Repeal: Obamacare as the New Prohibition
By Jeffrey Lord on 3.9.10 @ 6:09AM
It was called the "nullification contagion."
And it was a battle royal. Literally.
Once upon-a-time in America, a tumultuous battle over the freedom to drink alcoholic beverages raged across the land. It was the health care battle of early 20th century America, and it was furious, divisive and eventually savagely bloody.
There is debate even today as to where this story actually begins. In fact the issue raised its head in America as early as 1657, when the General Court of Massachusetts banned the sale of intoxicating spirits. Some pinpoint the 1840s. But doubtless as good a place as any to start is with the birth in 1873 of the Women's Christian Temperance Union. The objective, as is the case with government health care enthusiasts today, was portrayed as noble. Alcohol, the group believed, was tearing families -- and hence the larger society -- apart. Echoing the core argument of Obamacare today, to drink, particularly to excess, was portrayed as imposing ultimately unsustainable costs both societal and financial on others. This being the case, there was only one answer: a government ban on the use of alcohol in America.
***snip***
The tale of Prohibition and its repeal should serve as a cautionary tale to Obamacare supporters -- and a source of inspiration to its opponents.
Simultaneously it shows in vivid historical fashion the impact of the law of unintended consequences on ambitious societal reforms -- while showing with precision that it is certainly possible to reverse Obamacare if in fact it is passed.
***snip***
The so-called "noble experiment" had been tried, had failed miserably, and was undone by a furious American population that had learned something the hard way about how to reform -- and how not to reform -- society's ills.
Said FDR on signing into law the first stage of legislation that re-legalized beer and wine: "I think I'll have a beer."
A pretty long, thought-provoking article about wholesale reform. Those who forget history are doomed to vote Democrat, as daveman used to say...
Link
