The Road Paved with Unintended Consequences
‘Unintended consequences or collateral damage’ is fast becoming the legacy of the Obama administration.
After hearing about the unintended consequences of the cash for clunkers, a line out of the 2007 film Meet the Robinsons came to mind.
The Bowler Hat Guy says to the T-Rex, “Now, my slave, seize the boy!” When the T-Rex tries and fails, the Bowler Hat Guy asks, “What’s going on? Why aren’t you seizing the boy?” To which the T-Rex sheepishly replies, “I have a big head and little arms. I’m just not sure how well this plan was thought through–Master?”
The underestimated cost of the Cash for Clunkers program that ran out of money in a week should be an obvious warning sign about the accuracy of the administration’s cost projections– a scary thought considering they have their eye fixed our health care system.
The impact of the unintended consequences will soon be felt as families who can’t buy new cars can’t find parts to keep their older cars running.
Should we believe that this plan was simply not thought through? Is it that these and many other issues are just the unintended consequences of good intentions? Or are the consequences the intention all along? It’s no secret that environmentalists want gas guzzlers off the road.
Under this administration, ideology trumps reality.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer co-authored an op-ed piece in USA Today pushing their Health Care agenda, while dismissing the concerns of worried Americans expressing their anger in town hall meetings.
These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American.
Now protests are un-American? Dissent with the government is un-American? Boy, we sure did get change.
Democrats have set up a war room to combat the opposition. Opposition, they say, is nothing but Astroturf. You would think they would know Astroturf when they see it; they have become masters at producing it.
On Craigslist, one ad reads, “Were fighting for health care that will protect families financial health, lay out a clear path for all Americans to afford health care, and improve patient safety and quality care.
You can work for change this summer.
Join motivated staff around the country working to make change happen. You can make great friends and money along the way. Earn $4000-$6000 this summer.”
But sadly, they refuse to see the real grass roots movements growing, so they just keep spreading their manure, fertilizing what was once a dormant opposition.
When the Huffington Post asked Sen. Durbin if he believed the chaos was fabricated from the insurance and private health care industry, he replied, “Some of it is, yes.”
I don’t doubt that the insurance industry is fighting back. I hope they are. (They should be looking at the auto and banking industries and be shaking in their boots.) That shows that he understands the rest of the anger is real. Yet, the Democratic leadership continues to ram it through, while marginalizing, degrading, and demonizing all who voice opposition.
In Pelosi’s op-ed, she writes, “The first fact is that health insurance reform will mean more patient choice. It will allow every American who likes his or her current plan to keep it. And it will free doctors and patients to make the health decisions that make the most sense, not the most profits for insurance companies.”
Translation: As long as the insurance companies hold on, you can choose between them and us. But as the free carrot is held out in front of employers and the whip of costly penalties falls on those who fail to tow the line, we can starve out the profit hungry insurance companies– well-run on your tax dollars.
Ideology meets reality; health care for all Americans will be paid for by some Americans and run as efficiently as they run our school systems. What will be the unintended consequences of good intentions? Or are the consequences the intention all along?
Town hall meetings go back to Colonial days, keeping power in check. Protests, even rebellion, is quintessential American. That, and those willing to fight, is what has kept us free for over 200 years.
As congress returns home, they might do well to remember that another quaint American custom is tar and feathers.