Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah doesn't want Democrats to pass a successful healthcare bill because then people might think Democrats do helpful stuff. Then people would vote for Democrats. Then...TEH SOCIALISMZ!!:
The healthcare reform proposals before Congress threaten the existence of the two-party system, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) alleged Monday morning.Hatch asserted that the health bills, which he believes represent a "step-by-step approach to socialized medicine," will lead to Americans' dependence on Democrats for their health and other issues.
"And if they get there, of course, you're going to have a very rough time having a two-party system in this country, because almost everybody's going to say, 'All we ever were, all we ever are, all we ever hope to be depends on the Democratic Party,' " Hatch said during an interview with the conservative CNSNews.com.
"That's their goal," Hatch added. "That's what keeps Democrats in power."
That claim led Hatch to suggest that some Democrats are "diabolical" in their pursuit of health reform.
Fie on thee, O nefarious Democrats!
I would take perspective much more seriously--at least as an internally consistent world view--if Hatch actually gave a damn about the military industrial complex and our garrison empire of more than 700 foreign military bases. But that hasn't influenced on lives at all. Not one bit.
Instead, Hatch is just afraid that if Democrats make things work better...then people will elect Democrats.
Stupid democracy.
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Instead, Hatch is just afraid that if Democrats make things work better...then people will elect Democrats.
An entirely rational fear on Hatch's part. For the last three decades his party has been running on a platform of "government doesn't work" and trying to prove that thesis whenever they are in power. Having no recent examples of government actually working is a necessary condition for that strategy to work. By the late 1970s memories of successful government programs from the 1930s to 1950s were fading, so Reagan's apocryphal stories of the Cadillac-driving welfare mother were able to gain traction. But if health care reform passes and works, people will realize that the "government doesn't work" line is BS.
Hooray for socialized medicine!
That is what I want next.
The Republicans are fascists and wrong about nearly everything.
Government does work. We have roads, bridges, hospitals, our snow is plowed. Fire departments, police departments, sewage, water, etc. etc. etc.
Cares for his party more than he cares for his country.
Typical
If they're so worried about preserving the 2-party system, they could start by rebuilding the Republican party as a reasonable alternative, instead of a bunch of loons.
Oh wait... that would exclude Orrin Hatch. Never mind.
The ugly irony is that Orrin Hatch actually helped push for SCHIP back when Bush was president, and was very unhappy with the veto, and pushed for the override attempt.