The health care legislation making its way through Congress is a classic illustration of why “it is better that we not know how laws and sausages are made.” After a trip through the House, the Senate, and most likely a conference committee, nobody will truly understand what is being passed. Does it REALLY contain a public option? Does it provide public funding for abortions? Those issues, among hundreds of others, will not be fully understood.
But in the end, the price tag will sink this program. People of all political stripes acknowledge that spending is out of control beyond all comprehension. You can fool the “folks” with fancy language about abortion and the public option. But everyone understands that Washington is spending money to the point of putting America’s future at risk. Come November 2010, the public will judge those politicians who have ignored the call for fiscal sanity. Self-interested politicians (pardon the redundancy) will take note and act accordingly over the coming weeks.
From your lips to God’s ears! However, I think the Democrats suddenly getting some spending restraint is about as likely as them becoming suddenly interested in a small federal government!
You’re far more hopeful with the politicians than I am. The current crop of Democrat leaders, both on the federal and the state level, seem to be more interested in pushing through an unwanted massive expansion of government than re-election. After all, the conventional wisdom on why Republicans were booted from power is that they didn’t do anything on their “core principles” while they were in power, choosing instead to try to buy a permanent majority.
Of course, that ignores that the “core principles” of the two parties are, at least in theory, polar opposites, and that the Republican attempt to buy a permanent majority was close to indistinguishable from the Democrat “core principles” of massive and ever-growing government.
If given the choice, I rather have sausage makers in Congress than lawyers.