A Dash of Pepper

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Recently, President Obama held a made-for-TV meeting with House Republicans at their winter retreat. The White House billed the event as an effort at bipartisanship. (Note - that usually means Democrats win and the Republicans dutifully cave.)
During this event, the president made a couple of interesting remarks. One, he said, "I am not an ideologue."
Two, with regard to his health care program, he said some of the critics made it sound like some sort "of Bolshevik plot."
Lets deal with the second point first. I doubt that anyone seriously thinks President Obama is a Bolshevik. Bolsheviks are defined as being revolutionary socialists who believe in the forcible overthrow of capitalism. I think the president believes, not in the use of force, but in the time-tested notion of incrementalism. I think he'd be more than happy to get some small portion of his health care ideas passed.
But everyone on both sides knows that once you get a foot in the door of the single-payer system, the door will slowly swing open. Over time (and the president is a fairly patient man) the government "exchange" will put the companies offering private medical insurance out of business because they can't print money or raise tax dollars, and, bingo, you've got socialized health care across the board.
This is the fundamental disagreement between the Republicans and the Democrats in Congress. So long as side wants public funding, the other will oppose it. In fact, some on both sides can agree on one thing - they don't like a bill that forces people to buy a product and has the power to jail them if they don't.
Now to the first statement - "I am not an ideologue." That just is not so. At least twice during the 2008 campaign, he told audiences, or individuals that he wanted to see "redistribution of wealth." You hardly have to have studied Marxism/socialism 101 to know that this is a statement laden with ideology. It contains the very foundation for the Marxist/socialist plan.
But as Maggie Thatcher once said, "Socialism doesn't work because eventually you run out of other people's money." When productivity ceases to pay, the society collapses - witness the former Soviet Union.
Apparently, the people in the White House and perhaps the president himself are still besotted with the adulation he received during the campaign. But the Messiah magic has worn off.
Meanwhile, here in Texas, almost a thousand people per day are moving in from places such as California, Michigan, Rhode Island and New York, states that had long adopted the same insane economic policies the White House is still pursuing.
Will there be any spending cuts? That's not the message coming from Washington.
The definition of insanity, Albert Einstein said, was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
The White House may be listening but they are not hearing the message.
Copyright©2010SheilahPepper