"I know that all revolutions must have ideologies to spur them on. That in the heat of conflict these ideologies tend to be smelted into rigid dogmas claiming exclusive possession of truth, and the keys to paradise, is tragic. Dogma is the enemy of human freedom."
Saul Alinsky
Rules for Radicals
If still alive, Saul Alinsky, the guru of America's left, would easily be able to predict the upcoming 2014 nightmare for the Democratic Party. The personal inability of the President to change course with respect to Obamacare combined with the possibility that there is no longer any easy or reasonable short term fix for this poorly considered legislation should result in a continuing daily media ration of verifiable healthcare nightmares across the country. Harry Reid's decision to trade 215 years of Senate filibuster tradition for a few lifelong appointments to the Federal Court should also be regarded as only icing on the Obamacare nightmare cake.
If the Republicans can avoid nominating 'three headed' candidates, not always a given, the historical comparison could be of the proportions of the Watergate-dominated congressional elections of 1974. In that election, the Republicans lost 49 seats in the House of Representatives and 3 seats in the United States Senate because of a discredited president. Déjà vu all over again.
Obamacare should be the equivalent of water torture or water boarding for Democrats in 2014. There will be so many tragic and on-going media stories throughout 2014. Regardless of whether and when sign-ups actually begin to take place on the website, the 2014 media stories are already in place. From the media side, these stories will come with the benefit that they are very inexpensive to report. Through real life tragedy, the media will deliver daily stories that will demonstrate the reality of Obamacare:
· The general public will fully realize that the basic economics of Obamacare are to provide free and subsidized health insurance to many previously insured and uninsured individuals while essentially requiring everyone one else to pay that bill through higher premiums.
· The thought of a presidentially promised $2,500 decrease in annual premiums will have been demonstrably proven to be a fabrication. By Election Day, owners of new insurance policies will have made eleven separate higher monthly payments for their health insurance.
· The public will fully realize that they will not be able to keep the doctor they had in 2013 or will lose their doctor after 2014. Stories of lost doctors and ensuing death are inevitable.
· Individuals who no longer have health insurance because of the new higher health insurance premiums will have uninsured medical events. Some unfortunate individuals will initially be denied care or will delay care until their illnesses are beyond treatment. Some unfortunate individuals will be going through foreclosure of their residences because of unpaid medical costs.
· Individuals who have bronze plans under Obamacare will not have sufficient funds to seek treatment because of $5000 individual or much greater family deductibles.
· Previously free health clinics will close as the result of reduced individual contributions from contributors who believe Obamacare made these donor supported health clinics unnecessary.
· Individuals and families will find that existing superior doctors and hospitals will not be included in their Obamacare related health plans.
· Many businesses will be forced to either abandon their healthcare plans, trim hours to under thirty or dramatically increase the employees' share of healthcare costs through higher co-pays, higher cash participation monthly or higher deductibles as these businesses renew their insurance contracts.
These public interest stories will be impossible for the main street media to ignore.
As to Harry Reid, the Senate's forthcoming confirmation of judges that previously would not have been offered up for confirmation because of the filibuster rules is a God-send for Republicans running for the United States Senate. These new judges and their philosophies will not be defendable in many Senate races.
Finally, the decision to postpone the enrollment periods for Obamacare in 2014 is also a God-send to Republicans. No matter how bad the actual increases will be, they will be less than the projected increases estimated by Republican candidates. What will Democrats say in response to a Republican estimate of a 60 percent increase? "Gosh that is not true, I estimate the increase will only be 40 percent!"
This will all be water torture for Democrats during 2014, a year of congressional elections.
The upcoming personal tragedies that will be the result of Obamacare are emblematic of a Democratic Party choosing to pursue legislation through a process which ignored the very thought of transparency or an honest discussion of whether the promises made would ultimately match up with realistically expected results. The inability to have deferred the Obamacare nightmare until it was too late to fix is also sadly emblematic of an incompetent president and a disoriented/incompetent administration. The voters will not be placated by hyperbole or a silly blame game strategy. There will have been far too many tragic stories covered in the media long before the November elections.
But, beware the 'three headed' candidate offsetting all of the serious issues of competency on the Democratic side.