Is Obamacare This Century's Equivalent of "Who Lost China?"

In 1947, President Harry Truman engineered the passage of an aid package to Greece and Turkey.  At the time, both countries feared Communist takeover.  He used it as a foundation of his famous Truman Doctrine, which simply promises aid to any country resisting Communist takeover.

The very next year, Chiang Kai Shek fled China for Taiwan, leaving the massive mainland portion in the hands of the bloody Communist Mao Tse Dong.  Although "losing China" did not lose Truman the 1948 election, it frightened Democratic presidents for a generation.  They knew the electorate saw them as soft on foreign policy so they endeavored to not lose again.  Kennedy and Johnson fought in Vietnam for American, but also Democratic Party credibility.  Losses of both in Vietnam convinced future Democrats, rightly or wrongly, that course was unwise.  Could the Obamacare disaster do the same to their Big Government ideals?

The health care law is called the Affordable Care Act.  Since October, Americans have found out how Orwellian that moniker is.  Premiums have skyrocketed; millions lost their plans altogether.  The government system, based mostly on a $634 million website, does not work.  It is also only about 60 percent completed.

You might say that the healthcare.gov site gave Americans a crash course in why it should not run a business.

Meanwhile, Obama's poll numbers sank.  One might expect a serious dip in job performance.  But for the first time, a majority of Americans find him both dishonest and incompetent.

The long term effect of this on American politics could be profound.  The "who lost China" effect made Democratic presidents more bellicose for the next two decades.  At least one pundit believes Obamacare could make Democrats very gun shy about pursuing massive overhauls on this level again.

The cumulative effect of the first two presidential administrations on the country could be a body blow to backers of aggressive government action in any sphere.  Many still see the Iraq War (which the United States actually won) as a breakdown and a failure.  Obamacare has crashed a major segment of the country's economy and thrown millions into suffering and turmoil.  Both of these add up to further popularize libertarian concepts of government's role.

Time will tell whether this cows the Democrats and leads to a long term revision of what Americans expect from government.  But in the short term, confidence in government in any sphere is extraordinarily low.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Conservative

November 2009's off year elections have kicked off what promises to be a fascinating and intense time of campaigning. These may be the most important congressional elections of our time because the result will in one way or another change our nation.

A fork in the road lies ahead. In one direction lies government control, muffled prosperity, and less freedom. The other points to the shrinking of government and the burdens it places upon all of us. The middle ground of the way it is now is no longer acceptable.

The Republican Party is struggling to catch up to the libertarian uprising created by Obama and Pelosi's plan to Eurosocialize America. Party officials reflect the past sentiments of the vast majority of party members in days past. I remember only a couple of years ago hearing a current GOP county chair saying that Republicans simply do not protest. We are the respectable party arguing with reason. Then came a political season driven by left wingers who want to impose massive changes that defy reason. Libertarian conservatives got frustrated and decided to fight the left with their own tried and true medicine of protest and mass action.

In some areas there is a gap between the "conservative" movement and the GOP organization. But what is conservatism? Libertarians want action on economic issues, but oppose social conservative positions on marriage and family and some traditional ideas on foreign policy. Social conservatives are wary of libertarianism. Traditional conservatives want a strong foreign policy and prosperous economy and are willing to give on a few principles to achieve that. All of these groups want the Republican Party to support their brand of conservatism and accuse it of selling out if they do not. Navigating through this ideological minefield is a difficult task for party officials. Sometimes they make good decisions, other times very poor ones (such as the NY 23 nominee.)

Conservatism is a vibrant and dynamic movement and each shade of the movement has a slightly different version of what they want America to be. It is important to remember that the differences between shades of conservatism are relatively much smaller than differences between almost any Republican and left wingers. Many independents and Democrats are closer to the general position of conservatives right now than their own party leaders.

That all being said, the most vibrant and energetic element in the freedom loving right is the libertarian conservative. Their calls for change, cut taxes and keep the government out of individuals' lives as much as possible, contrast powerfully with left wing policies that affect freedom of choice. By focusing on economic and personal freedoms, the GOP can endear itself to the libertarian movement and help take back America from those who want it to be Europe.