The battle is on within the extreme right wing of the Republican Party to defund “ObamaCare” in the upcoming budget battles, or shut down the government.
Leading the charge are the Tea Party Republicans in the House of Representatives, and 12 Senators, including Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Mike Lee.
A majority of Senate Republicans are loathe to do what the Tea Party wants, figuring it will cause electoral defeats for the Republicans in the midterm Congressional elections of 2014.
But what this is doing is putting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and other more mainstream conservatives, including Speaker of the House John Boehner, in a tough situation, which is causing Tea Party challenges to McConnell, Graham, and others.
But ultimately, the biggest problem is that the Republican Party used to say they supported an alternative to “ObamaCare”, but now there is no such talk, and that means, were “ObamaCare” to be defunded by some manipulation, that millions upon millions of American citizens, who have not had health care insurance, and expected they would now have such coverage, would end up NOT having it!
And that means the Republican Party is saying, “To hell with these less fortunate people! Let them rot, let them do without, let them have to deal with a situation that denies them the “American Dream!””
Is that a message to draw voters, to show that government, and really all of us, have no compassion, and concern for those less fortunate? Is it a good thing to say to children, the elderly, the disabled and sick, and poorer citizens that they do not matter? That all that matters is acquisition of wealth and assets by the fortunate minority of Americans?
Is this the kind of country we want in the future in the 21st century?