I know that I have Democratic friends that read my blog, so let me be as clear as possible. I do not think that Obama is America’s Messiah nor the antichrist. I don’t think that he is secretly filling in footnotes of his healthcare bill in order to kill the unsuspecting elderly. However, I will have to say that all evidence seems to demonstrate a hubris that is unprecedented and unnerving. For example, when Obama states that we should “move past” the debates about abortion, all indications seems to suggest he means that those who oppose abortion have spoken long enough and now it is time to get on with the Democratic platform on the issue. However, nothing has demonstrated the elitist attitudes of the Dems like the banter surrounding healthcare. Realclearpolitics provided a great post concerning the present disposition of the Dems and healthcare “reform” (a term that always seems to assume something positive). Here is an excerpt.
Arrogance is the vice of victors — in this case those who took over the White House last year and their puffed up congressional majority.
You have to be arrogant indeed to insist that, never mind polls showing the great majority of Americans to be satisfied with their own health insurance, we need a new system. Never mind either some daunting forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office asking, essentially, where the money is coming from. Never mind solid indications that taxes must rise to pay for the new system we’re bidden to embrace. Never mind that a recession is on. Never mind anything you hear from “the Right.” Trust us. We know what’s best.
The arrogance of the present Democratic majority is unnerving given the fact that they, as usual, seek to immediately vilify those who disagree with them. If you don’t agree with homosexuality, you are “intolerant” (an odd expression given that the term “tolerance” naturally assumes disagreement). According to the ever outspoken speaker of the house, those who oppose the present attempt at reform are “unamerican.” This behavior is all unsettling because it has the subtle (or maybe not so subtle) feel of “we are in power – you are all idiots – stay quiet and let us work.” I am sure that no one, with the possible exception of Pelosi, would actually say or even think this. However, it is hard to tell. Again, RCP inquires about definition for Pelosi’s “unamerican” terminology.
. . . like drowning out the honest doubts of House members willing enough to reform health care but not at any cost? The Democratic offensive against doubters and worriers and people who just want to get a huge thing done right wrecked all possibility of a fruitful debate. It became Nancy’s way or the highway, and don’t waste the Speaker’s time loading the car.
I cannot help but reflect on the soon release of Taking Woodstock and the rich protest history that defines the Democratic party as much as anyone in modern American political history and wonder when it became taboo to be the voice of opposition. The recent activity of the Democratic party threatens to do more than redefine things like healthcare, democracy, and “American.” Distant from the “we are for the little guy” rhetoric coming from the left side of the aisle, under this new and “confident” (?) party there seems to be an ever decreasing idea of personal freedom,particularly with regard to dissent. I don’t know that there could be anything more un-American.
Pray for President Obama and his majority that they would find wisdom in the noisy landscape of power.
Read the whole thing here.
