July 23, 2014
It’s understandable that conservatives would like to say that their arguments are based on deeply held convictions, as opposed to crass self interest, but it’s difficult to understand why liberals feel the need to help them make this argument. Jonathan Cohn is the guilty party today. In his Q.E.D. section in the New Republic, a segment discussing the appellate court ruling on Obamacare tells readers:
“But the motives of Republican leaders, like the motives of the individuals who thought up these lawsuits, are no mystery. As I noted yesterday , they simply don’t believe in universal health care. They don’t believe it’s the job of government to make sure every person can pay for medical care without going bankrupt.”
Let’s try an alternative. Suppose they don’t have deep convictions about universal health care insurance, but do have deep convictions about money leaving the pockets of rich people. Of course taxes were raised on the rich to cover part of the cost of subsidies in the exchanges.
Suppose also they like a cheap docile labor force. The type that fears unemployment and also needs a full-time job just to get health care insurance. (This makes it easier to get good help.)
In this respect it is worth noting that the number of people working part-time by choice has increased by 800,000 over the last year. This is consistent with a story where people who don’t need to work full-time to get health care insurance will work less. This is great news for workers and bad news for “it’s hard to get good help” crowd.
If my suppositions are true then the Republican leaders would hate Obamacare even if they never gave a thought to universal health care and the government’s obligations to individuals. It’s a question of taking money from rich people, end of story.
Okay, neither Jonathan nor I know the inner motives of Republican leaders which is probably why it’s best to avoid making assertions about them, but I see no reason to believe that his explanation is more plausible than mine.
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