If you’re wondering why so many House Republicans seem to believe they can force President Obama to accept a “defunding” of the health care reform law by threatening a government shutdown or a default, it’s because these groups have promised to inflict political pain on any Republican official who doesn’t go along.Heritage Action and the Senate Conservatives Fund have each released scorecards showing which lawmakers have pledged to “defund Obamacare.” When a senator like Tom Coburn of Oklahoma refuses to pledge, right-wing activists are told: “Please contact Senator Coburn and tell him it’s dishonest to say you oppose Obamacare, but then vote to fund it. Tell him he swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Mr. Schock and 10 other lawmakers considered suspiciously squishy by the Club for Growth were designated as RINO’s (Republicans in name only), and the club has vowed to find primary opponents and support them with cash — a formidable threat considering that it spent $18 million backing conservative candidates in the 2012 cycle. Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers group that has already spent millions on ads fighting health reform, is beginning a new campaign to delay the law’s effects.These groups, all financed with secret and unlimited money, feed on chaos and would like nothing better than to claim credit for pushing Washington into another crisis. Winning an ideological victory is far more important to them than the severe economic effects of a shutdown or, worse, a default, which could shatter the credit markets.
An article in the Wall Street Journal (go here) discusses the same issue. Note how reasonable the wrangling sounds....just politics as usual.
So...its a good time to take a public finance course. We get to see if a government shutdown really occurs. And spend some time trying to understand why Obamacare is so despised. Secret money....defunding programs that are mandated by law. Doesn't sound very democratic to me. What do you think?
The Money Behind the Shutdown Crisis - NYTimes.com
interesting, I had forgotten how different these papers can be!! Politics is hilarious!!!
ReplyDeleteThe whole idea of attacking your own party seems to go against the entire idea of having a party system. I find it unnerving how different the news sources can be when talking about a single idea. I also found it interesting that the author said that they are funded by secret and unlimited funds. I feel like that may be some sort of hyperbole.
ReplyDeleteI think Obamacare is a fantastic idea. However I do not believe that such ideological prowess should be passed with such intimating political techniques. Funnily, this infighting reminded me of how politics works in India!
ReplyDeleteIt is ridiculous that certain politicians are still trying to prevent the Affordable Care Act from being implemented. The exchanges open in less than two weeks! So many resources have already been spent to prepare for the law's implementation. At this point, opposers of the law should consider focusing their time and energy to ensuring that everything will go as smoothly as possible.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Devin. I wonder where all this "secret and unlimited money" come from though.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Devin. I wonder where all this "secret and unlimited money" come from though.
ReplyDeleteFrom the angle of the window through which I view the world, politics seem to ruin everything or make everything worse, at least from where I come from. Elaborating on that comment would be an unnecessary tangent. It just feels to me like it's mostly people arguing like children with grey hair and suits, except people's lives are affected with every nonsense that goes through.
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