Posted on 07/27/2013 7:42:45 AM PDT by xzins
The effort to stop the further implementation of Obamacare that Utah’s principled limited government constitutional conservative Republican Senator Mike Lee got rolling is starting to gather steam at the grassroots, with conservative commentator and talk radio superstar Mark Levin, the Club for Growth, Heritage Action and Freedom Works all weighing-in to support of Lee’s effort.
Yet the Senate Republican leadership, especially Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have been using every behind the scenes tactic they can muster to spike the effort of conservatives to defund Obamacare.
This ain’t rocket science, all it takes, as Senator Lee observed, is for Republicans to vote NO.
"If Republicans in both houses simply refuse to vote for any continuing resolution that contains further funding for further enforcement of Obamacare, we can stop it. We can stop the individual mandate from going into effect," Lee told "Fox & Friends."
Lee’s key point is that withholding money from further enforcement and implementation of Obamacare and would not affect the portions of the law already in effect, including provisions on pre-existing conditions and children being able to stay on their parents' plans until age 26.
Lee’s goal – and it is one we heartily endorse – is to take-out the individual mandate.
"We're talking about the individual mandate, the exchanges," Lee said according to NewsMax. "That's what Americans are afraid of. That's what's causing premiums to skyrocket. And that's what we've got to stop through this effort of don't fund it."
"This movement is going to continue to build because the American people understand the president is not following the law," Lee said. "The American people shouldn't be required to fund it."
"We already knew that Obamacare was going to be unaffordable. Now we know it's going to be unfair as well because the president is rewriting it not just once, but twice, by telling us that he's not going to enforce the employer mandate, but leave individuals on the hook," as NewsMax reported Lee putting it.
What we don’t understand is with a broad coalition of Republican Senators behind the idea – from longtime Members like Chuck Grassley, to establishment leaders like John Thune, to “boat rocking” conservatives like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz – why hasn’t Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell signed on?
The reluctance of the Senate Republican leadership to draw a line in the sand and join conservatives like Lee, Paul and Cruz to stand against Obamacare is even more puzzling when one looks at the results of the latest CBS News poll on the issue.
The new CBS News poll found that more Americans than ever want Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) repealed.
According to the poll, 36 percent of Americans want Congress to expand or keep the health care law while 39 percent want Congress to repeal it - the highest percentage seen in CBS News polls. The poll also found a majority of Americans - 54 percent - disapprove of the health care law, 36 percent of Americans approve of it and 10 percent said they don't know about it.
The poll also found just 13 percent of Americans say the health care law will personally "help me" while 38 percent said they believe the law will personally "hurt me."
Setting aside that it is the right thing to do for the country, those numbers are running two and three to one in favor of Republicans gaining a political advantage by fighting implementation of Obamacare.
No one knows for sure why McConnell, Wisconsin’s Senator Ron Johnson and others are opposed to Lee’s effort, because, as usual McConnell and the Republican establishment are operating from the shadows, using behind the scenes political pressure instead of actually engaging in an open debate based on conservative principles about the merits of the strategy to defund Obamacare, rather than the usual Capitol Hill Republican say one thing, do another culture.
Any Republican, starting with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who chooses to fund Obamacare should be primaried.
Republicans, by voting to fund Obamacare, are putting people out of work, driving up healthcare costs, and hurting families. Republicans are not listening to voters who hate the law if they fund Obamacare.
With 54 percent of those polled telling CBS that they disapprove of Obamacare and 38 percent saying they expect to be personally hurt by the Obamacare law, the advertisements in those Republican primaries, as Erick Erickson said, write themselves.
In any event they need only get it through the House of Representatives to defund it.
As I understand it, the whole system will break down without funds. I especially hope that the 3/10 of $1 billion earmarked for "community organizations" would be cut off.
In other words, the two best things about a pile of crap are; you can stir in it, and you can throw it.
You don’t need to tell me how to be involved. I was born here 6 decades ago. My family has been here since well before the Civil War.
A politician can start out here like your best boyhood friend. They end up after years in DC your worst enemy.
I’ve spent years and years telling them over and over that they are on the road to hell - Newt was my congressman and didn’t listen. Chambliss finally gave it up and is gonna retire. Isakson has started to toe the line some, but I’m gonna primary him, too.
I have told my new congressman exactly and succinctly what I want, and if I don’t get it, I’ll support his next opponent. Fortunately, he’s not a ‘reformer’ in the context of immigration.
My goal is to work within the system just enough to rid us from Chambliss (completely, including his endorsee), Isakson and any state rep or my US Congressman if he votes for any immigration reform other than enforcing current law.
Beyond that, my hope is that McConnell gets his axe along with Boehner, and my working at the county-level as you suggest will not change that. My county is a healthy majority Republican endeavor.
One should at least offer the courtesy of waiting for a reply to one’s first post before rethinking and re-answering before anything has been received.
I agree with all that!
I also think the Rs should require a budget as a negotiating tool. ie "no CRs with 0care funding".
What we need is a population more concerned about health, fitness, nutrition and finding reasonably priced solutions to medical situations. If some people can't afford some kinds of medical care, I know this is cold, but they'll have to do without.
There's nothing "conservative" about a federal solution to a problem that isn't covered by the constitution.
I apologize. We are on the same page. Thanks.
Who is available to primary McConnell?
Lose owebama care and the Kentucky doughboy? Sounds like a two-fer to me.
“The puzzlement is the stark lack of logic that runs the lives of RINOs.”
Re-examine your premises. The gop wing of the uniparty is in it for themselves and their cronies. There’s your logic for you: what best feathers my nest and those of my cronies.
It is not logical for a mature individual to ruin the country for personal wealth.
Illogical
The problem is that millions of voters have been promised trillions of dollars of physician and hospital services with OPM, and the Members of Congress have neglected to collect one tenth of what the people have been promised.
Just look at Mike Lee. In his latest remarks on defunding, he promised to leave “all pre-existing conditions OK” and “keep your children on your policy until 26” intact. Of course, either of these things will destroy the existing structure anyway, so why is he bothering?
So, a crackup is coming, and, among other things, a lot of people will die for want of services they’ve been promised.
All that’s going on now is that various Republicans and Democrats are maneuvering to cast the blame on somebody, anybody, but themselves.
As long as Obama is in a position to pull everything down if the GOP succeeds in defunding the PPACA, they won’t do it.
The GOP is caught in a web of unconstitutional legislation and deficit spending, which is at least as much their doing as the Democrats. Obama, or whoever is running him, recognizes their predicament and wants to use it to destroy them.
I feel sorry for them. Their only way out is to stand up for principles they don’t believe in. Sucks to be them.
“So, conservatives believe that it is now or never.”
It’ll be never.
Both wings of the gop and ‘rat uniparty are firmly behind owebamacare. It’s a pure power play for them. Taking over the largest industry in the US, PLUS getting ahold of everyone’s personal medical data? That’s just too juicy of a prize for the uniparty to walk away from. Of course there will be the usual posturing and breast beating and such. And they’ll probably throw in a “nailbiting vote” for dramatic effect besides. But when the day is over, owebamacare will come into being.
The folks in Congress who can be called reliably conservative make up maybe 15-20% of the whole. On a good day. You need 2/3 to override a veto.
Great post, and though I’m a steadfast opponent of the gop/’rat uniparty, glad to see y’all are trying to shake it up.
But I have a challenge for you. Quit looking for freedom and liberty within the current political construct. It won’t be found there. Look for autonomy instead. Personal, religious, moral, and political autonomy.
“It is not logical for a mature individual to ruin the country for personal wealth.”
Sure it is. Both logical and EVIL. In their twisted little psyches, taking a wrecking ball to the republic is perfectly logical if not desirable for certain parts of the political leadership. If you were to believe that you will personally gain from the destruction and that you won’t be held to account for doing so, it does make some logical sense.
I didn’t say it was good. Quite the contrary, I think it’s evil as hell. But don’t make the mistake of ascribing benevolent motives to those who don’t actually have them.
Like Dubya once said, “You are either with us or against us. It’s up to McConnell.
If the Repubs can be falsely blamed for the shutdown then they could be falsely blamed for anything...and we lose our country.
It's time to stand up for the truth and let the chips fall where they may.
I think it’s illogical to ignore one’s promise to God to take care of the country as a duty and to then blow it off.
Hell exists whether we believe in it or not and it’s illogical to opt for eternity in Hell over money
in I note that in this battle Obama's ability to be to veto does not get him his funding, it merely raises the stakes.
I, of course, also agree with the sentiments that we are heading for crackup which was the predicate of my original post and I suppose the question of how conservatives and Republicans should comport themselves comes down to a question of honor.
I doubt the CR can be put through the house much less the Senate, nevertheless, the effort stakes out a claim of honor which can be cited when the shit hits the fan. However, there is always Nathan Bedford's second Maxim to consider:
Failed socialism does not lead to reform but to more socialism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.