To Republican Senators and Representatives: If not now, when (and how and what) . . . if not you, who?
That is the burden for those Republicans who say they oppose Obamacare but oppose stopping the implementation of it through the power of the purse which exists as Congress’s Constitutional authority and responsibility.
Nevertheless, believing it essential to be objective in such crucial matters, there are two basic perspectives for people who genuinely opposed Obamacare to wrestle with in deciding how they come down on the politics of the matter. We set them forth herein.
1) Stop it by not funding it. Save the country (and the culture). Its a problematic train wreck anyway and continued funding is throwing good money after bad. Implementation of Obamacare will severely damage a superior health care system, cause doctors to leave their practice, increase health care costs and hurt the economy in general, perversely, because of the force of law, resulting in dependence on a corrupted system. Implementation will result in it becoming more politically unlikely to be ended later rather than sooner, or with no more assuredness, due to the super-majorities necessary to end it outright, and the lack of uniform resolve (the inevitable Republicans squishes). Efforts to fix it will only make Republicans part of it and justify the approbation “they are all alike.” Tweeking it is still a disservice to the republic by inculcating the concept of government as primarily responsible for the delivery of health care instead of the private sector. Stopping the funding ideally includes freezing allocated but unspent funds because that is just as much throwing good money after bad.
Republicans will be blamed no matter what . . . either for “shutting down government” or wanting to throw hospital patients on to the streets and all manner of calumny for not supporting it with full tilt funding. Obamacare is not popular. Shutting it down is or can be made to be consistent with the demeanor of the public, which does not like what they are seeing from Obamacare. The populist position is to stop it and replace it.
2) Oppose an effort to stop it that could result in “shutting down government.” Conservatives cannot control the spin and will not win in Congress or the court of public opinion. Proposals to stop Obamacare are a trap. Don’t threaten to shut down government because predictably Republicans will cave anyway and will severely damage any chance at gaining a majority in the Senate, keeping the House, and the potential for the presidency in 2016. Democrats will just reinstate funding. Republicans will be a permanent minority. Stopping it must wait for the next election.
The position essentially favoring funding then varies as to what to do in the meantime between funding and the election: A) let the Democrats own it, when the country sees how bad it is they will rally to Republicans and B) the view that, in the mean time, be the loyal opposition “the people have spoken” and try to prevent the worst aspects, that is make it as workable as possible for the “good’ of the country.
More can be said objectively as to each view, but the proponents of de-funding Obamacare now for the good of the country and because it is good politics and the view that it is a losing proposition for Republicans (as if not stopping it now is not a losing proposition for the country) can be analyzed from those points even as more angles if they exist are acknowledged along the way.
Tea Party conservatives tend to fall as we do, look for a way to de-fund it now, with whatever political or rhetorical nuances that can be added to sustain the effort. Not doing so has its own political downside for Republicans. Establishment Republicans predictably are risk adverse anyway, give no credit to the implications of delay, and say tactics such as proposed by Senator Lee and Cruz to stop implementation via handing Obama a “fund everything but Obamacare” approach are doomed because Obama says they are. Republicans blink, Democrats do not, which says a lot in itself.
Below are links to views particularly from a political / electoral perspective that reflect the differences. While predominantly supportive of the basic concept of “it is not futile, do what we can to stop it now” we have also linked articles that argue what has come to be viewed as the establishment position (and which would call that characterization unfair) . It should also be realized that some of the arguments opposing de-funding Obamacare now, are incorporated in those articles in support of defunding by way of arguing the points. All articles contain further links that are instructive as well.
We will hold forth with what we find as the most compelling arguments and observations of our own in coming weeks in the lead up to relevant votes when Congress returns from the August recess.
From Capitol Hill Daily – Informative background information and argumentation that tends to call for trying to de-fund Obamacare:
http://www.capitolhilldaily.com/2013/05/obamacare-irrelevant/
http://www.capitolhilldaily.com/2013/06/obamacare-system/
http://www.capitolhilldaily.com/2013/07/congress-liars-obamacare/
http://www.capitolhilldaily.com/2013/05/repeal-obamacare/
De-funding it now is futile and politically harmful
http://pjmedia.com/blog/why-trying-to-defund-obamacare-is-the-definition-of-insanity/
Support de-funding or support de-funding with some nuances
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2013/08/02/limbaugh-lighting-a-fire-under-the-gop/?subscriber=1
http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/2013/08/02/limbaugh-lighting-a-fire-under-the-gop/?subscriber=1
Many many more analysis are available in online conservative journals. We will add to these periodically . R Mall
