Posted by
Steve on Saturday, December 19, 2009 12:55:23 PM
It looks as if Harry Reid will get his Christmas wish. Senator Ben Nelson compromised his principles last night and agreed to support the unconstitutional takeover of 18% of our economy. I detailed yesterday some of the pressure that was being placed on Senator Nelson to get him to cave in. The pressure must have worked because he did cave. The worst of the pressure was the threat to close the Strategic Command base in Nebraska. That threat bordered on treason because our national security is not a bargaining chip in negotiations. I am sure that there was a lot of other pressure put on Senator Nelson. I guess he wants this to be his last term as Senator.
My guess on how they got him to cave is that they agreed to think about removing the abortion funding from the bill. Even if it is removed, it is in the House bill. That means the House and Senate bills are different. So, after the Senate bill gets passed the bills go to a conference committee. In the conference committee the abortion funding will be put back in the bill. That will get Senator Nelson upset and he might not support the final bill. But, the damage will have been done. This conference bill only has to get 51 votes to pass. The conference bill cannot be filibustered like a regular bill. That means all the bad things that are in the House bill will almost surely be in the final conference bill and sent on to the President.
That this entire exercise is unconstitutional seems to be lost on the Democrats. When they are confronted with that idea, they dismiss it with the thought that the questioner must be stupid. But, nowhere in the constitution does it give the government any authority to require the public to purchase anything. That the bill will be found unconstitutional will be a lead pipe cinch. The only question is how long it will take before that happens. If it happens quickly, then the entire monstrosity can be thrown out and nobody will be harmed. If it takes years, then the process will have been implemented and it will be a disaster. There has to be a way to get people with standing to challenge the bill in court. The quicker it happens the better it will be for the country.
Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama will get their victory on this issue. The victory will be at the expense of the country. The country will suffer because these three court jesters had to have their victory. Instead of working for what is best for America, they are working for how to harm America the most. The America I knew growing up will cease to exist when the Democrat health control plan takes effect. The fact that no country in the world has been able to successfully make it work does not seem to cause these people to take a second look at what they are doing. They just seem to say that they know what is best and it does not matter that everyone else in the world hates this plan.
In 2010, any Democrat that voted for this monstrosity will, at best (for them), have a tough re-election. At worst, they will be defeated in their re-election. Many Democrats see the handwriting on the wall and are deciding not to run in 2010. That way they do not have the albatross of the health control bill hanging over their head. Democrats believe that by passing this monstrosity that it will insure Democrat majorities as far as the eye can see. They are willing to take the hit in 2010 and 2012 to achieve that goal. My hope is that there will be a way to not fund the monstrosity and defang the monstrosity. The best thing would be for the Congress to repeal the bill in January 2011 as their first item of business. That would minimize the harmful effects of this bill. The only way that would happen is if Republicans win huge majorities in both the House and Senate in the 2010 elections. That is possible. I pray that it happens. It is our last best hope for salvation from this disaster.