(no subject)
As you may have heard, Democratic Congressmen coming home to face their constituents in "town hall" style meetings are finding an unpleasant surprise. Namely, that these constituents are furious with them. In particular, older people are protesting because Obamacare would, under the guise of "end of life quality choices," offer what amounts to involuntary or semi-voluntary euthanasia through the denial to the elderly of medical care which they could afford under the private plans that Obamacare wants to phase out.
Now, economics can be a subtle and complicated discipline, but old people aren't stupid (quite the contrary: they've been Darwinnowed down to the most intelligent of their age cohorts by many decades of life). They know that, essentially, Obama is planning to let all but the richest and most influential of them DIE to save money, and they don't like it. So they're rebelling against America's own Dear Leader.
The most hopeful things I've seen since Obama's election have been this popular revolt against Obama (especially its senior-led wing) and the way in which the Congressional Democrats are trying to ignore it.
BIG mistake on their part. Seniors are a big element of the electorate, they tend to be the wealthiest, highest-status, best-connected and most self-confident element of the electorate, and in addition the Boomers are about to become senior citizens. Even the AARP's support for the Democrats can't save their political masters if they do this, becuase if the AARP persists it will simply lose the support of its own members.
Cruel as it sounds, I am really encouraged by the Democratic response of importing union thugs to the "town hall" meetings. I don't think it will take too many battered grandparents to elevate the seniors' attitudes to white-hot fury at their Democratic Congressmen. And with the Internet, there is no way that such events will be kept secret even if the major media manage to keep a solid front of silence on the incidents (which they can't, really, given that Fox has joined the game).
This has all the makings of an electoral disaster for the Democrats in 2010, leaving Obama an especially whiny lame duck in the last two years of his term, and paving the way for a Republican presidential landslide in 2012. This is on a scale where there is no way that Obama or the Democrats can cheat their way out of it, short of election fraud so blatanty widespread that it would be completely obvious to all observers, which would probably trigger other checks and balances against the Democrats.
In short, 2010 and 2012 are going to be good years for the Republican Party -- and for our nation.
Now, economics can be a subtle and complicated discipline, but old people aren't stupid (quite the contrary: they've been Darwinnowed down to the most intelligent of their age cohorts by many decades of life). They know that, essentially, Obama is planning to let all but the richest and most influential of them DIE to save money, and they don't like it. So they're rebelling against America's own Dear Leader.
The most hopeful things I've seen since Obama's election have been this popular revolt against Obama (especially its senior-led wing) and the way in which the Congressional Democrats are trying to ignore it.
BIG mistake on their part. Seniors are a big element of the electorate, they tend to be the wealthiest, highest-status, best-connected and most self-confident element of the electorate, and in addition the Boomers are about to become senior citizens. Even the AARP's support for the Democrats can't save their political masters if they do this, becuase if the AARP persists it will simply lose the support of its own members.
Cruel as it sounds, I am really encouraged by the Democratic response of importing union thugs to the "town hall" meetings. I don't think it will take too many battered grandparents to elevate the seniors' attitudes to white-hot fury at their Democratic Congressmen. And with the Internet, there is no way that such events will be kept secret even if the major media manage to keep a solid front of silence on the incidents (which they can't, really, given that Fox has joined the game).
This has all the makings of an electoral disaster for the Democrats in 2010, leaving Obama an especially whiny lame duck in the last two years of his term, and paving the way for a Republican presidential landslide in 2012. This is on a scale where there is no way that Obama or the Democrats can cheat their way out of it, short of election fraud so blatanty widespread that it would be completely obvious to all observers, which would probably trigger other checks and balances against the Democrats.
In short, 2010 and 2012 are going to be good years for the Republican Party -- and for our nation.