The primary reason the most recent effort by Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare should go down in defeat is because it fails to live up to the standard of justice for all.
Republicans don’t seem to have much concern for that, though, and I think I know why.
Doing justice is very hard work.
The original purpose of Obamacare was to expand Medicaid in order to provide healthcare for people who didn’t have it.
It did many other good things (eliminating pre-existing conditions, no lifetime caps, preventive coverage, guaranteed coverage), but its first purpose was to give people insurance who otherwise could not afford to have it.
In short, it was intended to make healthcare in this country more just, but the current Republican Senate and House or Donald Trump have shown no concern for justice.
Trump even said he would provide healthcare for all and at a cheaper price. He lied.
He and the Republican Congress have only one goal – defeating Obamacare, justice be damned.
To that end they have mounted a propaganda campaign to convince people that Obamacare is a disaster, to use Trump’s favorite description of it.
It’s not true, and never has been. Having problems that need to be fixed is not at all the same thing as being a disaster.
What Obamacare proves is that trying to do what is right, in this instance, doing justice, is very difficult.
It’s always easy to do what is NOT right, and doing nothing about a system that was allowing people to die from lack of healthcare was not right.
Republicans have had alternatives to Obamacare, only they have all been unjust, morally wrong plans.
Those kinds of plans are easy to come up with because they take no brains and certainly have no heart.
This latest version is worse than all the rest for many reasons, and Republicans know it, which is why they want to vote on it before the CBO can tell the country how truly bad it is.
The only reason any one of these unjust plans is not already law is that there are a few holdovers from the days when Republicans believed in justice for all.
They disagreed with Democrats on how to achieve that, but they were committed to that principle.
Not anymore. It’s the free market or nothing for them, and, as I have said, justice be damned.
John McCain is one of those holdovers. We’ll see if Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski really are, or can their vote be bought as Cassidy and Graham are trying to do.
It’s bad enough not to provide health insurance to people, but to take it away from those who already have it strikes me as punitive, if not outright cruel.
It’s no wonder that justice and compassion in America have always had to fight for their lives, a fact that can be quite discouraging when you think about it.
But justice and compassion and trying to do what it morally right cannot afford for those of us who believe in them to get discouraged.
They need us to keep fighting on their behalf because they are the heart and soul of what makes America good.
Frankly, I couldn’t care less about American being great again.
I don’t even care about America being great.
But I do care about American being good.
And when you believe in that, continuing to work on behalf of justice for all Americans, difficult as it is, is worth everything it asks of you.
linnposts.com 
When so many republicans vote for a bill that they acknowledge is bad just because of a thoughtless promise, it seems rather apparent that what is good and just no longer matters. Only Susan Collins appears to be giving any thought to the potential effects of the bill. And while I believe McCain’s “no” is more about the process than the bill itself, I appreciate his call to bring back legislating as congress is supposed to do.
Wilbur, I hope Collins and Murkowski will vote “no” again, but that will also be a dubious victory given the fact that they are considering whether or not to throw people in other states under the bus if their state gets more money. Shameful, even though I want their “no” vote.
Agree absolutely.
Thanks, Jan. I think you have correctly identified the core issue. For free-market zealots, the only good solution is a cheap solution.
The problem with that approach is that “cheap” is often defined by ignoring major sources of cost, or putting the responsibility for absorbing them on “THOSE PEOPLE” and “NOT US.”
With health care, for example, the “cheap” is measured only in how many dollars the feds spend, with zero regard for the total cost of the entire health care system & who pays what for it.
The same “it’s too expensive for ME” approach applies to a lot of things, from infrastructure to welfare to education…the list goes on.
It’s ironic to note that the same thinking does not seem to apply to military spending. Perhaps it’s the fascination with shiny new objects – ships, planes, weapons systems.
Thank you for making several excellent points, Charlie. That helps move the discussion forward.
Jan, I’d love to hear your thoughts regarding “states rights” as opposed to federal laws. While I think there are many issues, like healthcare and voting rights, where I think policy has to be determined in Washington, I’m sensitive to the issue of “states rights” and some arguments in defense of them. Where do you draw the line?
Wilbur, my answer will need a blog so I will plan to write about that soon. Thanks for raising the question. We are dealing with it in a class I am teaching this fall on religion and politics so it is fresh on my mind.
Thanks. I look forward to it
Oh keep me posted on this one, I am a true Southerner so I have real opinions on states rights 🙂
So I have one question and one alone about health care in this great Nation. Do you really believe (no matter who is in office, a democrat or republican because they are all starting to look the same to me) we should trust our government to do what is right for us? Let’s just say that this works well in Canada, for the sake of argument (my in laws are in Canada so I can be the Devil’s advocate on that) do we trust that anything the American government touches will work ? I say no, that is why I always vote for less governmental control and depend on myself to take care of the people I see in need that I am able to help. It’s not that all conservatives do not want the same thing the liberals want (justice for all) it’s the way we go about getting there that is different 🙂 So I can’t say either way is right or wrong, just different ways to get the same results.
Elizabeth, there is no way you can depend on yourself for healthcare or anything else in the economy. It is controlled by major corporations. I look to the government for protection against them, otherwise they will do whatever they want to make a profit, including, as we already know, allowing people to die without having access to medical help (Harvard study showed this). We need balance. That is what Medicare is, a balance between government and private insurance, and it works better than anything else. No, I would not and do not depend on the government for everything, just protection for the common good. Thanks.