While it would be superawesome if this guy were right, (the guy Steyn quotes, not Steyn), I’m not holding my breath. Perhaps I’m too cynical, but with our near-permanent welfare class and a generation of kids who’ve been told that they are children into their late 20′s, I cannot imagine a prolonged revolt against Obamacare. As I’ve said before, ultimately. free candy wins. Of course, there will still be the core of the Tea Party, but when the outrage wanes, a lot of people are going to tell themselves that, well, if the government is giving things away, they might as well get in on it.
I mean, why fight it? If it’s going to happen anyway, might as well benefit from it. Culturally, we readily accept the idea that we must follow the whims of our “betters”–how else do you explain the thousands of “Rachels” roaming the country throughout the ’90′s? How else do you explain the persistence of Hollywood to dictate public policy and influence presidential elections? Barack Obama is our first cool president, put into office by the endorsements of our self-appointed betters. Celebrities are our new royalty, and sadly for this nation, the opinion of Jennifer Aniston is a lot more important than cold, hard facts.
We are a lazy, spoiled, ADHD culture–soft and uninterested in thinking for ourselves. At least my generation is. I’ve met women my age who are almost proud of “knowing nothing about politics.” A mom told me once, “Can you just write up a list of people we should vote for?” Her playdates, soccer games, and story times at the bookstore were much more important. Obviously.
Sooner or later, the outrage runs out. The relentless media rebranding of the “Teabaggers” as angry, racist, uneducated, violent militants becomes mainstream knowledge and a pushback against the gaping maw of massive government and taxpayer debt becomes the last gasp of the marginalized, unnecessary white male. (Which is, paradoxically, sometimes led by an attractive, young, strong and well-spoken woman. But it’s best not to think about that for too long.)
As a society, we’ve accepted the idea that the famous are better than the normals. certain educational levels render one more or less credible to form a coherent thought, where one’s diploma is from further underscores the previous point, the wealthy are inherently smarter than the poor, and that journalists have our best interest at heart, and since they’ve got degrees, we should really listen to them.
So I’m not buying the idea that Obama is effing up in phenomenal fashion and taking the Democrat party with him. If a coordinated attack on the American mainland and the deaths of over 3,000 civilians doesn’t rouse (and maintain the interest of) a sleeping giant, what makes you think that the (relatively) instant gratification of unsustainable, expensive entitlements will?
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Thank you for your blog-post — I seem to go back and forth between the two opinions. I think we as conservatives often tend to look back at the past through “patriotic glasses” and not realize that we as a people haven’t changed nearly as much as we might think.
When Obama was elected, I felt very strongly that the country was finished; so many people who “should have known better” voted for the lesser of two poor choices. However, in order to get elected, Obama and many Democrats ran deceptively, promising tax-cuts and fiscal conservatism. And many moderates/independents voted for them on that basis, especially given the ineptitude of the other party.
But when Obama and his ilk began to be honest as to how they would govern and their true colors came out, the American people began to wake up, and they woke up fast. The healthcare bill was very much against the will of the American people — we don’t want any part of it. And that’s a huge difference between its passage in the USA vs Canada and Great Britain in which the people actually wanted to be nannified. When backroom deals and payoffs are needed to “pass” legislation, the people know it’s illegitimate and line up against it.
After Obama was inaugurated, I wrote a book called The Cell – Twilight’s Last Gleaming which describes what America could look like after the healthcare system was passed. As Statists/Leftists, the Dem leaders have “played their hand” very well — capitalizing with a charismatic leader following on the heels of a poor communicator leading a compromising party during/after a very unpopular war.
But Amercians have a long history of independence and freedom, regardless of their generation/prosperity. We tend to want to keep to ourselves and our own lives/families and not be bothered with national politics or international crisis until absolutely necessary, like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor.
And like after those two “external” attacks, many who were lulled to sleep with the busyness of life have now awakened, and more are rising up and will continue to do so. And though many are on the govt-dole for foodstamps and assistance, many don’t want to be but don’t have a choice. Many do want to be taken care of, but many more want to be independent but are not able to be.
Will the TEA parties and the “fires” last? Who knows? Americans in general have always seemed to rise up only when necessary (such as when attacked or threatened), fix the problem, and then go back to their lives until things get bad again.
And though the current fires may die out, they’ll be resurrected as soon as the hospital/doctor waits begin, the lines grow, coverage is denied, and our loved ones start dying — those things we WON’T forget.
AIso, Americans (in contrast to the Brits and Canadians), are generally impatient and vocal, easily angered, and don’t like to fall in line and obey the govt. People are not nearly as trusting of it as they were 50-70 years ago as under FDR.
As for the independents and others who voted for Obama, if such people can so easily vote for empty promises and rhetoric when times are good, can’t they be just as easily turned when times are bad? Not everyone can be swayed of course, but enough with common-sense (hopefully).
As for our “lost generation”, it seems to me that every generation goes through that same phase (at least for the last 60 years). Spoiled teenagers and twenty-somethings usually wake up, especially when things get bad and their way of life is threatened. Eventually, they grow up one way or another, though it seems be getting later and later. But the current crop has a memory of the last 30 years when they were free and things were good, in contrast to the 1970′s.
Keep in mind that the same Sixties generation and the Baby Boomers that exemplified: “turn on, tune in, drop out” on a massive scale also ended up voting for Reagan after the terrible 70′s, and now many of them are the foundation of the TEA parties today. If those from the Sixties eventually grew up and are “rising”, then why wouldn’t our generation have that same capacity?
America has always seemed to be a nation of Thirds: at the time of the Revolution, 1/3 supported it, 1/3 were against, and 1/3 was apathetic. Today, the odds are much more in favor of conservatism and returning to limited government. When the government really begins to sink the economy and our way of life is threatened, more people will turn against them.
Lastly, there may very-well need to be another Revolution at some point — in which the people rise up to throw off a government that has grown tyrannical and that rules against the will of the populace. Our Founders certainly didn’t preclude such a future event, knowing that all governments eventually turn tyrannical at some point. They simply designed a system that they hoped would delay the “inevitable” and minimize how often such revolutions were necessary.
Don’t forget, though, that the ideal of equal and respectable access to health care for every citizen is very compelling, even to the most libertarian among us.
So opponents of Obamacare, while fighting to repeal it, need to counter — with an equal or greater emphasis — on a plan or plans to replace it. Paul Ryan’s plan seems the best option so far.
The foreseen problems that Obamacare would cause have little impact on most people, because they are abstract. You don’t fret about waiting-lists … until you’re stuck on one.
But the problems with our current system are concrete, and in many cases abhorrent (e.g. get sick, you lose your house, go bankrupt), so they need to be acknowledged — up front, with practical solutions at the ready.
Great point!
“You don’t know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.”
BUT, remember, with Obamacare and all the associated taxes, you won’t have enough money to buy the house to loose so that unpleasant aspect of the present system is in a sense irrelevant. Moreover, nothing in Obamacare guarantees you will get the care you need, just that you will have ‘coverage.’ Care is something that will be left to the government to decide so with Obamacare you may end up with neither.
Excellent
“You don’t know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.”
Point.
“You don’t know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.”
The creepy thing about Obamacare is that few of us will experience how bad it is until ten years on.
It is amazing to so see the brazenness of Congress these days ordering leaders of private business up to Washington DC to explain themselves, being threatened with further government intervention and oversight. These guys like Waxman seem to have little notion that they are not placed there to rule private industry or private citizens. The arrogant Cheesehead.
…is in a sense irrelevant …
That was my whole point. While it could be irrelevant in an abstract sense, it’s extremely relevant, and morally compelling, in a concrete sense.
I’ve seen people go broke, and I’ve seen people lose their house because of medical bills. It’s not pretty. But to me it’s preferable to a greater likelihood of dying because of inferior or belated care. But people generally don’t think it through like that — rather, they take the world-class health care entirely for granted, and curse the insurance companies for hassling them (or in our president’s case, hassling his mother) or the free-market system for bankrupting them.
Well said. I heard about you on Rush. Keep it up.
Blogging for Cathy … Or, It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over
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