Big Government’s Coup

Blogging at National Review Online, here’s Mark Steyn on the health bill, the passage of which will be an occasion for America to mourn:

“Right now, [the Democrats] can trade anything – abortion, death panels, whatever. The trick is to plant the seed and let the ratchet effect of Big Government take care of the rest. I said on Rush’s show on Friday that if Barack Obama had been Bill Clinton he’d have woken up on Wednesday morning and begun triangulating. Instead, Obama woke up and figured that he needed more fierce urgency, and right now. The short-term hit in 2010 is worth it for the long-term benefits: Obscure congressmen will be just as happy as obscure ambassadors or obscure chairmen of obscure agencies. And the prize of permanent irreversible statist annexation merits the risk: Governmentalized “health care” puts us on the fast track to Euro-sclerosis and redefines the relationship between citizen and state in ways that make genuine conservative politics all but impossible.”

And here’s NR’s Rich Lowry on the same ubject, offering a glimmer of hope:

“Listening to the debate on the floor today, it was clear that Democrats considered it a moral and ideological obligation to pass this bill — consequences be damned. The leadership is congratulating itself now — Pelosi is already the greatest speaker of all time apparently — but there’s a tough rough ahead in the Senate. Pelosi could lose 39 votes. Reid can’t lose any. Passage in the House definitely creates more pressure on Reid to get it done, but the slender margin — despite the size of the Democratic majority in the House and all the arm-twisting and deal-making (what did Cao get?) — has to make Senate moderates even more nervous. There’s a long string yet to be played out here, and it’s still likely to stretch into next year, by which time Pelosi’s historic accomplishment of November 7 may look foolish.”

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