STRATEGY TO DESTROY OBAMACARE

In politics as in sports, there is a fundamental difference between a fight over policy verses a fight to win. The objective of little league sports is to teach children skills, give them exercise, and how to be good sports. Along with the admirable things about playing games is learning the simple fact of life, some are better at these things than others are. The problem is in how we evaluate the results. A little league team that  always wins is  the champion; however, is the best coach the one that tells his team that to win is not only the most important thing but is the only thing?  A reasonable argument is that this is the right thing for a coach to do because it is how it is going to be through out life. The problem arises when winning becomes so important that unfairness, dishonesty, and downright cheating and lying become acceptable.

In modern politics, where winning or losing has serious consequences in people lives, this approach has become the norm.  In respect to the Affordable Care Act, the democrats have formed the policy that aimed at seeing that all Americans have affordable health care. Republicans as a political party see this as a form of Socialism, which they seem to hate even in light of the long tried and failed free enterprise health system. To win the argument they do not focus on fixing small problems with the policy but try to destroy the entire policy. The Democratic Party sizes on this approach by accusing the Republicans of not wanting people to have health care when the truth is that they do not want the government involved, which is different policy. Such a blanket policy indictment implies individual Republicans are heartless, which is not true, but because it is so broad, it has little effect on public opinion. This is a common Democratic Party mistake.

In contrast, Republican political operatives take a lynch mob attitude. They focus on a narrow problem in the entire policy and speak in terms of that mistake in such dire terms that people come to believe the mistake will lead to “the destruction of America”. The lynch mob analogy comes in to play because it is irrelevant if the mistake is true or not just as it is irrelevant if the lynch mob hangs and innocent person. The pundits whip the mob to frenzy by concentrating money on TV talking heads and talk radio hosts center repeatedly on the one theme; psychologist have proven beyond reasonable doubt that if you tell the same lie often enough it becomes the true.  After the victim is dead, one can go back and point out his or her innocence but it is too late.

Like on the little league baseball diamond, winning in Washington D.C. has become so important that how you win does not matter. I can cite Karl Rove, as an example of a political pundit who has perfected this approach. His long career has proved that he is right; do not waste time talking about your candidate but work to destroy an opponent by focusing on berating is strong points until you have increased his or her negatives above the positives. That is how you can elect a real loser but also how you can advance a failed policy such as the free enterprise system in health care.  The people in North Carolina elected McCrory and the people in Wisconsin elected Scott Walker and they are about to elect Chris Christie in New Jersey. As I keep saying, like a lynch mob, once you cast your vote, you cannot correct your mistake, in addition, you might even deny you made a mistake —but you did. If the Republican strategy works, the same may be true of the ACA as it is with the governors: you will be stuck with bad government for a long, long time.  

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