WASHINGTON–“A recent WSJ article provides a stomach-turning play-by-play of the Democrats’ health care coup,” writes Don Watkins, an analyst with the Ayn Rand Center:
It was dirty deals, open threats, broken promises and disregard for democracy that pulled ObamaCare to this point, and yesterday the same machinations pushed it across the finish line.
“And that’s not even the half of it. ObamaCare was the wayward child of every conceivable (and inconceivable) pressure group fighting by any means necessary for whatever short-range benefit it could grab: from health insurance companies looking to gain customers at the point of a gun to businesses looking to foist their health care costs onto taxpayers; from prestige-seeking politicians looking to build an historical legacy to political hucksters who opposed ObamaCare on principle until the price was right. And let’s not forget the largest pressure group behind ObamaCare: those seeking to extract unearned health care from the young, healthy, and rich.
“This was pressure group total war.
“But pressure groups are only a symptom. The source of pressure group warfare is today’s mixed economy, where the government has expansive power to intervene in the economy.
“Under the system the Founders established, government was strictly limited in its powers. It could perform one basic function–guard individual rights. Its role was to protect the individual’s rights to life, liberty, and property from infringement by thugs and frauds, while leaving people free to produce and trade in a free market.
“How far we’ve come. Today the government has a say in virtually everything, which means those in power can offer carrots and sticks to almost anyone. ‘Welcome to Washington. Want water rations? Space program funding? Cold hard cash? You came to the right place.’ That’s a recipe for pressure group warfare and the arm-twisting tactics used to pass ObamaCare.
“Many Americans dislike ObamaCare and the sordid process that created it. How long until we eliminate the source?”
