Saturday Night House Ram Down

Open up and say,“Ah!” Or we’ll do it for you.

While many of their constituents were undoubtedly asleep, late into the night in a rare Saturday session, the House narrowly passed the healthcare bill by a vote of 220-215. One Republican, Ahn Cao, contributed to the yeas. Two others came from the Democratic seats picked up in the recent election, one of whom, Bill Owens, originally claimed he would not vote for the bill.

Most of the scene on the floor was a circus. Half-truths, gavel-downs, babies as props, fire and brimstone style diatribes by one zealous demagogue. The “debate” held center stage — all smoke and mirror, as the real magic was happening behind the scenes. Speaker Pelosi did not preside over the vast majority of the proceedings, probably because she was busy strong-arming the last needed votes.

The plea from Republicans was for commonsense reforms, not a massive overhaul and bureaucratic tax-and-spend boondoggle like every other Democratic-led effort to come before it. One can’t help but fantasize what a bipartisan bill might have looked like. However, as Eric Cantor noted, the only bipartisanship in this bill was in its opposition. Yet the delusional thinking led by the far-and-away inhabitants of Planet Pelosi (population: 1) had convinced liberal Democrats they were mandated to crusade on behalf of the “American people.” Their only obstacle was out-witting Republicans whose primary cause is furthering the corporate Holocaust of insurance companies.

So, today Democrats are atwitter with alternating self-congratulation and telling themselves how “humbling” it all is. These are people like Hollywood Henry Waxman and Charles Rangel who’s home thinking up new ways of emulating mafia bosses. Perhaps Pelosi had a mimosa with her flan this morning for the occasion. They are eulogizing all their great work with mawkish historical comparisons — Oh, this is as momentous as Social Security! And Medicare! (Only liberals would aspire toward dysfunctional, bankrupt entitlement programs.) And Obama is just like John Kennedy, or FDR, or TR, or all of them, and somewhere in heaven Ted Kennedy is smiling, or a tear is rolling down his cheek, or he’s whispering in Obama’s ear, “Thank you.”

All this comes after months of citizen protests, including thousands at the Capitol on the eve of the bill’s passage. The latest Rasmussen poll reports that 54% now oppose the legislation with 44% strongly opposed and only 23% strongly in favor. Who are they doing all this for, again? You would think the slim passage of the bill alone would serve as a reality check. Most people do not want this monstrosity. Instead, Democrats repeat the line that this brutal fight is for the people, while — bizarrely — refusing to face the reality that it is largely against the people. And what’s in store for them at the end of this process? Well, at this point it looks like the criminalization of non-participation in the government scheme, an entirely different kind of mandate.

To be fair, Democrats do think they’re fighting for the people. They just think they know better than the people. But it’s a twofold deception: Liberals would have you believe that their first concern is simply providing healthcare for Americans in need. What could be more nobel? But the greater objective is far more insidious. It’s about ossifying the dependency of the American to the State so that he may always look on her as the flowing teat of necessity and therefore, esteem her and by association, those who seek to fatten her in lieu of those who would restrain her for the flourishing of the individual. This is what the healthcare bill means. This is why its passage, whether the people want it or not, is so urgent for the wildly liberal establishment currently in power.  These ain’t your grandma’s Democrats.

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