On Friday, 3-24-2017, the GOP leadership pulled the TrumpCare, or is it RyanCare, bill from the House docket. It is officially called the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and was meant to repeal and replace ObamaCare, actually titled the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This has been a main theme of the Republican Party since the ACA was first passed in 2010. It was also a major plank in Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Still, the Dealmaker-in-Chief and Speaker Ryan could not muster enough votes in a Republican majority House to pass their bill.
The GOP House has been voting to repeal the ACA since they took control in 2011. It seemed that they had a vote almost every week, well over 50 times. Because there was a Democratic president and/or a Democratic-controlled Senate, the votes were just meaningless political grandstanding and a big waste of time and money. With the elections of 2016, the GOP took control of the White House and both Houses of Congress. They were salivating over their chance to finally repeal Obamacare which was obviously the worst piece of legislation ever fostered on the US populace. They would also replace it with the best, most affordable, healthcare plan ever conceived by mankind. That would fulfill their promise to the electorate.
A funny thing happened on the way to the vote. It seems the bill that they have had seven years to craft was neither more affordable or better than Obamacare. As many as 14 million people would lose coverage almost immediately and over 24 million in a few years. Premiums for less coverage would be higher than the current plan. Moderate Republicans in Congress and GOP governors didn't like those numbers. Far right conservative Republicans, the Freedom Caucus, thought TrumpCare was still too generous. They mostly just want to repeal the ACA and let the insurance companies and free markets decide our healthcare. If you are poor and sick, tough shit. If you have a pre-existing condition, why did you let that happen? If you have a disease that requires lifetime care and medication, death is a cheaper and more patriotic alternative.
So, after seven years to forge a replacement plan, the GOP failed. They crafted a bill that no one liked, a truly amazing accomplishment. Trump never came up with any kind of a plan even after his hyperbolic promises on the campaign trail. He left the crafting of the AHCA to Paul Ryan. That means Trump will tell us all that it wasn't his fault, he is off the hook. If he had written a health care bill it would have been tremendous, great, fabulous, beautiful, the best ever.
Even the great Donald Trump, the greatest negotiator the world has ever seen, couldn't persuade enough members of his own party to vote for TrumpCare. The author of The Art of the Deal couldn't come through on his first legislative test. Trump even said that House members who didn't vote for TrumpCare would face re-election problems. I hope he is right about that. The GOP, Trump, and Ryan have been wounded by this fiasco.
Who knew health care was so complicated? Are you tired of winning yet? Is it sinking in that Trump and his administration are not ready for prime time? Is America great again?
What now? Be sure to watch the Trump and GOP spin as they try to portray this major failure as a victory.
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I often hear on TV news, panel and political shows when a Republican states that they are the party of Lincoln. The party that freed the slaves when Democrats wanted to keep them enslaved.
I say BS. While the 1860 Republican party, a new group, was mostly abolitionist in platform, they were not as anti-slavery as some would want us to remember. Even Lincoln was hesitant to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. He was willing to free the slaves, but not give them equal status as human beings and citizens.
I digress. From the time of the Civil War until the 1960's, about a century, the Democrats ruled the South. That was mostly an anti-Republican reaction to Lincoln freeing the slaves and the Reconstruction that followed the war. The grudge lasted a long time.
Those Democrats and Republicans of 1860 are nothing like the Democrats and Republicans of today. Up until recently, both parties had diverse membership. There were liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats. There were also moderates in both camps. That began to change in the 60's with Goldwater and came to fruition with Reagan in 1980. By then the Republicans were mostly on the right and Democrats were mostly on the left.
Even as the parties began to become more polarized there was still some sorting out to do. Despite the Lincoln/Republican feelings, southern Democrats began to defect from the party. They more identified with the conservative policies of the Republicans. Within a generation or so, the white south went from 99% Democratic to majority Republican. Check it out, many prominent southern Republicans over 50 years old were Democrats a few years ago.
The parties have almost completely flipped. Because of that, I find it disingenuous for current Republicans to say they are the party of Lincoln so therefore can not be racist or discriminatory. After all, Lincoln freed the slaves. Yes. Lincoln did but I wonder how many current Republicans would if they had that choice.?
Roosevelt, the second one (FDR), and Johnson, the second one (LBJ) did more for civil rights than any Republican president. Truman, another Democrat, integrated the military.
Neither party can take credit for stuff that happened 150 years ago. They have both morphed multiple times. Judge each on their platforms and voting records for the past few years.
Republicans in South Carolina fought to keep the Confederate flag at the state capitol. Not very Lincoln like. Both because African-Americans identify that flag as a symbol of slavery and because Lincoln wanted to heal the fractured Union. One nation, one flag.
It's OK for each major party to have their platforms and ideals. It is not OK to conjure up party ideals of the distant past to camouflage the current platform. Especially when they are diametrically opposed principals. The current Republicans are more like Reagan, Bush and Bush than Lincoln. The current Democrats are more like Clinton, Obama and Clinton than the 1860 party. And of course, Trump is like no one.
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