Healthcare

Yesterday I posted about a CBS poll that showed that a solid majority of Americans did not want congressional Republicans to defund the Affordable Care Act and eliminate all the consumer protections, deficit reduction and job creation it supports.

The effort of the repealers is in stark contrast to the wishes of the American public — and in direct conflict with their promise to “listen to the American people.” I pointed out how John Boehner (R-Ohio), Speaker of the House, had said that the people’s agenda would be his agenda. I also pointed out how Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) apparently didn’t get the memo — he told the rabid anti-everything crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that he wasn’t interested in doing what “is popular.”

Egypt has dominated the headlines, but the healthcare reform battle, which started nearly two years ago and will continue for another two years, has taken a dramatic turn. President Obama is facing the real possibility that his signature accomplishment gets overturned by the Supreme Court right before he faces the voters again in the 2012 election.

The legal community is now taking a second look at the question of the constitutionality of the individual mandate for purchasing healthcare, the central tenet of the law. That question seemed more the subject of a political campaign than a serious legal question just months ago. But it is now a question in 20 pending cases brought against the law.

Earlier this week, the Senate voted to repeal ObamaCare.

The amendment failed, but that is not how either Mitch McConnell or Harry Reid saw it.

McConnell saw it as a victory for his long-term strategy of taking back the Senate. Next year, 23 Democrats are up for reelection, and now McConnell has them on record supporting a law that he thinks is politically toxic.

But Harry Reid also claimed victory. He kept his team unified and stopped the Republican momentum on this big issue.

You win some. You lose some.

We haven’t heard from Bono and Lady Gaga yet, so it is too early to say, but in our age of second acts — WikiLeaks, Jane Fonda workouts, “Hawaii Five-O,” Jimmy Carter (and isn’t the TV show “Dexter,” in which liberal frustration leads to weekly ritual sacrifice by a serial killer, a redo of the very popular “Death Wish” in 1974?) — the Egyptian uprising appears to be a latte version of the Ayatollah Revolution in 1979; but one without the Ayatollah. And without the American hostages. The first brought Ronald Reagan from nowhere onto a steady trajectory to the most successful presidency, perhaps, in the post-war period. Possibly we will see that heartland instinct which emerged in the Reagan period awaken now to dominance. Indeed, it is what we have been seeing with Tea Party, Constitutional Conservatives, Sarah Palin, the “Ron Paul Revolution” and Judge Andrew Napolitano these last two years. The key, in my mind, is one case rising before the Supreme Court; the case of ObamaCare’s “individual mandate.” It will determine America’s future.

I propose an amendment that would prohibit any member of the House or Senate who supports repealing the healthcare bill from joining any congressional government healthcare plan.

I would include mandatory term limits for any member who supports healthcare repeal for Americans but takes the government plan for him- or herself.

They should be term-limited before the next election!

Healthcare was on my mind this weekend, mostly because a nasty little stomach virus hit my family hard. My son got it first on Friday, followed by my wife late Saturday night, and then finally me on Sunday night, just in time for a long workweek.

Nothing like starting a new workweek flat on your back, thanks to the flu.

I have written this before, but the flu bug can be a dangerous little thing, just like the thought of revolution. First Tunisia, then Algeria, and then Egypt. Next, Jordan? We will see.

Isn't it ironic that healthcare reform and the validity of the U.S. Constitution now stand conversely in the debate over our nation's future?

The central issue is the scope to which government has the right to control and manipulate our lives.

One of the ingenious aspects of the Constitution involves the fact that our Founding Fathers knew that there would be a growing tendency for government to expand in size and in power. They also knew that the expansion of power can be very corrupting; therefore, they placed safeguards in the document, which are now being challenged.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday to repeal the centerpiece of President Obama’s first term in office. To hear congressional Republicans tell it, healthcare reform is well on its way to repeal. The voters certainly dislike the landmark law, and if their voices carry to the corridors of the Senate and that body votes for repeal, the Congress will have spoken.

And yet, that’s where it will end. In fact, few in this town believe the legislation will ever get to the other side of the dome. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still controls that chamber’s calendar, and no one sees him bringing up the bill anytime soon.

Dream a little more and say the Senate does the unthinkable. There’s no way Obama signs the bill to repeal his own measure.