The Vietnam War was started by a Democrat
and ended by a Republican. Let’s keep that in mind. Basically, at some point,
Republican President Nixon had to finally admit the Vietnam War could not be
won and the only sane thing to do was get out of it. But we also must admit
ourselves that Nixon must have known the war could not be won for quite some
time. And how many more died before the government finally put lives ahead of
ego? Oh, of course, the government told us of all kinds of horrible disasters
that would occur if the Vietnam War was not won. But those predictions did not
come true in the way the government told us. We were lied into that war, lied
to about the progress, then lied to as to why we could not pull the plug on it.
Only much later did we discover we had thrown away tens of thousands
of lives for nothing.
But I’m not here to discuss the Vietnam
War. What I’m here to discuss is the Vietnam War of social programs: Obamacare.
Here is a social program started by Democrats and hopefully to be ended by a
Republican. That it is a quagmire should be obvious to all, but some still
mistakenly believe this program can be “won”. That is, it can be made
successful. Like the Vietnam War, there have been constant failures and
subsequent government efforts to win success. But nothing has worked out the
way they said. In terms of the Vietnam War, we are in the year 1969 with
Obamacare. We’ve had the Tet Offensive of skyrocketing premiums, insurer
pull-outs in many states, and people who lost the plans they wanted to keep.
The question is: Knowing Obamacare cannot be successful, how many more billions
of dollars do we throw away before the 1973 Cease-Fire?
We hear all these shrill warnings about the
millions of people that will lose their health care if Obamacare is repealed.
This is nothing more than another government “Domino Theory” about cascading
consequences that history proves do not manifest as the government predicts. My
question is, how many of those millions have Obamacare only because it was the
law they had to have it or suffer financial punishment? I wager millions will
rejoice to be shed of this burden. But I suspect something else. I suspect that
if faced with the loss of millions of customers overnight, these massive health
insurance companies will “suddenly” find a way to offer lower premiums to keep
those new customers. Be that as it may, it makes no difference. The Obamacare
Vietnam War cannot be won.
I would say that if Obamacare is not
repealed, we would see it collapse of its own accord in 2017 or 2018 at the
latest. For one thing, the costs to the government are skyrocketing. Where
would they get the money to save it? I would wager they’d raid Social Security.
The private insurance companies themselves cannot afford to offer it, which is
why several insurance companies have pulled out of the Obamacare “healthcare
marketplace”. Here in Arizona alone, a few companies have pulled out. Premiums
are rising, in some cases predictions of 117% increases have been made.
Out-of-pocket costs in the basic Obamacare “plans” are often so high as to be
nothing more than a catastrophic illness or accident insurance. How, then, can
this be called a success?
People that think Obamacare can be made a
success, or is one now, are the same mindsets that thought the Vietnam War was
being won and could be won in 1970. Now, there are people that say “The
liberals wouldn’t let us win the Vietnam War!” We know this is ridiculous. We
killed over three million Vietnamese in that war. It wasn’t for a lack of
brutality that we lost that war. But what do we hear from liberals today? “The
Republicans won’t let us make Obamacare a success!” Oh? How are they standing
in the way of it? To be clear, Trump really has no choice but to repeal
Obamacare. It cannot be won, people, okay? It is far too riddled with inbuilt
failures.
One thing about the Vietnam War that made
it so unacceptable was the draft. People were forced to fight in it or go to
jail. It is the same with Obamacare. You are forced to enroll in it or have
some kind of insurance “plan” or be financially punished. That’s why you didn’t
see widespread riots during the Iraq War. Those were all volunteers. And the
government knew that, which is why they did not dare draft for that war or they
would have had riots on their hands. Had Obamacare been strictly voluntary,
there would not have been such widespread anger over it. But not only that,
people who already had insurance prior to Obamacare have seen their premiums go
up, or lost the doctors they had prior. For which Obama himself was caught in a
lie when he said, “If you like your plan, you can keep it…” Much like the Iraq
War was going to “pay for itself” and turned into a billion dollar a day
boondoggle, so has the mandate everyone must have health care not delivered the
promised lower costs as a result.
All of the liberal bellyaching about people
“losing their health care” if Obamacare is repealed cannot be proven. Maybe
people will. But the fact remains that Obamacare is NOT health care. It is a
mandatory insurance policy that does not necessarily deliver lower costs or
even preventative medicine. As I said, some of the plans under Obamacare have
such high out-of-pocket costs that they make preventative medicine
unaffordable. And what will happen when premiums go up so high people cannot
afford them? They’ll lose their health care. The premiums are going up and the
government is powerless to stop that. Just like they were truly powerless to
stem the flow of arms from the Soviet Union and China filtering down the Ho Chi
Minh Trail during the Vietnam War.
Some people have become attached to this
concept of Obama as a great president when, had this been a Republican, he’d be
declared a disaster. People will blind themselves to the reality of what Obama
did as president so they can cling to this illusion they have of him. We cannot
continue to cart this incarnation of ego-fueled delusion around with us into
the future. Obamacare has to be repealed because it will fail regardless. Now,
do we do the right thing and end it now and save resources, or do we stubbornly
refuse to admit the obvious and keep it going until it becomes a matter of ending
it or bankruptcy?
People are not entitled to health insurance
that creates higher costs for everyone to the point others might lose their own
in the future. How, exactly, does it make sense? “Millions of people now have
health care. Unfortunately, premiums are going are maybe millions will lose
their health care in the future…” That’s not health care. That’s Health Musical
Chairs. But more to the point, it is not justice. It also is not justice to
force everyone to buy into your flawed system because, you say, it won’t work
otherwise. Well, you made everyone buy into it and it still isn’t working.
What’s your excuse now?
For once, can we do the right thing and end
this disaster sooner rather than later? Can we admit that Obamacare is a
failure and so was the president it’s named after? This Vietnam War of social
programs cannot be won. “Saving Obamacare” makes as much sense as “peace with
honor” which cost thousands of lives past the point we knew that war could not
be won. Repeal! Day One, repeal!
Jack Perry [send him mail] is a writer living with his
wife in the Sonoran Desert where he writes, reads, bakes bread, makes arrows,
walks, and documents the foolishness of government itself. When the government
is speaking or acting, Jack observes his own Rule Number One: Always Assume
It's A Scam. A perennial desert rat, wayfarer, and path pilgrim, Jack also
enjoys silence---especially from the government.