Before we did them.
[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers.
OK, time to start rolling this monstrosity of a health care soon-to-be-law back… what’s that I’m being told? It can’t be done? We’re stuck with it forever? Can’t cut entitlements in this country, at all, at all? Well, that’s very interesting: being told that we can’t do something, that is. Shall I tell you some of the other things that I’ve been told, over the last year and a half?
- I was told that there was no way that we could win a runoff Senate election in Georgia, in the immediate wake of the President’s historic victory nationwide.
- I was told that there was no way that any Republican could win in William Jefferson’s* district. Ever. In a million years.
- I was told that expecting the GOP House caucus to Hold The Line on the President’s ‘stimulus’ package was a fool’s errand.
- I was told that it would be a generation before liberal dominance of politics would be effectively challenged.
- I was told that it was even money that the GOP would lose more seats in 2010.
- I was told that conservatives don’t go to protests.
- I was told that the protests over the ‘stimulus’ bill would splutter away.
- I was told that the Tea Party movement would never become more than an annoyance to the ruling party. Which would be running the show for a generation, remember.
- I was told that it was absurd to think that the GOP would gain seats in the Senate in 2010.
- I was told that it was absurd to think that the GOP would gain more than a dozen seats in the House in 2010.
- I was told that the House GOP would only Hold The Line once, then cave.
- I was told that cap and trade was inevitable.
- I was told that card check was inevitable, and looming.
- I was told that the GOP couldn’t hope to win the Virginia Governorship
- I was told that nobody was going to really care about the health care monstrosity, besides a few cranks in the Tea Party movement.
- I was told that it was absurd to think that the GOP would gain more than thirty seats in the House in 2010.
- I was told that the GOP couldn’t hope to win the New Jersey Governorship.
- I was told that the inevitable result of the massive protests over the health care monstrosity would be to create a popular backlash against the GOP, against conservatism, and ensure the speedy passage of the Democrats’ health care bill. As in, within a month.
- I was told that the GOP couldn’t hope to win both the NJ and VA governorships.
- I was told that the President would never drop in popularity – even to a level commensurate with a man, rather than a God.
- I was told that it was impossible for the GOP to retake the Senate.
- I was told that the GOP couldn’t hope to run the tables in the Virginia election.
- I was told that the new Republican governor of New Jersey wouldn’t govern as a conservative.
- I was told that it was absurd to think that the GOP could retake the House in 2010.
- I was told that it was absurd to think that the GOP could get more than four seats in the Senate in 2010.
- I was told that the President’s numbers would never go underwater.
- I was told – over, and over, and over, and over, and over again – that God Himself could not win a Massachusetts Senatorial election if He ran on the Republican ticket.
And now I’m being told that we can’t cut entitlement programs. Even unpopular ones that people hate now, and won’t hate less any time soon. That there’s just. No. Way.
Riiiiiiiight.
Moe Lane
PS: Megan McArdle’s post on the assumptions behind that last it-can’t-be-done is apropos, I think.
*…in his freezer.
Crossposted to RedState.
Megan is right, with one caveat. It does not go far enough. “The Rules”, the civility, the consensus of what is and is not proper conduct is gone. In the past, when Republicans have regained control after a period of Democrat rule; they have been oh so careful not to offend them by actually fighting back.
Democrats have shown by their contempt for the Constitution, the rule of law, and the mores of a free society that they are not our countrymen anymore. There is no reason not to take the gloves off and deal with them as the enemy; and then try to rebuild a civil society. Because if we leave them untouched as usual, they will seize power again. I want indictments. I want convictions and punishment without special treatment in country club jails. And I want to roll back the Marxist tide.
They deserve as much a role in a new civil society as the Loyalists did after the American Revolution.
Subotai Bahadur
You make it sound like the Republicans genuinely want to eliminate the health care takeover. They don’t. They love huge enormous government as much as the Democrats. They just have to pretend they don’t while the liberals hold the reigns of power.
The instant they are in a position to do something, we will be told that it would be unfair to take away health care from women and children, then they will simply tweak it so *their* friends get to steal the money instead of the Democrat’s friends.
Ok. I’ll give you the point that things that sound impossible can happen. For example, after long years of wild government spending Republicans finally listened to the people, immediately before the largest socialist enactment in American history, and swore off earmarks. Principles. Now some believe that they will stand and fight to repeal the bill. Where were all the Republicans filibustering on the more recent spending. They will NOT stand unless they admit they aren’t running for reelection. The people have to generate POLICY that can be used to paint the bright line because the call to principle is empty and proven so over and over again. Stupak is a perfect example. If we change our perspective and say that our redistributed income should be reported the same as our income then it makes perfect sense to say that all grants, gifts, etc from government must be reported on IRS Form 1099-GOV. You can’t find the fraud if you don’t have the ledgers.
“Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done and why. Then do it.” Heinlein
That always pisses them off.
I agree wholeheartedly with Subotai, (i see you on BC sometimes). We must destroy every liberal institution we can think of. EPA, Dept of Energy, Dept of Education, ban public sector unions. Shun every Democrat you know. Shun their kids. Tell your kids that their Democrat friends are Communists, and show them the similarities. Fire them, overcharge them, use them up and throw them away. It’s a long way to November yall, gonna be a long hot summer of discontent.
It should be becoming clear to the GOP that their string of election losses is due to their decision to curry favor with the media-ocrities and become Democrap-Lite. This didn’t work on either level – they got no love from the talking headless and got their heads handed to them at the polls for the effort. Voters swept in the Democraps because they thought they were different, which they are (they are much WORSE!) The GOP will have a chance to redeem itself; I don’t think the Democraps will get one for a long time.
I am a physician, and I intend to do everything I can (consistent with the law, the Hippocratic Oath, and my fiducial responsibility to my partners) to undermine and sabotage Obamacare, and to hang its failures around the neck of the Democrats.
I think one of the scariest things about this is that next fall, if the Republicans take back the Congress, it puts one of Obama’s most effective weapons back in his hands: he will have an enemy. Remember that he didn’t have one to demonize other than George Bush and those evil insurance companies. In November he might just be able to use the Saul Alinsky tactics to much better effect when Republicans are the face of the resistance, instead of overmatched Dems like Stupak and Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu.
Congressional Republicans aren’t the most principled bunch in the world and I suspect John’s prophecy has a good chance of coming true. Rather than rely on that lot, it may be time to think seriously about a state-called Constitutional Convention aimed at reforming the misused Commerce and General Welfare clauses. Hopeably, the threat of that alone will be enough to scare Congress to virtue.
“And now I’m being told that we can’t cut entitlement programs”
Let the Republicans demonstrate the seriousness of power of their opposition. I’m tired of never-fulfilled promises that the Republicans are for smaller government. In one state controlled by Republicans, let them abolish the state income tax, right now. Otherwise, I’m staying home in November.
Dear American friends (with photos),
I really hate to rub it in, but a man forewarned is a man forearmed.
As some of you know, I’ve been living in France for almost 7 years now. I am pretty much blessed with a good condition, so I never had to deal much with the French health care system until my son, Arthur, was born in May 2009.
[visit http://cafehayek.com/2010/03/peering-into-our-future.html to read the rest and see the photos from a French hospital]
I was told that they’ll Rahm thru Amnesty, will lose one or two election cycles, will roar back to perpetual power with their new “immigrants”. Buckle up for Amnesty next.
Here’s the dirty little secret: to insist government is the solution to all society’s problems (feeding the hungry, giving healthcare to the poor and uninsured, etc.) is the haven of the lazy and selfish. It’s the words of people who are too selfish and greedy to give that aid themselves; instead, they believe it will ultimately cost them less if they have government steal a pittance from everyone.
If every man had more money in his pocket because government was suddenly smaller, it’s true some (perhaps many or even most) would selfishly keep his surplus and use it to buy a bigger home, a 60″ flatscreen HDTV, nicer clothes, Tattinger’s champagne, etc. But there are others who would willingly give of their surplus to help their neighbors.
The needy don’t need to fall between the cracks of a free society which lives by the principles of the free market and smaller government, but that’s the lie the left tells and has been telling since the Great Depression.
We’re out of money for the entitlement programs, and the pasaage of healthcare reform — once it’s enacted — only hastens that end. Our only salvation is to limit the size and scope of government and reduce all entitlement programs, agreeing that it’s our personal and individual duty to see to the needs of our neighbors, not government’s.
Seems the Repubs (with a Clinton assist) did a pretty good job of rolling back Welfare.
Why not end Health Reform?
PS: Are there STILL people using the “Repubs are just like Dems” line? Are ya even awake?
And if you sail too far west you’ll fall off the edge of the Earth. And the Americans should have surrendered at Bastogne. Once we Americans set our minds to it, there ain’t ANYTHING we can’t accomplish. I expect that one day there WILL be cold fusion, but in the meantime we’ve got another dragon to slay, so put cold fusion on hold for another year, let’s roll up our sleeves and set to work !