Originally written March 10, 2016

Are you watching the goings on in Washington? Do you realize what the Republican Congress is doing about health care?

From 2010, when the Affordable Care Act was passed, we all yearned for the day when it would be repealed. We made repeal of Obamacare one of the vetting questions for candidates all across the nation. If a candidate wanted to run as a Republican in most districts and states he or she understood there was only one right answer when asked about health care legislation. Pretty much all of them would declare their intent to push for a repeal of Obamacare. There was little to no talk of “replace,” though once in a while you’d hear legislators and candidates talk of taking what little was good or popular about Obamacare and putting it into new legislation once the Obamacare law was kicked to the curb. It was the deal most of us understood.

Like good troops we went to the polls in November 2010 and demonstrated our dislike of having Obamacare shoved down our throats, among the many other insults of the Obama regime. We elected Republicans to the House of Representatives and took over that body. Nancy Pelosi was shunted aside to Minority Leader status and the Republicans promoted John Boehner to be the new Speaker. Boehner didn’t exactly wow the energized Republican base all that much, which he figured out soon enough. He battled for the status quo and the causes of the Republican establishment. By the end of 2015 he’d had enough of the constant blowback from his backroom dealings and announced he’d retire.

There was a brief flurry of hopeful chatter out in fly-over country, but none of that seemed to be heard. Instead of heeding the people who’d handed the party a victory the House Republicans elected Paul Ryan as the new Speaker and heralded him as the face of the GOP’s future. Ryan was reaffirmed after the 2016 elections and it looks like the country is stuck with him. But, there’s a lot about Paul Ryan that people needed to pay attention to before, and certainly need to now. Friends, no matter what you think of the guy, you have to understand, as Republicans go, you just don’t get more progressive in beliefs and actions than Paul Ryan. I won’t call him a RINO. No, I won’t. He’s not a RINO. I say that because most RINOs I know are politically to the right of Ryan. He’s in a class by himself. If you closely examine his personal philosophy you can easily conclude he’s more like people we now call “moderate” Democrats than anyone else. What does anyone expect from a representative from the state known as “The Cradle of Progressivism?” I know some of you out there may disagree. I invite you to pony up your proofs, then stand by while I back a dump truck full of mine in your driveway.

Today’s debate regards the replacement of Obamacare. Oh, yes, Obamacare will be sort-of repealed and replaced if Congressman Ryan and his cabal of like-minded progressive Republicans have their way. They’re busy now trying to convince you this effort is “the last chance we have of repealing Obamacare.” That’s a ton of baloney, malarkey, hot air, obfuscation, and whatever polite aspersion you want to use. It’s just plain untrue. I find myself now having to declare in bold type, “RAND PAUL IS RIGHT!” Yes, folks, Rand is right. So is Ted, and Mike, and all the rest of the members of the Freedom Caucus who understand what the new healthcare proposal from Speaker Ryan is actually about.

There’s smoke and mirrors being trotted out for your admiration. We’re told the current bill is “Phase I.” We’re told that by the time the “normal order” legislative process is followed much of what we might not like about the proposed bill may be amended out. The operative word there is “may.” How about “may not?” I’m thinking we’re going to be sold down the river once again, only this time it’ll be by those people we worked so hard to elect. After all, if someone is already acknowledging flaws in their own bill, why are they there? Is there some point of logic we average people are too stupid to understand?

My biggest personal problem with the pending bill has to do with the fact it’s not an outright “kill” bill. Obamacare should die. This bill removes some parts of Obamacare, but keeps too much of it. Even worse, from the budgetary perspective, it removes the parts of Obamacare that bring in revenues.

Remember, folks, Obamacare is first and foremost a tax law. Recall the Supreme Court decision that upheld the legality of Obamacare? It was justified because Congress has the Constitutional authority to levy taxes. The Supremes acknowledged the law has little to do with actual health care delivery, but everything to do with tapping into the revenue stream and diverting some to certain people while taking it out of the pockets of others. Most Republicans decried the Supreme Court decision and questioned the sanity of Chief Justice Roberts for the logic he used in the majority opinion he authored. But, he was correct. Obamacare never has been about the delivery of health care. It’s been about two things – taking money from one class of taxpayers to benefit others and to demolish the health care insurers and finally arrive where they wanted to be. We’ve always known the ultimate goal of the progressive Democrats is to arrive at a single-payer system. We’ve always understood their goal is to nationalize health care. If any of you didn’t, you should have.

This new bill – this Ryancare, RINOcare, or whatever you want to call it, isn’t much better. It’s a crippled duck. It can’t walk, and it doesn’t quack. The sooner everyone wakes up to that, the better we all are. The bill will still allow the federal government to dictate terms. It will continue the Medicaid expansion of Obamacare. It will do even worse! It will create new entitlements by creating indexed tax credits for those who can’t afford to pay. Ryan understands tax credits as the most equitable way to distribute anything the government does, whether it’s pain (new taxes) or pleasure (refunds).

You should think about tax credits very hard. Remember, we asked our Congress to do more than repeal Obamacare. We also asked them for tax reform. If RINOcare passes, you should rest assured those tax credits will be embedded in it. After all, they’re “fair” aren’t they? But, the passage of such a bill will almost certainly throw a monkey wrench into the whole idea of meaningful tax reform. Folks, tax reform looks less and less likely by the minute. Ryan and those who follow him will never do it. They’re too heavily invested in what we already do. They’ll want to do it the old fashioned way, a little nip here and a little tuck there, then a big party to declare victory.

Remember, you heard it here, there will be no Flat Tax. There will be no Fair Tax. There will be little in the way of actual tax reform at all. What we do see will be window dressing only. Bank on it. Everything I’m hearing about this RINOcare bill tells me so. It’s all connected!

If some miracle happens and the Senate doesn’t pass RINOcare, there may be a glimmer of hope, but just a glimmer. My own sense is that things will grind to a halt and the House will dig in its heels and ensure no Obamacare Repeal proposal from the Senate succeeds. We all know what happens next. Nothing!

Let’s move on to another topic that’s very much related. The relationship might not seem apparent, but trust me, it is. I’m talking about entitlement reform.

If you recall back in the earliest days of the Republican Party primary season there was a policy statement made by then-candidate, Gov. Chris Christie. That policy statement was made to a PAC that was backing him, and the discussion centered on entitlement reform. Gov. Christie was telling his financial backers how he intended to balance the federal budget “when” he gained the presidency. The entire gist of his plan was to revamp all of Social Security and Medicare. He stated he would remove the income caps on the pay-in side of Social Security and means test the pay-out side of both programs. He would incorporate a sliding scale pay-out schedule that would begin to diminish payments at some total income level around $100K and would eliminate them totally for those with retirement incomes greater than $280K. If you retired under the Christie plan and had retirement pay that aggregated to over $280K you wouldn’t get a dime of your Social Security pay-in back and nary a nickel out of Medicare. You’d be on your own. But, because you’re obviously rich, you can afford it, and besides, the 98% of the rest of America wouldn’t care a bit if you think it’s unfair. That was the Christie plan. That’s also almost exactly what Paul Ryan intends to do in his plan to balance our budgets. You can bank on that, too!

Here’s the problem with that plan – the math doesn’t work. How can 2% of taxpayers be denied what amounts to several thousand dollars a year on the pay-out side overcome the countless thousands who’ve been added to the rolls who never paid into the system at all? The answer (again) – the math doesn’t work. Even if you lift the income caps on Social Security it still doesn’t work. It’s all in the numbers. The 2% can’t possibly outweigh the rest. Speaker Ryan knows that. Most members of Congress who’ve looked at the numbers know it, too. But, they’re banking that you don’t, and you’ll go right along with their plan. They are promoting exactly the same kind of class discrimination the Democrats always do. It’s the best plan they can think up. Surely they can’t touch any of the other entitlement programs; the real ones.

Did you ever wonder why the government changed all the literature and web sites to refer to Social Security and Medicare as entitlements several years back? They used to refer to them as “earned benefits.” They were earned because taxpayers paid for those benefits their whole working lives. But, now, because there are so many people drawing money off Social Security and using Medicare that don’t meet the old “10-Year Rule” the government realized it had to rebrand the programs. Besides, if referenced as entitlement programs the entire subject of entitlement reform becomes a much easier political problem to deal with.

There are those who will accuse me of rabble rousing. They will say I don’t know what I’m talking about, or that I’m some kind of Fox News parrot. Be that as it may, I know the way our government is still headed, we will never again see fiscal solvency. We will continue our slide into bankruptcy unless President Trump begins to understand more of the games afoot. Remember, there’s more than one way to deal with a President you don’t like. One way is to convince him you’re doing exactly what he wants done, when all along you’re lining up the daggers you know will take him down in the next election. Yes, my friends, I’m beginning to think there’s a semi-secret rebellious cabal in Congress who smile at the President and shake his hand, all while planting landmines and sharpening daggers. Those landmines and daggers will be strewn throughout the legislation proposed by the House leadership.

Everyone needs to decide who they can trust. Everyone needs to start communicating your wishes to those people. It will do no good to send letters or call your Congressman or Senator if you already know they’re part of that rebellious cabal. Spend your time communicating with those legislators you believe are trustworthy and who represent the interests of the nation. It doesn’t matter if they’re not your representative. What matters is that they know you’re in their corner and you appreciate their willingness to carry the fight in your behalf. What matters is they know there is an appreciation for the sacrifices they’re making for us and the preservation of our freedoms.

The Democrats and their “owners” have declared war on Republicans. The weak-kneed and the progressives among the Republican Party cower, duck and run. They hide from the conflict in hopes it’ll just die down and go away. But, it won’t. You should trust that fact. If the Republican Party cannot promote leadership willing to fight for us, then we need to gear up now to primary those RINOs, and others even worse, and get rid of them. It will be extremely hard to unseat those people, but if we’re to have a chance to regain control of this country and our bloated, runaway bureaucracy, we have to man up.

We need to start today!