Garden State Patriot

Despite opposition to their healthcare proposals reaching a new high, the Democrat’s march towards government-run healthcare is moving forward undeterred. If you believe yesterday’s vote in the Senate Finance Committee means the public option is dead, well, think again.

According to The Heritage Foundation, Senate Democrats, led by Harry Reid, are planning to ramrod their legislation through Congress using what can only be described as scheming, underhanded tactics. As the Foundry piece explains, filibustering the legislation would likely be unsuccessful as it would require the more  ‘moderate’ members of the Democrat caucus going against their own party — an unlikely scenario.

The question is not whether Democrats can muster 60 votes to pass Obamacare; they only need 51 votes to do that. The only time the number 60 will be relevant is when the Senate votes on whether to end debate and vote on the final bill. This is a separate question. We can see Senators from red states like Ben Nelson (D-NE), Blanch Lincoln (D-AR), and Kent Conrad (D-ND) voting against an amendment creating a public option. But voting with Republicans against their party and against their President to support a Republican filibuster? That would take a lot of courage. It would guarantee that these Democrats would face fierce opposition from their leftist bases back home.

Subsequently, Reid will take two Senate-passed measures, merge them together and attach it to a House bill which has nothing to do with healthcare.  

So just how close are we to being inflicted with the Obama/Moore dream of anti-capitalist, competition-free, government-run health care? Closer than many realize. Multiple sources on the Hill have told The Foundry that as early as next week, the Senate could be debating Obamacare. Senate Majority Leader Reid has stated an intention to take the HELP Committee product and merge it with the Senate Finance Committee markup that is expected to be over by this Thursday or Friday. Their plan is to proceed to a House passed non-health care bill to provide a shell of legislation to give Obamacare a ride to the House and then straight to the President’s desk.

Ironically, it wasn’t that long ago that Democrats threatened to shut down the Senate if Republicans used the ‘nuclear option’ to bypass filibusters of Bush judicial nominees. The then-Minority Leader even was quoted as saying that the use of the nuclear option would ”ruin our country.” Now, with the stakes far higher for the nation, the Reid-led Democrats in the Senate are willing to effectively bypass the House of Representatives in their effort to achieve their dream of government-run healthcare. The people’s body, for all intents and purposes, would have no voice in legislation that directly affects the healthcare of the citizenry and 1/6th of our nation’s economy. 

The Democrats’ healthcare proposals already represent an assault on our individual liberties and the concepts of capitalism and free markets which so many of us hold dear. But now their tactics represent nothing less than a direct assault on representative democracy. No sacred institution, no cherished principle, nor the Constitution itself are above sacrifice in the pursuit of their extreme agenda.

Truly shameful.