don't like the fact that this Health Scam was shoved down our throats , against our will .
Remember in November !
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.27.10 @ 9:11AM
Folks,
We know...how... to preserve our republic. We do.
Perhaps the letters for... t e a... are unfortunate. "Taxed Enough Already" is really not the point is it?
How about?
Threatened
Enough
Already
or:
Throw
'Em
Assoverteakettle, out!
or:
(Your thoughts?)
Melvin| 4.27.10 @ 10:21AM
As you can probably tell by the tone of my posts that I am pissy today. It is not just about Health Care, it's about everything we know as Americans and are used to.
I have knowledge of being afforded to have traveled the world and most recently two years ago.
The countries that I had visited are moving forward as a society is some degree or another, but still moving forward.
I came back from my travels and landed in MN ST Paul and it was like coming back to the stone ages. The way we interact with each other, the way we conduct our business, and the way business is able to conduct itself.
In many ways the governments of these countries and ours are similar in regards to corruption. Politicians and their cronies are in government to enrich themselves. I expect this from an alleged third world country but not ours. But that is another story unto itself.
In Asia the spirit of creating a business is
phenomenal. It permeates the air, and if a person is savvy enough, have a little capital can create a economic niche for themselves overnight with minimal government intrusion.
But not here. A person that wants to create a business is first has to run the gamut of regulations upon regulations upon fee's, permits, environment impact statements, and what little capital that was to be had is no been eaten up by the government.
People!!!! we in this Country are going backwards. in the not so distant future it will be hard to discern the difference between Mexico and this Country because we both will be dirt poor.
I am getting to the point that if illegal aliens don't have to follow our laws then I'm going to live by the same code. Why should I have to follow the rules and get punished and others get a pass. Fu## em.
carnot| 4.27.10 @ 3:29PM
aliens?!!! how about the damage the rule of law has suffered at the hands of our current rulers?
WM| 4.27.10 @ 11:54AM
Well, the problem seems to be that Republicans were/are still operating off collectivism, not the concept of individual rights. If we are collectivists, then if anyone is suffering for any reason, the rest of us must have our rights violated to make sure that all members of the collective aren't suffering in any way.
But if Republicans stop giving in to the collectivist wordview and insist on individual rights, it is VERY easy to turn it around and strike back at the left. You can unleash a slew of attacks to the heart. Stress the suffering of individuals at the hands of the state, which cruelly deprives the patient, doctor, business, or citizen of his property or his liberty, which he desperately needed. Look how the government wrongfully made so-and-so suffer and took away our personal resources and killed so-and-so's plans and dreams and made life worse for us, and we did nothing to deserve this.
We are not somehow less deserving because we have money to tax or other resources to steal. We are MORE deserving. We worked hard for what we have and struggle every day to keep it, and it is the epitome of amorality and cruelty to violate our rights and turn our individual lives upside down for any reason, especially one designed to help people who, for whatever reason, did not earn their keep.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 1:52PM
Conservatism is closer to Communism than it is to Democracy. That's why they always want a strong leader, they are autocrats. "My way or the Highway" mentality. Democracy is by it's nature Progressive and Liberal. They are fighting a losing battle in history, they just don't know it.
Bbernard| 4.27.10 @ 3:54PM
Purple,, that is complet hogwash. First Conservatism never claims to be "democratic". It believes in the individual, in Liberty, Justice (equally applied) and mostly the Constitutional form of our government. A "Federal Republic". There is a difference you know.... Actually you probably don't. You probably don't even have a clue of what "communism" really is. You must have been indoctrinated with some college degree. It shows in your ignorance....
Al Adab| 4.27.10 @ 4:22PM
Purp... makes the most common mistake in analyizing the Conservative Movement. He, like much of the Left, believes there is a Conservative Agenda which we wish to impose by fiat. That is the approach of the Left not of Conservatives. Their devotion is to Liberty and limited Government.
Purp is correct about one thing however. Conservatives are standing agsinst History and "yelling Stop". Most of human history is about tyranny and little is about Freedom or Liberty. The better part of human history is Liberty.
Bbernard| 4.27.10 @ 5:38PM
Al, I agree but I will continue to fight for the Liberty of all. I will continue to "yell STOP". Peace
Jamie| 4.29.10 @ 7:34PM
Purple Balls Guy is so full of crap--Democrats=Liberals=Progressives=Communists, collectivists, all.
Conservatives want individual freedom for all--Democrats only care about power and control like all good commies.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 9:58PM
You are correct. Conservatism isn't Democratic, it's Autocratic. The Daddy Party, remember? Communism is conservative. Fewer and fewer people have any say in how the economy works. Republicans are conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just people controlling the Party figurehead) have any say in how the government works. The conservatives in the US are in the same position as the communists in the 30s, and for the same reason: Their revolutions failed spectacularly but they refuse to admit what went wrong. Thomas Jefferson was a Democrat. And he did, in a response to a European correspondent, say, "...we are all democrats; we are democratic Republicans and democratic Federalist..." and explained that, to him, "democratic" was not a political system but a political condition; specifically, a system in which the government recognizes no social classes and creates no social classes. Where, as far as law go, "all men are created equal." James Madison defined republic in terms of representative democracy as opposed to direct democracy
Bbernard| 4.28.10 @ 8:09AM
Purple, You have a twisted way of looking at Conservatism. It is nothing of which you explain. If you want to quote our founders, let me:
Alexander Hamilton, June 26, 1788, stated: "There are few positions more demonstrable than that there should be in every republic some permanent body to correct the prejudices, check the intemperate passions, and regulate the fluctuations of a popular assembly."
Alexander Hamilton, also in 1788: "It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of society against the injustice of the other part."
George Washington, April 30, 1789: "The...destiny of the republican model of government (is) justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally stacked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."
Thomas Jefferson, March 11, 1790: "The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind."
Thomas Jefferson, 1791: "Government in a well constituted republic requires no belief from man beyond what his reason authorizes."
Thomas Jefferson, July 30, 1795: "The revolution forced them (the "people of America" — author) to consider the subject for themselves, and the result was an universal conversion to republicanism."
Thomas Jefferson, March 12, 1799: "The body of the American people is substantially republican. But their virtuous feelings have been played upon by some fact with more fiction, they have been the dupes of artful manoeuvres, & made for a moment to be willing instruments in forging chains for themselves."
Thomas Jefferson, March 4, 1801: "If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form..."
Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 18, 1802: "The body of our people ... have ever had the same object in view, to wit, the, maintenance of a federal, republican government..."
Thomas Jefferson, Jan. 13, 1813: "This is my belief of it; it is that on which I have acted...to administer the government according to its genuine republican principles..."
Thomas Jefferson, in the Anas: "He (John Adams — author) has since thoroughly seen that his constituents were devoted to republican government..."
Thomas Jefferson, in the Anas: "...and I fondly hope ... that the motto of the standard to which our country will forever rally, will be ‘federal union, and republican government..."
Purpleguy| 4.28.10 @ 8:56PM
You do realize that the Founders were the original Progressives in this country? And, Liberals at that? Especially Thomas Jefferson was progressive and liberal minded. The Declaration of Independence was not a conservative document; neither is the Bill of Rights; The Constitution had some conservative parts to it, however, where Slavery was maintained and Blacks were considered 3/5 of a person. Other than that, the Constitution is filled with progressive, liberal ideals - but your echo chamber won't tell you that. I'm support the Republic form of Government, but THAT has nothing to do with your Republican GOP (Grand Old Pedophiles Party). But, we are also a Representative Democracy, where the people rule, not an Oligarchy as in the Roman Republic. Sorry to bust your bubble, but you ain't what you think you are, Chuckie.
Jamie| 4.29.10 @ 7:29PM
Progressives are Communists like you, Purple Balls Guy--the only REAL Progressive/Communist presidents we've had are W. Wilson and Obumbler.
Margaret Sanger and W. Wilson were the biggest racists of all.
Slavery, segregation, lynchings and Jim Crow laws were all PROGRESSIVE creations of your crappy demonrat party.
Put that in your crack pipe and smoke it, demonrat loser.
Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 4.27.10 @ 6:34PM
Someone forgot their meds today. Either that or you are a complete idiot.
Tim*| 4.27.10 @ 6:54PM
Duuuhhh,We're A Republic ,Purple Cow.
How's Your Boyfriend Blewman.
Purpleguy| 4.27.10 @ 9:35PM
Poor li'l Timmy - we're a Democratic Republic, Einstein. Google it, not on Heritage or RedState's definition. Understandably, they are biased, if you care. I don't know about the boyfriend, you seem to know more about THAT than I do ...
Bbernard| 4.28.10 @ 8:13AM
Purple, Nice try... We are actually a "Representative Republic". Google that!
Purpleguy| 4.28.10 @ 9:01PM
B - u got something against Democracy and Democratic principles? We are a Republic and a Representative Democracy - which makes us different than the Roman Republic.
Jamie| 4.29.10 @ 7:24PM
No one said anything about a Roman Republic, azzhat!
Haha! Look how the troll backs off when he's caught in another lie and starts whining. Loser.
chester arthur| 4.27.10 @ 11:54PM
Of course,the closest thing to communism is...communism.Just ask William Ayers or Van Jones.Next is progressivism,or socialism for the non-serious.We all saw where this leads in eastern Europe and the former USSR.Remember, a liberal is just someone educated beyond their capacity to learn.
Pingback| 4.27.10 @ 12:02PM
The American Spectator : Health Care Role Reversal « Gds44's Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
fred james| 4.27.10 @ 5:43PM
The public option is supported by 70% of the public, according to a recent Indiana U. poll, and others.
Overwhelming support for Medicare.
Ovewhelming hatred of HMOs.
Sounds to me like the bill was too private sector, too status quo. A left wing solution is what the public wants. Call it the real public option.
Oh, wait: there's an ad from right wing scammer Ben Stein. See you later.
Len | 4.27.10 @ 6:10PM
I believe the writer overly optimistic concerning the role reversal he writes of. Quoting.." Every failure henceforth will be a government failure.", if the writer somehow thinks that the statists of the left will not find a way to spin the failures to use as arguments for further government control he is profoundly mistaken.
Power once realized is seldom if ever let go. History shows this to be true no matter what the era, and those who are foolish enough to believe that the use of power by flawed and corrupt people can produce utopia are clearly not in touch with reality. Why then would continued failure open their eyes? Has it ever?
Now to another subject; Fighting the battle for liberty. As I said earlier, power once realized is rarely if ever let go. So why make the fight at the federal level when the truth is that the power exercised by DC has only consistently grown. The way to fight power is with power, and that means pitting the states against the federal government. This is federalism, this is a constitutional republic, this is a neglected check and balance. It is by arousing the jealousy of the states to defend what is rightfully theirs and is clearly expressed by the tenth amendment that the federal government can be tamed and forced back into it's constitutional limits.
As the tenth amendment says all other powers NOT DELEGATED, meaning not given to the federal government and not theirs to exercise belong to the states and/or the people. Already states having been defying the federal government with legalizing medical marijuana and rejecting REAL ID and they have as the parties to the US constitution reminded their agent through such nullification that what is theirs is theirs. So don't look to DC for solutions look to ______(state capitol there).
susan| 4.27.10 @ 9:52PM
Melvin, I suppose you claim to be a great Christian, Keep what is mine, do not have compasion for anyone, hate filled, afraid someone is going to take something from you, not realizing so many have helped you throughout the years, not wanting any government controls (sorry Charlie so long as we have greedy and corrupted people we will have to have controlls on business and banks to name a few I suppose you think God is going to yank you right to Heaven when your time comes. You had better search your soul and read your Bible more and maybe go to church but make it sure that it is the right church.
chester arthur| 4.27.10 @ 11:58PM
Funny how people who misunderstand the fundamentals of religion want to bestow it on those who disagree with collectivism.Christians,as a rule,are much more generous to their fellow man than the' do as I say,and we'll use your money to do it,but leave my stack'o money alone' liberals.
M2TS File Converter | 4.29.10 @ 1:14AM
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drew| 5.5.10 @ 4:35AM
Lets stop that arguments. just comment about the topic.
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