PART ONE: “Come on people now. Smile on your brother. Everybody get together. Try to love one another right now”, because “all we are saying is give peace a chance”. The tune that the Democrats love to croon. It’s what they believe the citizens of our great nation desire from their elected officials. They believe in the concept of “reaching across the aisle”. In reality, The media and the Democrats wish to impose upon them a Republican “reach around”. It’s a dance that the Democrats long to have and it is extended to the Republicans ONLY as long as Democrats get to lead. It’s their way or the highway. And the media will audibly vocalize the frustrations of the Democrats to enrage the public at large.
An excellent example of the media’s desire to bellyache about the inability of Republicans to “cooperate” with their views is Obamacare. Obamacare, AKA the A.C.A. (which was the technical acronym, now being touted due to the fully displayed failure of this progressive ideology in practice). A Washington Post leftwing stenographer wrote an opinion piece asking, “When will republicans begin to love Obamacare? The left continually wants our acceptance of their will, while we deny our principles. When will we “Heart” Obamacare? When will we love it and be happy with it? When we pull the plug, say our last goodbyes and put it to rest. We’ll fondly reminiscence about it when we take those trips down Obamacare memory lane. Remember the “Slut” & “Pajama Boy” ads? Those were great! Remember when the website wouldn’t work & it didn’t sign you up! Oops! LOL!! How about the prank where you suddenly realized your premiums DOUBLED and your deductibles sky rocketed! Oh, the look on their faces!!! Oh, Obamacare, how we “Heart” you and loathe you…RIP. Thank you, media and Democrats for boldfaced lying to us and sticking this into our system without proper vetting. Silly ole’ citizenry, Mr. Gruber is proud of you! He’s proud of the media and Democrats for manipulating everyone to pass a law that would’ve never made it through the process if it was viewed in all of its glory.
If the system as designed would’ve been allowed to work, we would’ve circumvented this debacle. The struggle to shove improper legislation as this on through would’ve been prevented from fully coming to fruition. What they fail to understand is that Republicans must stand on principle, even if it causes gridlock. Ultimately, that was the design of our government. The structural framework of our Constitution firmly displays the concept separation of powers. Having experienced many forms of governmental tyranny, the founders painstakingly fleshed out the concepts to create this new design. From the flow of the legislative process to the admittance of Presidential endorsements that are Congressionally approved, gridlock is purposely embedded. Take a gander into the legislative process. A proposal is issued for a bill that is then referred to the House Ways and Means Committee to ultimately land a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives. The bill is then swatted over to the Senate, where the Senate Finance Committee puts their greasy paws all over it. Then the Senate has to vote on it, take what it currently looks like after another manipulation, and submit it for the President’s approval. He could say, “YAY!” or “NAY!!” Congress gets it back and could override the President’s veto by a 2/3rd’s majority vote in each chamber. If this is supposed to be a seamless, quick, productive process you wouldn’t get that from just the cumbersome steps that I’ve just listed. And this was done with purposeful intentions. Nothing would dash across the finish line until fully vetted and scrutinized. This would result in legislation that is beneficial to the republic. They also only convened 4 months out of a year. The less a congress was in session, the less we’d flood the system with useless, detrimental legislation.
So, due to the fact that Republicans wish for free market principles, such as a free market solution to the Healthcare problem, they are painted as the failure of progress. For standing firmly on their principles, even if it results in the disruption of governmental operations, they are attacked. The media steps in and then becomes the 24/7 bullhorn for the Democrats. The public begins to buys into it after consistent repetition of talking points. Say something enough times the same way, it becomes “the truth”. Similar to the manner in which a group of individuals committing a crime must do to beat an accusation. But the actual vilification is then placed upon the Republicans for not playing along and selling out their principles. Without a well-educated citizenry, versed in the constitutional design of our freedom, we will continue to fall for these fabricated lies and continue to move further away from the founder’s creation.
PART 2: Unintended consequences. The ripple effect in the water that will become a churning, giant tsunami wave crashing on distant shores. The tremors building and rumbling into an eventual 9.5 Richter earthquake, resulting in the shock waves weeks thereafter. The argument with the spouse that leads to a small remark that you wish you could take back. You had “no idea” that would be taken that way! But it is interpreted in ways you’d never foreseen! The butterfly effect. Unintended consequences can be extremely detrimental to the individual with regard to Government intervention. Markets and personal liberties can be rattled, indirectly, by the unintended consequences of their actions. Many examples can be cited throughout history. One example in particular is one that is fresh in the news, as well as in our everyday lives.
Governmental intervention and its unintended consequences can be exemplified through the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. EVERYONE needs healthcare coverage, don’t they? What could go wrong with creating a national healthcare plan? You may already HAVE insurance. Why not help those that are unable to do so? Sounds fair, doesn’t it? And you LOVE your plan! That’s why you most likely spent an entire day fleshing out “your plan” in a mind numbing meeting. You spent hours with insurance representatives, agonizing over the options, to which you found the perfect, little combination of benefits that complimented you and your family. You wanted to keep “your plan”! And they ensured within the law itself that you COULD keep your plan…as long as it wasn’t adjusted! It was considered grandfathered, as long as no changes were made to your plan. Any sort of adjustment that did not comply with the affordable care act was canceled by law. Examples abound within the “News” cycles and stories. In Colorado, plans that have adjusted to the economic demands of the Affordable Healthcare Act are currently being discontinued. Maybe it was due to that fact they can’t handle the new economic strain? Maybe, they’ve moved to an economically viable solution to forge the business’s “going concern”, as they strive to meet new demands from the consequences of being compliant to the A.C.A?
There is an interesting, “perfect storm” that occurs when an existing plan adjusts its benefits to weather the new, excrement storm that looms over the horizon. It loses its “grandfathered status”. That plan is no longer under the definition of a “grandfathered plan”. It is also no longer under the definition of “your plan”. You lose “your plan”. A grandfathered plan is a health plan in force on March 23, 2010. It can continue to be an exempt plan if it follows certain requirements, to maintain the grandfathered status. Some of the requirements that would cause the loss of grandfathered status include: Eliminating benefits, increasing a participants’ percentage cost-sharing requirement, certain reductions in employer or employee organization contributions rates, annual benefit limits that are changed. A provision in the law states that when your plan did not comply with the requirements, that it was no longer grandfathered. Once canceled, you were required to be issued a written notice. This notice was to explain all of the reasons for the cancellation, along with the fact that you’ll need to procure another plan. In a perfect world, your ORIGINAL plan was grandfathered. The unintended consequences of government intervention at work. Market forces, due to this law, caused a situation that lead to almost every plan to be re-calibrated in order to cover the new cost and the new expenses. Being forced to cover people that already had conditions that would not allow them to receive insurance, which required paying TONS of additional medical expenses, caused plan adjustments to occur. And that’s when your pretty, little plan was “shocked to death” and you received a nice little “Dear John” letter from your provider in the mail. But government didn’t really consider those consequences, and to what extent those consequential results would eventually lead (Or DID they…that’s another topic, for another day). We now have to pay for the intervention of their “intentions”.
Ultimately, when the government intercedes, you get the ripples from the consequences of their actions. The butterfly effect from the flapping of their political “wings” leads to a national disaster that will cause years of strife and a “Trail of Tears”. A politician’s status of being “needed”, which in turn defines them as elite, means that they are throwing YOU the bone. They’ll be fine on their politically crafted, Cadillac Plans that you or I will never have the opportunity to enjoy. It is you and I that will be continually burned by the “Unintended Consequences” of their actions. Unless we realize the REAL roles that are to be restored. WE vote them into office. THEY are public servants that should engage in that thing we call “representation”. We need to demand a return to the definition of a Representative Republic…as “We, The People”.
Adrian Slade Show 