From Prohibition to Obamacare
By Alan
Caruba
"Of
all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most
oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than
under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes
sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for
our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of
their own conscience." - C. S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia
and many other works of literature.
It
is one of the great mysteries that, for progressives, also called liberals, the
past provides no lessons, no warnings that would prevent them from repeating
their errors. Progressives are always focused on a magical future in which there
will be no wars, no hunger, no poverty. Their belief in the redistribution of
wealth—communism—is, in Winston Churchill’s words, “the equal sharing of
misery.”
Obamacare
is a perfect example of the progressive inability to accept that socialism
and/or communism simply does not work. It depends on coercion and in the case
of communism it left hundreds of millions dead in its wake over the course of the
last century. Obamacare depends on (1) the belief that human nature will
change—which it will not—and (2) the lies to implement it.
The
news is filled with the failure of the government, despite the expenditure of
hundreds of millions of dollars, to provide a working website. Even
assuming that the technical problems are solved, the failure of Obamacare is
built-in because Americans have always enjoyed a culture of independence,
despite the creep of government programs that occurred over the last half
century.
The
trust in the federal government, of Congress, is at an all-time low.
Social
Security is insolvent or soon will be. Medicare was rendered even more
insolvent when billions were transferred to Obamacare. Medicaid will bankrupt
states as thousands more sign up for this program of minimal medical service.
As
I listened to and read about the Obamacare roll-out, I was reminded of an
earlier program that was adopted, Prohibition. It involved a nationwide ban on
the sale, production, importation, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
It was the law of the land from 1920 until 1933. When it went into effect it
was hailed as a victory for public morals and health. By the time it was
repealed with the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, Americans had
seen the growth of organized crime, the corruption that permitted ordinary
citizens to ignore it, and the loss of
the taxes to fund other aspects of governance.
Wikipedia
notes that “By 1925, in New York City alone, there were anywhere from 30,000 to
100,000 speakeasy clubs” where liquor was sold. Prohibition proved nearly
impossible to implement and enforce."
Barack
Obama represents the high-water mark of progressives to impose communism on
America. A totalitarian form of government, we have witnessed how his
administration has turned the Internal Revenue Service into a political
instrument to suppress its opponents and has expanded the National Security Agency
into a means to spy on all Americans, accessing every piece of communication
between them. Obamacare enables the government to know every bit of information
about individual’s health records.
It
is, as C.S. Lewis said, “tyranny exercised for the good of its victims.” Even
so, the progressives ignore the failure of communism in the former Soviet Union
and the decision of China to move to a capitalist economy while endeavoring to
retain a single party government that is encountering increasing protests and
resistance from its population.
Obamacare
is being imposed at the same time that socialist healthcare programs are in
retreat in Europe. In Britain, the government led by Prime Minister David
Cameron has introduced a bill seeking to partially privatize the National
Health Service (NHS) in an effort to avoid the Greek-style financial meltdown
that threatens the European Union member states. Cameron’s argument for the
bill is that there is too much bureaucracy in the NHS system and that it
interferes will patient care. NHS is based on the rationing of medical care as
opposed to the free market system where costs are determined by supply.
As
reported in a recent article by Arnold Ahlert on Front Page Magazine.com, “Last
November, such rationing reached a scandalous level. A study by the
Co-operation and Competition Panel revealed that Primary Care Trust heads were
imposing arbitrary spending caps, denying patients procedures such as hip
replacements and cataract removals—and that waiting times for services were
seen” to be deliberately extended ‘so patients would go private or die before
they were seen,’ to slash costs.”
Obamacare,
as has been widely reported, has increased the costs of healthcare insurance,
particularly for the young on whom the system relies to pay for the costs of
caring for the elderly. It has led to the cancellation of millions of
healthcare insurance plans and millions more will lose their plans.
In
a November 30 Washington Times article by Jennifer Oliver O’Connell, it is
reported that the inherent unconstitutionality of Obamacare will bring about
its end. Cases making their way through the judicial system such as Sebelius v.
Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp v. Sebelius, Indiana v. IRS,
Pruitt v. Sebelius, “may be the final nails in the coffin of Obamacare.” The
first two cases cited will likely be heard in March with a final ruling in the
summer of 2014. There are others such as Halbig v. Sebelius, King v. Sebelius,
the Independent Payment Advisory Board, as well as the HHS employer mandate and
origination clause challenges are among the many cases challenging the basis of
Obamacare.
Finally,
in the November 2014 midterm elections, political pundits are virtually
unanimous in the prediction that Democrats will be driven from their control of
the Senate and Republicans will increase their control of the House.
Obamacare
is the ultimate expression of the progressive and/or liberal approach to
government and it is, just as was the case of Prohibition, the increasing
resistance of the American public and will be, at some point, repealed.
©
Alan Caruba, 2013
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