December 27, 2013--GOP Quandary

Republican don't know what to do. Up to now they have been all-in in opposing Obamacare. It is, they have been obsessively claiming, an evil intrusion of big government in people's lives fostered on us by an evil, illegitimate president; and they have passed nearly 50 bills in the House of Representatives in efforts to repeal it.

Of course that has been a futile effort--with the Senate in Democratic hands and the evil one still ensconced in the White House, that strategy was going nowhere. But they pursued it to make a political point--if you want to get rid of it and him, vote GOP in 2014 and 2016.

Now matters are even worse--it exists and people are signing up. Perhaps not in the numbers Obama and the Democrats had hoped for, but as of last count at least 2.0 million have; and as of January 1st they will have health coverage for the first times thanks to, sorry, Obamacare.

The GOP doesn't know what to do next. Especially if millions more sign up and, like those on Medicare, they come to like it. Flaws and all.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson got it right. He said, "It's no longer just a piece of paper that you can repeal and it goes away. There's something there. We have to recognize that reality. We have to deal with the people that are currently covered under Obamacare."

Translation of "we have to deal with the people that are currently covered under Obamacare"--

"We have to figure out some way, some scam, to get them to vote for us. Or say hello to President Hillary. How does that sound to you?"

Equally flummoxed, the ever-effervescent Lindsay Graham moaned, "The hardest problem for us is what to do next. Should we just get out of the way and point out horror stories? Should we come up with a mini Contract With America on health care, or just say generally if you give us Congress, the House, and the Senate in 2014, here's what we'll do with you on multiple issues including health care?"

Translation--

"Listen up, I'm fighting for my political life here. I'm up for reelection next year and they're running a Tea Party flunky against me in the primary, saying I'm too liberal. So what if I have a man-crush on John McCain and spend all my time traveling around the world with him? If trashing Obamacare isn't enough to get me reelected, we'd better come up with something good. Maybe like Obama is fooling around with Jill Biden."

The Republicans didn't ask for my advice, but I have a suggestion for them anyway that would show them to be ideologically consistent (not just typical hypocritical Washington politicians) and would fit right in there with their hatred of big-governement Obamacare--

Go after something that really is socialistic--Medicare.

Besides their favorite federal program--the military--Medicare is the biggest government program of all time. Like Obamacare it too has the Feds requiring tens of millions to get their health care though the government. But unlike Obamacare it doesn't require people to buy insurance through for-profit insurance companies. It's socialized medicine pure and simple.

So Republicans should forthwith pull up their socks, forget about Obamacare, and go after the most evil program. Paul Ryan in his budget (which, recall, all House Republicans voted for as did all but one or two GOP senators) pretty much calls for Medicare's elimination. It would turn it into a voucher program and save trillions since the vouchers wouldn't provide enough money for millions of middle class people currently covered to go into the market place to replace it.

This would work, no?