Sunday, January 26, 2014

All That's Left Of Democracy?

I'd like for our system of government to work as the law says it's supposed to work.  Since that doesn't seem feasible anymore, perhaps Professor Reynolds' reference to Irish Democracy is the only tool we have left to save ourselves:
Writing in the Washington Post back in November, Jennifer Rubin observed:
It is a coin flip, at best, for the president as to whether his signature achievement, his only achievement, will fail. It will be repealed in essence by a popular referendum: The mass refusal of people to go along with Obama's top-down, compulsory system that was set to transform a sixth of the economy. That possibility should traumatize and probably is traumatizing the White House. ... The political implications of this are almost too enormous to calculate.
Now, as February draws near, things don't look much better. Far fewer than half the number needed by March 31 have signed up. And, as it turns out, most of the people signing up for Obamacare aren't the uninsured for whom it was supposedly enacted, but people who were previously insured (many of whom lost their previous insurance because of Obamacare's new requirements). "At most," writes Bloomberg's Megan McArdle, "they've signed up 15% of the uninsured that they were expecting to enroll. ... Where are the uninsured? Did hardly any of them want coverage beginning Jan. 1?" It looks that way...

If the program fails, it won't be because Republicans stopped it, despite all the House votes and defunding efforts. It will be because millions of Americans' passive resistance brought it to its knees. Irish Democracy, indeed.
Utopia does run on unicorn farts, despite the assertions of the Utopians.

This president is a failure.  What an embarrassment.

4 comments:

maxutils said...

I'm sorry ... it almost ignores every principle. The individual mandate is vital (or at least, those without insurance or money don't get treated) ... but it doesn't even have that, because kids get to stay on parents' plans until 26, and if the individual can't afford a plan, they get it paid for by taxpayers ... but, one little baby step in the right direction ...

allen (in Michigan) said...

I think maybe the results of the 2010 election, and even the 2012, suggest strongly that there's more then just passive resistance that the electorate can use to make our displeasure felt.

Heck, the Tea Party movement's pretty clear evidence that we the people are still in charge when we feel like flexing our muscles. That's why the left's still hysterical about the Tea Party movement. It upsets the narrative.

Can't have that.

Ellen K said...

The only thing that could make the STate of the Union speech successful is if Obama said he was sorry he took a job for which he was sadly unprepared and then resigned. He can't point to the markets, they are tanking. He can't point to the economy, it's flat. He can't tout Obamacare-it's a mess. I would feel sorry for the guy if it weren't for the fact he's so darned arrogant. I would like to start a drinking game where every time he focuses like a laser beam or offers up another fake promise or bogus attack, take a shot. No, better yet, start drinking from the last chord of Hail to the Chief and keep doing so until this weary excuse for an administration is over and done.

Darren said...

Hear hear!