Now it should be kept in mind that I am writing this brief note as a high Calvinist, one who believes that, at the ultimate level, things are always okay. God is always on the throne. But this particular song is not being written in that key. I am considering why things will be okay down here, where the decrees do not always appear bright and shiny.
For the statists, this whole thing is (for the next four years) a lose/lose proposition for them. They are doing it as a calculated risk, because they are thinking long-term. They never met an entitlement that didn’t work for them.
But either way this vote goes right now will be very difficult for their long term plans. If the health care bill does not pass, we will be blessed with a lame duck period of three years for the Obama presidency, which is probably a record. And if it passes, which it sure might, there is every indication that the statists will be facing the fury of a lot of motivated voters in the next several elections.
And by fury, I mean that every candidate who wants to capitalize on the sentiment will need to commit to repealing the bill, and the demand will be that the party poobahs commit to a strategy that depends on electing enough men of integrity (who know how a calculator works) to override a presidential veto.
In other words, it appears to me that the statists are betting the farm on this. That means there is a good chance they could lose their farm.