John Hinderaker (in a post very non-incitingly titled “What Was That Line About the Tree of Liberty and the Blood of Tyrants?”) sneers at concerns about the rash of violence — almost all of which has been directed against congressional Democrats — following Sunday night’s passage of health care reform legislation:
Today’s big news story, along with the epic debate on health care taking place in the Senate, is the Democrats’ claim that some of their Congressmen have been threatened with violence after voting for the government’s takeover of health care. Steny Hoyer claims that more than ten House members “have reported incidents of threats or other forms of harassment.” He also admits that figure is “just an estimate,” which I guess means he made it up. Nor is it clear what “other forms of harassment” means; angry phone calls from constituents, perhaps.
He takes the first sentence of the second paragraph to give us his pro forma disclaimer about the undesirability of violence, then launches into an Eric Cantor-style whine about how Republicans have been victimized, too:
We condemn political violence in virtually all circumstances; certainly in all circumstances that could arise in our democracy. Threats of violence, sadly, are not uncommon in politics; let alone “harassment.” Even insignificant conservatives like us have been threatened with violence on several occasions, and the linked article notes that Jim Bunning received threats after he temporarily held up the extension of unemployment benefits a few weeks ago.
And in the third paragraph, he gets to the heart of his argument, which will sound familiar because it’s the same explanation Republicans like John Boehner and Michele Bachmann have given for incidents like Rep. Louise Slaughter’s children being threatened; Bart Stupak getting over 50 phone calls ranging from extended, obscenity-laden rants to actual death threats; and bricks with threatening messages attached being smashed through windows of lawmakers’ home district offices (emphasis is mine):
The current threats (assuming they are real, as I assume some of them are) are being played up in the press because the Democrats want to dampen the anger that has erupted over their adoption of a government medicine program through a series of legislative maneuvers that are in some respects unprecedented. It is important for the Democrats and their press minions to understand that there are many millions of Americans who regard Obamacare not just as misguided public policy, but as an illegitimate usurpation of power. I am one of the many millions who are outraged at the Left’s attempt to destroy the private health care system that has served my family so well, and who regard Obamacare as illegitimate.
And that’s the source of the violence, right there. Not that “Obamacare” is “an illegitimate usurpation of power,” but that Republicans in Congress and their (may I?) minions on the far right and in the media have been promulgating the lie that it is, since the debate on the legislation began over a year ago. And it IS a lie. Health care reform is not “an illegal usurpation of power.” And it’s not “Obamacare.” It’s health care reform. There is nothing illegal or unconstitutional about health care reform. Presidents for over 100 years have been trying to reform the health care system, unsuccessfully. Barack Obama is not the first one, or the only one — he is simply the one who succeeded.
Republicans really need to get over their rage that they are now the minority in Congress and that the president is not just a Democrat but also a black man. The Democrats campaigned on health care reform; they promised health care reform; they spent over a year debating health care reform while Republicans negotiated in bad faith, won concessions and still refused to support the bill, and in general did everything they possibly could to sabotage the bill from even being voted on, much less passed. Despite all that, the Democrats passed the legislation — even while Republicans still, to the bitter end, presented endless amendments they knew would not pass, closed down committee meetings using an arcane Senate rule about committees not meeting after 2 pm (committee meetings that were completely unrelated to health care reform –one of them had to do with homeless veterans), and more — even though they knew these were empty and useless measures at this point, that they would do nothing but slow passage down by a few hours.
These were the illegitimate usurpations of power. The health care reform legislation that now is the law of the land was passed in accordance with House and Senate rules and procedure, by the majority, which supported it. We’re talking about majority rule here. This is Democracy 101. Democrats have the White House and majorities in the House and Senate. They pass legislation on majority votes. That is how our system works. It is not “illegitimate.”
But it’s the fact that Republicans both inside and outside of Congress have been hammering on and on and on, repeatedly over months and months, telling Americans in every way possible things that are simply not true — of which the “illegitimate usurpation of power” is just one — that has raised some Americans’ fears and anger to the point of violence. Republicans need to take responsibility for that, instead of continuing to claim that the Democratic Party, which won a majority of the popular vote in a legal election, is “illegitimately usurping power” by passing the legislative agenda it campaigned and won on.
Hinderaker himself has clearly bought into these lies, as we see with that line, “I am one of the many millions who are outraged at the Left’s attempt to destroy the private health care system that has served my family so well, and who regard Obamacare as illegitimate.”
This law is not an “attempt to destroy the private health care system,” nor does it do so. This law is a middle-of-the-road, entirely mainstream attempt to curb some of the private health care system’s worst abuses — it does not destroy the private health care system. If Hinderaker’s family has been “well-served” by being refused coverage due to preexisting conditions, or by having a family member’s coverage cancelled for actually needing the insurance, or by skyrocketing premiums, or by paying more every year for less coverage, then okay, I admit it, it’s true, these benefits are being taken away from him. But he will not have to give up his current insurance policy, or any of the doctors any of his family members use. He just won’t. And if he thinks he will, let him find the place in the law where it says he will, and show it to me. I don’t think he can.
For a more concise exposition of the above viewpoint, see Josh Marshall’s piece, “The Undying Shame.”
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