ObamaCare has been upheld. The fight to repeal it now returns to the public square, where the law’s supporters and opponents will continue to debate its merits or shortcomings. Currently, ObamaCare’s got a popularity problem. A majority of people in the U.S. oppose it.
Then when it comes to ObamaCare supporters, it's become increasingly clear that there are two distinct types. These two groups espouse two views of the law that contradict each other, and it’s only a matter of time until the one half of ObamaCare supporters find out who their teammates are.
You see, there are those who believe the President’s law is truly not a government takeover of health care. It’s not socialist, they say. They think the Tea Party needs to calm down and stop talking about the nightmares of the British National Health Service. They believe Nancy Pelosi when she says ObamaCare is “market-oriented.” Maybe they think it’s a compromise between nationalized health care and a heartless market system (where, they believe, people will die in the street!)
Then there are others, the true ideological (but not classical) liberals, who, according to public polling, say ObamaCare doesn’t go far enough. They would favor a single-payer system, a true government-run health system, perhaps starting with a “public option” or “Medicare for all.” They think, “It’s not socialized health care, but it should be.” They still hate the Tea Party, but deep down they admire other countries like England, for their universal health care systems.
Well, let’s have a fair fight. Either ObamaCare is a “stepping stone” to a nationalized single-payer system or it’s not. Either it needs “improvements” to become more socialist, or it doesn’t. Either you admire other countries for their broken “universal” systems, or you don’t. Speak up, Left, and tell America what you really stand for and what you really want in health care. Surely it isn’t ObamaCare.
The doublespeak about ObamaCare doesn’t stop at the apparent interchangability of “penalty” and “tax.” Some on the Left praise ObamaCare, pointing out it is not a government takeover of health care… but then others clearly wish it was a government takeover. These two forces can only be allied for so long. As more and more moderate Americans come to realize ObamaCare's wrong direction, they will fall away leaving only extreme single-payer advocates to carry the banner for the unpopular law. If this latter group truly believes in socialized health care, they should try to get more Americans on board with the idea of socialized health care. They shouldn't be deceptive about their long-term hopes to transform ObamaCare into single-payer.