An Unhelpful Liberal

Republicans want to keep a public plan out of the mix and thus leave private insurers free to charge higher premiums for the well-being of their tycoon CEOs and shareholders.

-- Froma Harrop

Harrop is a 59 year old liberal columnist, known as a strong supporter of Obama’s health care plan. She’s smart and well-informed. And she thinks we are stupid. Why else would she write Republicans oppose the public option in order to help “private insurers” boost the profits “of their tycoon CEOs and shareholders” at the expense of the public?

I mean, why bother to have political campaigns if Republicans truly are about helping the rich at the average voters’ expense? If Republican means, “rich richer, poor poorer,” there is no political contest. Democrats will win, every time. The poor and middle classes heavily outvote the rich.

Such strange logic, when the wealthiest congressional districts (that’s where the money lives) are all Democratic (Shays lost to Democrat Jim Himes in 2008). No, Republicans aren’t really the suicidal campaigners Harrop and the unions claim they are, out to help the rich at the common person’s expense.

Republicans oppose the public option because it’s the first step to what liberals truly want—national health insurance. Republicans fear a Democratic/government-run national health system like those in the U.K. and Canada. Democrats don’t. That’s the real difference between the parties.