I think they went into the repeal ACA thing in the expectation that a Republican president would win, come up with a reasonable replacement plan to push, and sell it to the voters. Since none of those three things happened, it's almost a miracle it got as far as it did. Yes, Trump is a RINO.
But there was never a lot of room to maneuver for conservatives. Had Romney won 4 years ago, a repeal would have been possible. But once the policies actually took effect, suddenly you're taking away entitlements, and people feel entitled to their entitlements. Obamacare is the market-based plan, too. The only real alternatives are less people insured in an unregulated market, or a socialist alternative like Canada's Medicare, or an even more socialist alternative like Britain's NHS.
But that said, last night I felt like I could think clearly for the first time in a long time. It's like suddenly, I've lost a lot of stress. And yes, my parents are on the Obamacare individual markets, and I'm on the Obamacare small employer markets, but it's not really that. It's the fact that we stopped this plan dead, because good people were willing to do something. That we are not sliding into a new period of illiberalism, where trillion-dollar bills with 15% approval ratings somehow pass because the elites want tax breaks, where the president normalizes close relationships with autocrats, or where we pick fights with transgendered folks just because we can.
Finally, it's like I can breathe again, because I know we can stop the forces of darkness. At least this time. It's not like I think all conservatives are evil, or that conservatism is necessarily wrong. But Trump's people are picking apart the seams of liberal democracy, and we're managing to hold them at bay without shedding blood.
TL;DR It's been a pretty good week.
-- ∇×V
But there was never a lot of room to maneuver for conservatives. Had Romney won 4 years ago, a repeal would have been possible. But once the policies actually took effect, suddenly you're taking away entitlements, and people feel entitled to their entitlements. Obamacare is the market-based plan, too. The only real alternatives are less people insured in an unregulated market, or a socialist alternative like Canada's Medicare, or an even more socialist alternative like Britain's NHS.
But that said, last night I felt like I could think clearly for the first time in a long time. It's like suddenly, I've lost a lot of stress. And yes, my parents are on the Obamacare individual markets, and I'm on the Obamacare small employer markets, but it's not really that. It's the fact that we stopped this plan dead, because good people were willing to do something. That we are not sliding into a new period of illiberalism, where trillion-dollar bills with 15% approval ratings somehow pass because the elites want tax breaks, where the president normalizes close relationships with autocrats, or where we pick fights with transgendered folks just because we can.
Finally, it's like I can breathe again, because I know we can stop the forces of darkness. At least this time. It's not like I think all conservatives are evil, or that conservatism is necessarily wrong. But Trump's people are picking apart the seams of liberal democracy, and we're managing to hold them at bay without shedding blood.
TL;DR It's been a pretty good week.
-- ∇×V