Machiavelli; The Patron Saint of Health Reform Democrats

As we enter the final days of the epic effort to change America’s health care industry, we are witnessing first hand a low point in American politics. On the campaign trail President Obama promised a new era of transparency. We were told that change was needed and health care reform would occur in open door legislative sessions that the whole world would see, via C-Span no less.

What the Democrats promised us and what they have given us are worlds apart. Instead of a transparent health reform legislative process, the Democrats have pushed this legislation through in a secretive closed door manner which is unprecedented in America’s history. They have completely by passed the time honored legislative committee reconciliation process, opting instead for back room closed door deal making where political payoffs were extracted as the price for getting previously principled Democratic legislators to support this unpopular legislation. They even resorted to scheduling key health reform legislative votes on Christmas Eve to reduce scrutiny by we, the people. In so doing, they have shown us the true identity of the Grinch who stole Christmas.

In their “do anything to pass a law” strategy, they have even jettisoned planks near and dear to key democratic constituents like the elderly and unions. To top it off, they have brazenly marched forward with this health reform law undeterred by the fact that a large majority of Americans are very opposed to this type of health reform legislation.

The Democrats determined efforts to push through this health care takeover are hardly profiles in courage. Far from it. Instead, what we are seeing is a political modus operandi which is quite Machiavellian, smacking of Chicago-style politics. The governing strategy of the Democratic leadership has revealed a willingness to use any means necessary to achieve the end goal of a federal takeover of health care.
The first desperate means the Democrats employed was to put the financial burden of health care reform squarely on the backs of seniors. To finance this very expensive takeover of health care, the Democrats proposed draconian cuts to Medicare. While it remains to be seen how deep the Medicare cuts will be, it is close to a foregone conclusion that seniors will bear the brunt of the pain of health care reform. The fact that Democrats would so quickly “throw Momma off the train” to pay for health care reform and alienate the reliably democratic senior voting block speaks volumes about their insatiable appetite to expand their power over the health care industry which represents 16% of the nations GNP. First the banks, then the auto industry and now health care.

While seniors proved to be the low man on the totem pole that the Democrats would climb to take over health care, next in the pecking order to fall was the government insurance option. Giving up the government insurance option has proven to be a bitter pill for many Democrats as the government option is a short hop, skip and a jump away from the Democratic statists end goal of a single payer health insurance system.

However, Democrats have realized that half a loaf is better than none at all and it looks like they will tearfully sacrifice the government insurance option in exchange for a federal law requirement that all Americans buy insurance from the very same insurance industry that Democrats so publically demonized in late 2010. The fact that the IRS will be in charge of enforcing the federal mandate requiring all Americans to buy insurance may make this concession easier for many Democrats to swallow.

The next voting block the Democrats seem to be willing to jettison to reach health care mecca are the labor unions. The Democrats proposed tax on Cadillac health insurance plans shows that they are willing to anger the loyally democratic union vote. However, getting past this rung on the political constituency totem pole is proving to be a slippery exercise and the union bosses are pushing back. More likely than not, Democratic leaders will revert to recent habit and retreat to back rooms and work out a compromise that reduces the negative impact of the Cadillac tax on unions.

Finally, at the top of the totem pole we have the most loyal of all Democratic voting blocks; the supporters of a women’s decision to kill her unborn child. The House and Senate versions of the health care legislation are far apart on this issue with the House’s Stupak amendment containing more substantial restrictions on federal funding of abortion than the Senate version does.

It remains to be seen whether Democrats leaders will have the temerity to arm twist their Democratic and largely pro-abortion members into voting for health legislation which contains meaningful restrictions on federal funding of abortions. If they do this, it will reveal a willingness to sacrifice a core value which is so fundamental to the modern Democratic Party - the power to abort an unborn child – that voting for such abortion restrictions must infuriate many of the rank and file Democrats in the House and Senate. Conversely, having such Stupak type abortion restrictions would be an encouraging sign to the Catholic community even though there are other aspects of the health legislation that are troubling.

If the Democrats ultimately do pass health reform legislation containing meaningful, albeit incomplete, abortion funding restrictions it will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the one and only sacrosanct core belief of current Democrat leaders is that power trumps ideology. Liberal Democratic allegiances to seniors, unions, abortion supporters and to the desire for a government insurance option will have sacrificed to the overriding objective of increasing federal power over the health insurance industry.

If by crafty use of the carrot and stick, Democrat leaders are really able to cajole their members to finally pass health care legislation containing significant abortion funding restrictions and get it to the President’s desk for signature, it will be a momentous occasion for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it will be the first time in recent history that major landmark legislation will have been passed against the wishes of a large majority of American voters. Additionally, the “pass a law at whatever cost” process this legislation took, bereft of transparency and replete with backroom vote buying, nefarious deal making and other legislative shenanigans, represents a new low in the annals of American lawmaking. It’s enough to make Machiavelli sit up, take notice and snicker in admiration.

However, more significant than either the unpopularity of this law or the reprehensible legislative journey it has taken is the troubling path America will have embarked on towards a larger more intrusive nanny-style federal government. The only question is whether by the time the mid-term elections come around in late 2010 it will be too late for America to reverse course and once again head in the direction that made America great. The leaders on the left side of the aisle are doubling up and betting the House (and maybe the Senate too!) that it will be too late for a course correction and that America will be irreparably slouching towards socialism.

By Mark Henry