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Near the piece's conclusion, Ryan points out accurately:
Yet this [legislative health care reform] process -- including its embarrassing conclusion -- demonstrates that the debate has never been about health-care policy but, instead, paternalistic ideology.
He's partly right -- but it's also about much more, especially Democrats' efforts to lock in a permanent, long-term political advantage for themselves. Note David Axelrod's highly revealing comments yesterday:
So [once ObamaCare has passed], if the Republican party wants to go out and say to that child, who now has insurance or say to that small business that will get tax credits this year if [President Obama] signs the bill to help their employees get health care, if [Republicans] want to say to them, 'You know what, we're actually going to take that away from you, we don't think that's such a good idea' -- I say let's have that fight.
Axelrod's arguing that, as soon as the bill passes, Democrats can just frame every issue with their traditional trope: The evil Republicans want to take something away from you. In fairness to them, one can see how appealing the political vision might be to many Democrats; it's a simple way to try to maintain long-term dominance. After all, the demagoguing has pretty well worked with every Big Government program except welfare, hasn't it?
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But before Democrats get too giddy about Axelrod's argument, they might want to check out Hugh Hewitt's analysis: If they pass this monstrosity, every problem with it, every bit of unhappiness with it will be attributed to Democrats for years to come. And rightly so.
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