A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.

22 June 2017 — 2024 mdt

Trump will sign a healthcare repeal bill that combines
the worst of the GOP’s House and Senate bills

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell released his party’s Affordable Healthcare Act repeal bill today. I some ways it’s worse that the bill the House passed a few weeks ago. Both bills amount to a whopping tax cut for the rich financed by a whopping health care cut for the poor. It’s Reverse Robin Hood on steroids.

Do not suppose that “moderate” Republicans will make the bill less mean, or keep it from passing in the Senate. There are no moderates in the Republican party. Those who sometimes sound moderate compared to their shrilly ideological colleagues always cave-in to the reactionary right when the vote is taken.

The Senate will pass McConnell’s bill. The conference committee will combine the worst of each chamber’s bill. The result will be passed and signed into law by President Trump.

The Democratic Party is powerless to stop this evil, both now and probably in the foreseeable future. Democrats in the Senate may slow the bill’s passage, but they lack the votes to stop it. Thanks to identity politics, the party no longer can win Presidential and statewide elections, or district elections outside of urban areas. It has condemned itself to what may be a permanent minority status.

If you’re poor, or belong to the middle class, your life depends on your not getting sick. Do not expect help from your fellow Americans. They’re sick and tired of your weaknesses, of your feckless expectation that the government, that the New Deal and Great Society, will rescue you from the troubles you’ve brought upon yourself. They’re freeing you to stand on your own two feet, which they’re convinced God intended.

If you do become ill and survive, the cost of surviving will be a medical bankruptcy. You must now take personal responsibility for your health: exercise, eat your vegetables, take your vitamins, and if you’re religious, pray that you’ll not fall victim to accident, your genes, hostile microbes, or the infirmities of advancing age.

Don’t ask Heaven for help. When Hillary lost the election, she gave the deed to the pearly gates to Donald. The Republicans own Heaven because the Democrats have gone to Hell.