Senator Chuck Schumer made some people on the left cringe this week when he said that lawmakers were wrong in pushing and passing Obamacare when it was obvious the American people didn’t want it.
Millions of Tea Party activists told ya so. In fact, in 2010, when the law was signed, Tea Party activists sounded the alarm and mobilized ordinary citizens to get out and eject leftists from office.
If anything the Senator’s realization could have been pointed out in 2009 when ordinary Americans went to town hall meetings and let their feelings be known. It could have been pointed out during every twist and turn of the corrupt path the bill took in order to gain favor. It could have been pointed out in 2011 when the left lost the House. There are a thousand lost moments when this could have been pointed out by a member of leadership in the Senate who voted for the law.
Why the Senator chose now to tell us that Obamacare was a bad idea has something to do with a current agenda to be sure. But hearing the latest commentary by the Senator just brings to the forefront the same reason why Obamacare is a bad idea.
During a speech at the National Press Club, Senator Schumer said, “Ultimately, the public knows in its gut that a strong and active government is the only way to reverse the middle-class decline and help revive the American Dream.” He went on, saying, “People know in their hearts that when big, powerful, private-sector forces degrade their lifestyle, only government can protect them,” and then he .
Schumer called for Democrats to support education, “progressive taxes,” to put “domestic industries on a level playing field with their global competitors,” and advance labor unions to allow workers to “bargain for a greater share of their companies’ wealth.”
“The only way to achieve these ends is government,” Schumer said. “The private sector left on its own cannot.”
It is a rhetorical trick to refer to the ideology of vast expansion of government in the private sector as promotion of a, “strong and active,” government. If you argue against that terminology, you are for a weak and inactive, or useless government. A few steps away from that, and people tell you that you believe in no government, anarchy and are playing Russian roulette with the country.
So let’s accurately describe what the Senator is saying here: he is talking about more government power. And isn’t it convenient that he happens to hold heavy influence in that endeavor?
Another thing politicians like to do is tell the American people what they believe. It is notable in the Senator’s rhetoric, that he does not implore the public to dig deep down into themselves and define what they truly believe, he just tells us that we know he’s right.
But, do we?
Of the abuses inflicted upon the American society as a whole in the past decade, most have been caused by a government run amok. Most who lost jobs, lost them not because the boss hates to keep people on the payroll, but because they couldn’t afford it due to new government rules written into the tax code, extremist environmental regulation, or regulations created by sweeping laws including Obamacare. Does the Senator ask to lighten up on any of these job-killers? Of course not, because the left always demands more government to fix what government has broken.
Yet, contrary to the Senator’s suggestion, that if you are against more government power, then you are for an unfettered private sector, the fact is, the private sector has never been left on its own.
The last six years of leftward lurch has brought to light a strong argument. Are we to continue to put more power into the hands of politicians who refuse to listen to the wisdom of the American people, or do we throw a brick through Big Brother’s glaring monitor and take back our autonomy by limiting government?
This article first appeared at .
