Thursday, March 18, 2010

Hyphenated American votes "yes" on Obamacare

After considerable mental pain and suffering, Hyphenated American concluded that the passage of Obamacare would be in the long-term interests of America. I will applaud if the Obamacare passes - particularly if it passes  through the infamous Slaughter Rule. My readers surely would want to know the reasons for my sudden turn-around - it is obvious from my blog that I am a strong opponent of socialized medicine. In all honesty I must confess that Obamacare is a wrong idea at precisely the right time. It is beyond dispute that Obamacare will be devastating to the American healthcare - but at the same time it will most likely destroy the Democratic Party for the next 50 years - and that assuming that Democrats are lucky. Back in November 2008, when conservatives predicted doom and gloom, I believed that Obama's presidency would seriously weaken the liberals - and I am proven right with each passing day.

The Obamacare will be a fatal blow to the liberal control over this nation. And after all is said is done, the GOP should be able to dismantle not only the Obamacare - but the entire liberal system - including Social Security, Medicare, welfare and Medicaid.

A number of respected conservatives do not share my optimism. For example, a conservative luminary, Rush Limbaugh today said that he believed it would be nearly impossible to roll back the Obamacare. A very talented Mark Steyn wrote a series of articles that were stating the same - that once the Obamacare was set, it could not be dislodged. I deeply respect both of these men, but I am forced to disagree with them on this issue.

Firstly, the idea of Obamacare is about 30 years too late. Most of liberal programs (welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) are bankrupt. These programs cannot be possibly supported by the population in their current form due to an unrestricted growth of benefits and drastic change in the population structure. There are just not enough young workers to support this system. Moreover, the local, state and federal authorities accumulated massive debts, which include pensions for government workers as well as general out-of-control spending binge. In other words, the US economy simply cannot afford to support the existing liberal programs - and Obamacare will just kill the beast quicker. In short, the whole societal structure cannot sustain liberalism, and Obamacare is destined to be the last blow.

It could be argued that it is nearly impossible to cut any one given liberal programs - because of the influence of the interest groups - but the bankruptcy of the entire system will make drastic reforms inevitable. The faster the system breaks down - the fewer people will get irreversibly addicted to it, and the faster we can repair America.

The second reason was very well explained by the popular conservative blog "Powerline". Tens of millions of Americans from the Baby-Boomer generation will retire in the next decade. And this generation will see not only massive problems with Social Security - but also an unparalled worsening of healthcare for the elderly due to Obama's withdrawal of nearly half-a-trillion dollars from Medicare. Moreover, it is reported that a large percentage of doctors will retire if Obamacare is approved by Congress - which in turn will further worsen the healthcare for 90% of the population.

Imagine the attitude of self-indulgent Baby-Boomer population - unhappy with their general decline due to old age coupled with inevitable dissatisfaction with Obamacare - and you get very pissed, very numerous, very disciplined electorate on your hands. As PowerLine predicts: "If [Obamacare] passes, the Dems will own every doctor complaint out there. Moreover, the complaints will multiply, and not just because care will deteriorate as demand increases and supply decreases. They are going to multiply because the care-seeking population is about to become the Baby Boomers -- i.e., the most indulged, demanding and complaining generation in a hundred years, or maybe ever. The Dems are (apparently) fixing to take over medicine at exactly the time The Giant Complaining Horde shows up at the door."

Powerline continues with the following astute observation: "“If Obamacare passes, President Obama and the Democrats will become part of, and perhaps dominate, most of these conversations. Every excessive wait, every missed phone call, every postponed appointment will become Obama’s fault. . . . These complaints won’t be confined to the elderly. Old people complain more about their dealings with doctors primarily because they spend so much more time with them. But I’ve never met a person who likes being blown off by a doctor or sitting for 40 minutes in the waiting room, plus an extra 15 in the examining room before the doctor arrives. Nor have I ever met a person who enjoys hearing his or her aging parents complain about their medical service, especially when the complaint is justified.”

Moreover, while hundreds of millions of people will see longer wait times, higher premiums, less medical care and higher taxes, losing insurance plans they like (in spite of all the promises) - the 30 million uninsured people will not get the healthcare at the level promised by Obama. And it's very likely that abortions will be funded by the government - which will make a lot of very determined people very upset. And the emergency rooms will still be overcrowded - if not even more so. And the budget deficits will refuse to fall - in spite of all the promises.

And lets not forget the young-ones, who overwhelmingly voted for Obama. The new bill forces them to buy substantial insurance plans (that they do not need) at gun point - with explicit purpose of funding the healthcare for the middle-aged Americans. If anything, American young-ones are used to having close to zero responsibilities, while demanding society to follow their whimsical desires to "make the Earth a better place". Imagine their astonishment when they meet Obamacare - and find out that they are the ones paying the bills!

Moreover, don't forget to add a rather peculiar fact that Obamacare's benefits are delayed by about 4 years, while all the pain and suffering commence immediately. And these will be very long 4 years for the Democrats - quite enough time for republicans to take back the entire Congress and the send Barry back to community organizing in Chicago.

Lastly, if you add the chronic high unemployment, high taxes, terrorism, two wars and drastically worsened health care for most of the working class during the next years - you will get the entire country ready to throw away the old tired liberal ways and return to conservatism. The next 10 years will be absolutely critical to the success of this nation.

At some point, conservatives said that the healthcare battle would be Obama's "Waterloo". I think it looks more like Borodino. As you may remember, after Borodino, the Russian troops withdrew from the battlefield and Napoleon occupied Moscow - only to find it deserted. After a few months, his army faced starvation and he was forced to leave Moscow and retreat back to France, on the way losing tens of thousands of soldiers. France was never the same after this defeat.

If you ask me how I know all this - I will answer - I lived in the USSR through the end of communism. After a while you start recognizing the patterns.

10 comments:

KOOK said...

Bravo my friend. Simply great post. I agree with you, still a little apprehensive about it, but fear it may be inevitable.

Hyphenated American said...

Kook,

Thanks a lot for the compliment.

Gambits are never easy, and you always feel nervous when you execute one.

But if the Dims are stupid enough to push through this magnificently, custom-created cluster-f*ck through Congress using the Slaughter Amendment - man, we will see some real changes real soon.

Alex

Just a conservative girl said...

I agree that it is inevitable, but it is very difficult to roll back law here.

I also don't think that this is necessarily the death knell in an Obama re-election. If the ecomony gets better, people will forget this. Sadly, the American population has very short memories. The pain from this healthcare bill will have to start immediately for it to take hold in the minds of the public.

We are in for a long ride, my believe is that it will pass and will end up being decided by the courts on the basis of the constitutionality of forcing citizens to purchase healthcare. That will take years to wind it's way through.

graf10a said...

Be careful what you wish for! In my opinion, it's an extremely risky strategy to bet on angry baby-boomers and hope to use them (and others unhappy with Obamacare) as a locomotive for conservative victory. I agree that Obamacare is going to produce a lot of damage to the US economy. But are you sure that American people will react to that in the way you are describing? Remember that practically all totalitarian regims appeared druring the times of great economic crises (communists in Russia, nazi in Germani, etc.). So, it's quite possible that pretty soon Obama will look as a harmless naive child compared to the red or brown monsters succeeding him. Things like this happened quite often in the history of our civilization. Will America be an exception? I wish it will but who can tell it for sure?..

Porchlight said...

Interesting perspective. Thanks for linking this post on Keith Hennessey's blog - I'm glad I read it. It's going to be extremely depressing if this passes in any form, but your view does provide comfort.

What happens if they give up the Slaughter gambit at the last minute and just pass the Senate bill as is? Will they still own it outright or will "Republican obstructionism made us do it" work for a defense when the health care system falls apart?

Clifton B said...

Excellent Post Hyphenated!

From the get go, I have always said that timing was the Democrats worst enemy. They got full power at the worst time possible. Had they had the power they have today back in the 90's when America was flushed with surpluses, I don't think a single Tea Party would have arisen. Now all anyone ever notices is the wild spending.

Hyphenated American said...

Guys,

Thanks for multiple comments. I am flattered by the compliments and I am quite disgusted that some people dared to disagree with me. Have you no common sense to doubt the wisdom of Hyphenated American?!

Sarcasm on-off.

Anyway, seems like the Dims got the votes to pass this monstrosity through. Very soon we will find out if I was correct in my predictions. I hope I am - cause if I am wrong, God help us all.

Alex

Anonymous said...

I thought your predictions were insightful, straightforth and logical..however - at the bottom of your screen, I am disturbed that you forgot to jot down 'The Fountainhead', on the list of favorite books.

Dreadful! <3

Anonymous said...

Well reasoned and well said. Don't forget our spiraling debt held by those who have worked long and hard to destroy us. As the Chinese hold more and more of our debt, an ancient Chinese proverb/curse comes to mind. "May you live in interesting times." They are most interesting indeed.

MilitantBanana said...

H-A:

I believe that you forgot about a group:

The Scotch-Irish Ted Nugent-types in the USA who hunt, butcher and eat what they hunt, build things, and don't take any crap from anyone. They will not cooperate with this law.