Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
August 7, 2013
While I rarely disagree with conservative columnist
Charles Krauthammer, I will tread carefully while I respectfully suggest he has
it backward in his August 2 editorial “GOP’s suicide mission” – at least in his
section about Obamacare.
Krauthammer suggests that conservative stalwart Senators
Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT) “are threatening to shut down the
government on October 1 if the stopgap funding bill contains money for
Obamacare.”
Cruz and Lee can threaten all they wish, but as
Krauthammer correctly points out, the Democrats control the Senate, not Cruz
and Lee’s minority Republican Party, and thus the GOP is likely to go down to
defeat in appropriately attempting to defund this albatross around the necks of
all Americans who work for a living or meet a payroll keeping said workers
employed.
Even Democratic Senator Max Baucus (MT) has called
Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act, a “train wreck.”
Where Krauthammer and I part company is in my not
thinking a GOP effort to defund Obamacare will be a suicide mission. With the
shrinking popularity of the imposition of socialized medicine, fewer options,
higher prices and premiums, and still no cross country competition, more
Americans will appreciate the efforts of the GOP standing up for the folks who
sent them to Washington in the first place.
The defunding bill will surely pass the GOP-controlled
House, and even if it manages to pass in the Senate, the power to keep the
government running like the incompetent machine it is, is in the hands of Obama
himself. The issue is whether Obama wants a government shutdown on his watch
that he can prevent by admitting defeat on his precious socialized medicine
roadshow whose level of popularity continues to wane, or retain his arrogance,
veto the bill, and blame the Republicans for not giving him what he wants
simply because he lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Cruz, who introduced a bill in the Senate to defund
Obamacare, said he will never support even one dime of funding for what is both
Obama’s signature piece of legislation and the potential downfall of the
American economy.
"The Administration's recent announcement to delay
the onerous and unpopular employer mandate until after the 2014 election,
coupled with its announcement to delay income and health status eligibility
requirements in favor of an honor system for the most expensive entitlement for
our generation, confirms what has been obvious from the start – this law is a
colossal mistake," Cruz said in a press release.
Cruz must be doing something right as he caught the
attention of Obama lapdog Chris Matthews, also a supposed “newsman” for MSNBC.
Matthews, while shilling for Obama, said that Cruz’s legislation to defund
Obamacare is “an act of terrorism.” Terrorism? That’s extreme even for the
ratings starved, virtually irrelevant Matthews.
Is it an act of terrorism to follow the rule of law as established
by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution? Is it an act of terrorism to put
the responsibility of an individual’s choice pertaining to healthcare in the
hands of, um, the individual? Is it an act of terrorism to prevent government
from forcing its citizenry to purchase a product it may or may not want?
Matthews is an absolute imbecile for making such an outlandish statement, which
is not only an embarrassment to him, but offensive to victims of true
terrorism. Matthews owes Cruz and terror victims an apology.
Obama has forced businesses to reduce its workforce to
ensure it does not cross the 50 employee threshold making it responsible for
providing Obamacare to its employees. Additionally, workers are already feeling
the pre-enacted sting of Obamacare as hours are being sliced down below a 40
and even below a 36-hour work week, thus turning the United States into a part
time economy.
Congress must have finally taken Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s
(D-CA) advice to read the bill and discovered what was in it was enough to
grant themselves a waiver from Obamacare while inflicting it upon the rest of
the American rank and file.
Even three of the largest unions in the country,
spearheaded by the Teamsters, some of Obama’s most loyal supporters, object to
enactment of Obamacare. In an open letter to Democratic Congressional
leadership, the unions said enactment of Obamacare will “destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work
week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”
At least
Senator Cruz is keeping his word in attempting to defund the dangerous
Obamacare. A government shutdown is avoidable if Obama wakes up from his stupor
and socialist haze in time to realize the opposition is mounting against his
potentially economy-crippling legislation that will ultimately make the
American people even more dependent upon Washington, something hard working
Americans are loathe to experience.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in
Westfield, IN.
No comments:
Post a Comment