By Michael R. Shannon
In the wake of last Sunday's vote by Democrats to begin the socialization of medicine in the United States, Republicans are reduced to throwing things at the wall in the hope that something sticks.
First up is Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli who filed suit in Federal District Court to have Obamacare ruled unconstitutional a mere 12 hours after the bill was signed into law. He was followed by thirteen other attorneys general who joined to file a similar lawsuit in Florida. (Since the Louisiana Attorney General is a Democrat, the effort to defeat the law becomes more bi-partisan than the party-line vote in Congress to pass it.)
Cuccinelli's reasoning is, "With this law, the federal government will force citizens to buy health insurance, claiming it has the authority to do so because of its power to regulate interstate commerce. We contend that if a person decides not to buy health insurance, that person - by definition - is not engaging in commerce, and therefore, is not subject to a federal mandate."
Cuccinelli was quickly joined in his effort by Gov. Bob McDonnell, who was no doubt relieved to find a Cuccinelli issue he could support wholeheartedly without worrying about the necessity to issue clarifying news releases later.
Isn't it ironic that our first black President's signature issue establishes part-time indentured servitude? What else would you call forcing taxpayers to work part of each year on his health care plantation, until they earn enough to buy an insurance policy they may not want?
Who thought the "Change" Americans voted for would be sharecropping?
In a juxtaposition that had its elements of humor, as Pelosi and Company were busy creating Dependency Nation inside the Capitol - outside thousands of uninsured (better known as illegal aliens) were demanding to be made citizens so they could share in the bounty.
You may recall that one of the big reasons for passing socialized medicine was to cover the "30 million uninsured" many millions of whom also happen to be uninvited.
So I suppose the same federal bureaucracy that is incapable of keeping landscapers and busboys from crossing the border, will now miraculously gain the ability to force them to buy insurance policies.
Our next hope to defeat Obamacare, if legal efforts fail, is the November election where many, if not all of the GOP candidates will be running on a repeal platform.
But even if they win in 2010, socialized medicine will still be with us.
Let's say Republicans here defeat Gerry Connolly, Tom Perriello and Rick Boucher and the vote nationwide is such that they take over both the House and Senate - unlikely, but within the realm of possibility. Then Republicans inherit the same problems repealing the law that Democrats faced in passing it. Senate Republicans will have to line up 60 votes to beat the filibuster.
After repeal is passed, the bill is delivered into the tender mercies of the Obama White House, where it will be vetoed, the same way any partial, piecemeal reform will be vetoed.
Republicans need a two-thirds vote in both houses to override the veto, which is 290 in the House and 67 in the Senate.
That's not going to happen.
It will be 2012 before the voters can evict Obama and by that time pubic anger may well have dissipated.
The only time the public stayed angry long enough to force Washington to change a law was the repeal of Prohibition. But this time instead of taking away their booze, the feds are doing their best to addict the public. Entitlements are the crack cocaine of Democrats.
Their hope is once John Q. Public has a couple of hits off the Obamacare pipe he will be so high that by the time he crashes it will be too late to turn back.
If Ronald Reagan couldn't get rid of either the Department of Education or the equally useless Department of Energy (neither of which produce any of the product they claim to regulate) then I can't picture the repeal of socialized medicine after the bureaucrats have had three years to burrow into the government.
Obamacare is a fiscal black hole that will produce increasing deficits without end, while there are fewer and fewer productive taxpayers to foot even part of the bill. As taxes increase and productivity declines, this metastasizing spending will suck the life out of the economy and turn the nation inward.
In 1972 Democrat George McGovern ran for president on a platform of "Come Home America." Now 38 years later, the Marines, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, various astronauts, the Peace Corps and other miscellaneous agencies we can't afford any longer will be coming home - to change America's bedpans.
Michael R. Shannon is a public relations and advertising consultant with corporate, government and political experience around the globe. Audiences agree he's a dynamic and entertaining keynote speaker. He can be reached at michael-shannon@comcast.net.
Michael R. Shannon
MANDATE: Message, Media & Public Relations
703-583-6277
571-969-1995 Google Voice
http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrshannon
http://americaspeakon.org/blog/contributor/23