Several years ago, we had a big argument in this town about a proposed light rail line that would connect the Mall of America to downtown Minneapolis by way of our airport. It wasn't free, so of course Republicans were against it, and they cried, in one voice--the one that's half plaint and half I-am-Sir-Oracle-and-when-I-ope-my-lips-let-no-dog-bark--"It's a boondoggle, no one will ride it!" Some consultants had abuse heaped upon them for offering up estimates of ridership levels that were "wildly optimistic," "pie-in-the-sky," "irresponsible." It got built anyway and it turned out that the consultants were wrong. Ridership levels soared beyond what they had predicted. The Republicans had to find new reasons to be opposed. And they did.
I offer up this instructive tale as a kind of gloss to the debate now raging about the Affordable Care Act. It seems to go almost unnoticed that the Republicans are exhibiting their familiar dexterity in argument. When "Obamacare" was being debated in the Congress, they said that if adopted it would be the greatest legislative disaster--"the worst bill"--in the history of the country. It got enacted anyway, and now they are in a state of high dudgeon over an under-performing website that prevents people from signing up to participate in The Worst Thing Ever.
It's hard to know what they want. Fifty million Americans have no health insurance. Many millions more have high-deductible, low-service policies that impose a lifetime limit on coverage at the same time they make preventive care unaffordable. A pre-existing condition? Forget about it. The real debacle is the as-is health care system in this country. It shows in the basic health statistics--fiftieth in infant mortality, fifty-first in life expectancy (both according to the CIA's World Factbook). You'd think that maybe the party that loves to lecture us all on the sanctity of life would think this is a problem. But, no, they are against reform in a comprehensive, generalized sort of way. It's as if the prospect of people getting decent health insurance really pisses them off.
What is with that? Does their social life consist of attending these benefits you always see publicized on community bulletin boards--the ones to help pay the medical expenses of So-and-So whose kid's been stricken with something scary and unpronounceable?
