What have we learned?
- Americans are engaged in a serious national debate about the role and size of government, in which the advocates of government-dominated health care are significantly outnumbered and vastly outmatched in enthusiasm.
- The Democrat Party's commitment to abortion rights is even more central to its identity than health care reform. The Speaker's initial concession - preventing federally subsidized health plans from covering abortion - was made for show. Congressman Stupak Stupak believes that the Democrat leadership is simply unwilling to change its stance. Their position says that women, especially those without means available, should have their abortions covered. Those who support the Senate bill are participating in the largest expansion of federal involvement in abortion since the Hyde Amendment limited that role in 1976.
- The president and congressional leaders are not serious about entitlement reform. The unfunded liability of America's current entitlements is more than $100 trillion. Medicare will eventually require a massive infusion of cash under a congressional entitlement fix. Both the Congressional Budget Office and the Medicare actuary have pressed the point that Medicare savings can either be used to pay future Medicare benefits or to finance new spending outside Medicare — not both.
The passage of this legislation would decisively confirm an image of the Democrat Party that many have worked to change: partial to big government, pro-abortion and fiscally reckless.
