Health-care reform: the new abortion?
What to make of the new House Republican majority's threat to repeal health-care reform? Repeal will get nowhere, and they know it -- Senate Democrats and Obama's veto pen will see to that.
I think it's an assertion of tribal identity, a feel-good vote for the far-right base. For years, abortion served Republicans in that role -- they could vote to ban it in this or that state, knowing that Roe v Wade would prevent prohibition from taking effect. Thus they won brownie points with their own base, without having to suffer the electoral consequences of actually taking a vital right away from women.
In the same way, a Republican vote to repeal HCR will solidify teabagger support -- without the political risk of actually taking away benefits from the broader mass of voters, since repeal can't actually take effect.
I think it's an assertion of tribal identity, a feel-good vote for the far-right base. For years, abortion served Republicans in that role -- they could vote to ban it in this or that state, knowing that Roe v Wade would prevent prohibition from taking effect. Thus they won brownie points with their own base, without having to suffer the electoral consequences of actually taking a vital right away from women.
In the same way, a Republican vote to repeal HCR will solidify teabagger support -- without the political risk of actually taking away benefits from the broader mass of voters, since repeal can't actually take effect.
posted by Infidel753 at 3:05 AM
6 Comments:
Why not repeal their own tax payer funded health care first. After they do that they can look at ours.
Good point in that. Perhap's the title of the posting would have been more fitting with the start of the 2nd sentence in the 2nd paragraph "For Year's" :)
I'm not really sure how people get so exercised about that pitifully inadequate health care reform.
If it were really so pitifully inadequate, the Republicans (tools of the insurance companies) wouldn't have been so hysterically opposed to it, and wouldn't be so determined now to try to sabotage it. The very fact that they are shows that it represents a real threat to the insurance companies' ability to gouge and abuse people.
I have tried to explain, to deaf ears, to my conservative relatives that the abortion issue exists to get them to vote conservative. I tried to point out that, with decades of Republican majorities in the White House AND Congress, didn't they ever become suspicious WHY abortion has never been made illegal?
Oh, they say, the EVIL Democrats thwart them at every turn. Never mind that Republicans are loathe to have millions of unwanted children overwhelm the social service and prison systems.
Simple minds run on simple answers, so they continue to vote Republican.. and against their own self interests.
Actually I think most Republican politicians really do want to ban abortion (and repeal HCR), and would have done the former by now if Roe v Wade didn't prevent it. But since they can't, they're not above using the issue for grandstanding to the base.
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