A new hope on Obamacare

Terry Morris writes:

I appreciate the recent coverage at VFR on this matter, but I think it has been a bit too, well, positive given the current makeup of the U.S. Congress. I believe the Democrats are socialists and radicals all, and I lump them all (including certain Republicans) in the same grouping. I strongly believe that this bill will most definitely pass. [LA replies: In ffact there is no bill, and that’s one of the oddities of the situation. There are a variety of proposals and ideas floating around.] However, there is some hope left. I’ve seen this before, albeit on a smaller scale but nonetheless.

When I was in the Air Force stationed at Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, Alaska back in the early ’90s, the homosexual lobby in Anchorage was very vocal and actively seeking to add to the city’s non-discrimination laws the words “sexual orientation.” It was a huge fight in Anchorage at the time. Public hearings were held for several weeks, hearings at which the opposers of the measure invariably outnumbered the supporters by large margins. I remember one Christian lady in particular who warned that if the city council passed the measure, every single member who supported it would be removed at the next election cycle (which was only a couple of months away at that time). One of the Council members responded to the threat, angrily retorting that the lady had done more to secure his personal vote in favor of the measure than to get him to consider changing his mind. And so it went.

Ultimately the measure passed (something like 4-3). Next election cycle, true to the lady’s prediction, every single member who voted for it was removed from their respective seats. And the first order of business for the new council was to repeal the measure just passed.

LA replies:

You say that you think that the passage of Obamacare is a virtual certainty and that it can’t be stopped, yet you also believe that after it’s passed, it could be repealed.

I would say this: if you’re going to invest in unrealistic hopes, how about investing unrealistic hopes in the effort to stop the bill now, rather than into the hope of repealing it after it’s passed?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at August 19, 2009 10:17 PM | Send