Posted by
Patrick Henry on Monday, March 01, 2010 5:45:59 PM
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, on a nationally televised Sunday talk
show that Democrats should vote for the healthcare reform bill now before congress "even
if it costs them their jobs." Quite aside from the pompous Pelosi's willingness to play fast
and loose with other people's jobs, is the deeper implication of what she is saying.
Why would voting for the current healthcare bill cost legislators their jobs if that bill is
what their constituents want? But Pelosi's comment seems to indicate her inkling that it
isn't, and that the consequent voter backlash might well end up unseating some of her
colleagues. So what she is really saying is, "Vote for this bill even when you know those
who elected you don't want you to, and then let the chips fall where they may."
The reason why this is one of the most important statements by an elected official in the
long and acrimonius debate over the Democrats' version of healthcare reform is because it
cuts straight through to the arrogance at the rotten core of the Democratic left. Pelosi has
seemingly renounced the constitutional principle of electoral surrogacy, the notion that
an elected official has the duty to represent the wishes of his or her electorate. It shows
the audacious readiness of Democrats to substitute their own wisdom for the will of the
people, and it is now clearly unmasked for all to see.
To this outrage, she added the esoteric argument that "a bill doesn't need bipartisan votes
to be bipartisan." That sounds like arguing that black can be gray even without adding any
white. How is the bill bipartisan if Republican voters and legislators have repudiated it,
which they have? And how can it be bipartisan when, according to polls, it is drving
Independents to reject the president's agenda in droves?
Now, she argues, it's time for the House to pass the Senat bill so there can be an up or
down vote in the Senate, meaning that the Senate will set aside normal rules and pass a
government takeover of healthcare with just fifty-one votes using a parliamentary trick
called reconciliation. She wants a food fight when her side has all the food. Given the
corruption and graft that have brought the legislation this far, why should we be surprised.
You rarely get past the biggest bully on the block by reasoning with him. In the end,
you usually have to give him a bloody nose. Pelosi and her ilk have bullied Americans
long enough. In November it's our turn. I hope she has a lot of cotton.