PrintJuly 16, 2009
Liberalism in a Hurry
As Obama's poll numbers have declined, the Democrats' push to enact their agenda, especially cap and trade and nationalized health care, has become increasingly frenzied. This is no accident. They are laboring under a delusion.
As Thomas Sowell said:
The grand delusion of contemporary liberals is that they have both the right and the ability to move their fellow creatures around like blocks of wood -- and that the end results will be no different than if people had voluntarily chosen the same actions.
By now, many Democrats must know, and even the most obtuse among them must suspect, public opinion is turning, and in some cases, already has turned, against them. (See, e.g., here, here, here, here, here and here.) Thus the rush and Obama's deadline to pass nationalized health care by August.
Congressional Democrat leaders realize that if they recess before passing the bill, by the time they get back the public will have turned sufficiently against the bill as to leave no doubt: those members who vote for the bill will be voting against the will of the people. And it's entirely possible that negative public opinion will have made passage of the bill impossible.
Clearly, in their minds, it's now or never. In a more reasonable milieu, an undertaking as massive as reforming healthcare would be the subject of months, if not years, of debate, but Democrats are in no mood to be reasonable. As their having already passed two major pieces of legislation, Obama's stimulus package and climate change, without even reading them demonstrates, time is of the essence for Democrats. Debate and circumspection are not.
Which brings us back to Sowell's statement, for in viewing the Democrats' rush to pass their agenda, it is important to understand that, though Democrats certainly care about public opinion, they care about it not as a reflection of what we the people think, but its utility to their agenda.
The Democrats are hell-bent to ram through their healthcare plan, the people's opinion be damned. They intend to do so in their firm belief that once national healthcare has become law and the American people have been forced against their will to live with the results, we will thank them.
