Face Off Friday: Now What?

Now that health care reform has been signed into law, what is the next move for the Democrats and Republicans? Austin Lee and David Loftus face off over this topic today. After reading their opinions, share your thoughts by leaving a comment.


Austin:
Everyone wants to know what's next. What do we do now that ObamaCare has been signed into law? If I could talk to the Republican leadership here's what I would say:

They may have won the battle, but they will not win the war. To pass such sweeping legislation in the face of extreme public opposition was arrogant, elitist, and stupid. The democrats will only lose the House and Senate majority this fall if we quit talking about how horrible this bill is now and will be later. We don't need talking point like the Democrats do, we have all of the facts on our side.

First we need to keep reminding the American people that in the history of the United States there has not been one government program that didn't cost more than it was estimated to cost. Just like a road widening project, they don't look far enough into the future to realize that by the time they add 2 lanes they should have added 4. Its the same old short sighted thinking the Dems ALWAYS use.

Second we need to keep showing the American people that this bill is simply a stepping stone to a complete government takeover of their health care. Here is what will happen in the next 10 years:

In the short term things will work just as the Dems say it will. (Do not think for a second this was by design.) Everyone will be happy with their health care and wonder what we were all so worried about. Insurance companies will get more customers because of a mandate to purchase health insurance and Barack Obama will proclaim, "See, our plan worked, just like we said!"

After a while businesses and individuals will realize that it is cheaper to just pay the fine instead of pay for health insurance. They will all drop coverage from private insurers and pay fines to the government instead. Since pre-existing conditions must be covered, most will only buy insurance when they get sick and drop coverage once they are well.

The insurance companies will be forced to increase their premiums because a great majority of the people buying are sick. The Democrats will cry foul over the increase in rates and will vote to cap insurance premiums. Insurance companies across the country will go out of business because of these limitations and the Democrats will say, "There is nothing we can do, we have to have a government option."

Make no mistake. This is the direction we are heading. Keep talking to the people in your districts, keep them informed of the long term ramifications of this horrible bill. Keep reminding them that Democrats are after power and control not your best interest. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will be long gone by the time their horrible legacies are truly revealed. Remind the people of American that it is our PEOPLE that make America great, not our government.



David:The Republican Party, rather to its surprise, has released an evil genie out of the bottle. Although the ball is still very much in play, there’s a possibility that the fierce battle the GOP chose to wage over health care reform -- probably intended as a strategy to gather momentum rolling into the 2010 mid-term elections -- could just possibly backfire on Republicans.

Congressmen are accustomed to insulting one another on the floor of the capitol, even in front of TV cameras, then going off together afterward for drinks (or at least heading separately and quietly to their homes). But average Americans are not used to operating this way. They actually took the health care debate very much to heart. Now even Republicans, not one of which voted for health care reform, are shocked by the ferocity of the backlash against it.

In the five days since the vote, at least 10 Democrats have reported harassment and menacing: obscenity-laced voicemail messages to Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), e-mail messages urging Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-Fla) to commit suicide, a fax bearing the image of a noose and a voicemail urging Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich) to “bleed … [get] cancer and die,” bricks thrown, a gas line cut, and an envelope containing white powder sent to the Queens borough office of Rep. Anthony Weiner. Thursday was the first time 2 Republicans reported that they, too, had been menaced. These are all the acts of a tiny crazed minority, but they reflect poorly on the more mainstream opponents of health care legislation and will possibly alienate the more neutral middle. Despite all the Republican opponents’ claims to the contrary, a post-vote poll by USA Today/Gallup found that 49 percent of Americans thought passage of the legislation had been a good thing, versus 40 percent who opposed it. President Obama’s approval numbers bounced upward four or five percentage points this week, too.

It won’t last, of course. Voters will become disenchanted about something else. The Democrats will lose seats this November, as almost inevitably happens to the “ruling party” during the mid-term elections. But this particular battle has tarnished the Republican Party more than it managed to demonize the Democrats for “ramming this bill down the American people’s throat.” And seven months is likely sufficient time to demonstrate that all those horrid things that would inevitably transpire due to health care reform (i.e., Rep. Boehner’s “Armageddon”) aren’t going to happen after all. I predict a less-then-massive turnover of Congressional seats in the fall, and the Republicans might do well to move on and find a different issue upon which to base their campaigns.