Tweedledee and Tweedledum vs. Liberty

Juan Williams argues that the repeal of ObamaCare that has just passed the Senate is merely a bluff on the part of the GOP, who are plainly aware that the President will simply veto the measure if the House also passes it. Williams is also correct that the Republicans will pay for these maneuvers:

If the GOP is serious, the party will lay down a better healthcare plan. It will have to help more people than the 17 million who have gained insurance under ObamaCare, including 1 million new customers since Nov. 1 of this year. The GOP will also have to do a better job of reining in the greedy insurance companies. And it will have to demonstrate that its plan does more to hold down the nation's healthcare costs.

This is where the Republican house of cards collapses. It is all a bluff.

Williams is right about the outcome (although wrong about what he imagines would be better than the ACA) if one assumption of his holds up, which it probably will for the foreseeable future.

His assumption is this: The GOP will continue allowing leftists to set the terms of the medical "insurance" debate. For just one example, when push comes to shove, even Marco Rubio, recently fingered as the one Republican who has done the most to hasten the death of the ACA, has said he wants to save Medicare and Medicaid. No one in the GOP that I know of is willing to argue that the proper purpose of government is to protect individual rights -- to make us able to care for ourselves -- rather than to take care of us. Conversely, none has pointed out that what is being called "insurance" isn't, much less calling for the legalization of actual health insurance.

Until such a day, we will have two parties that favor central planning and -- because central planning cannot run a large, modern economy -- the one not in power will inevitably be able to play finger-pointing games. This will go on without even a peep about the one thing -- liberty -- that really could bring reasoning minds to bear on our problems.

-- CAV