In The Weekly Standard, Noemie Emery tells a story of the Rule by Experts theory of government, from it’s conception in the 1820’s to it’s latest failure, The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.
They had a dream. For almost a hundred years now, the famed academic-artistic-and-punditry industrial complex has dreamed of a government run by their kind of people (i.e., nature’s noblemen), whose intelligence, wit, and refined sensibilities would bring us a heaven on earth. Their keen intellects would cut through the clutter as mere mortals’ couldn’t. They would lift up the wretched, oppressed by cruel forces. Above all, they would counter the greed of the merchants, the limited views of the business community, and the ignorance of the conformist and dim middle class.”
In 2008 with the election of Barack Obama and the installation of America’s first leftist faculty lounge administration, they saw their chance of a lifetime to make vast changes to our way of life and government. After all, this was what Obama campaingned on and promised – to fundamentally change America. They set their sights on the perfect junction of American life and government regulation – healthcare. And once they embarked on that particular journey, virtually everything they believed about their crown jewel would turn out to be exactly wrong. From the very beginning, Obama and the democrats in congress thought their plan would be popular when in fact the public resented the fact that the administration’s focus was taken off economic recovery and put on healthcare. The majority of Americans were satisfied with their healthcare arrangements but worried about the economy and the proposed plan was viewed as expensive and risky. It only got worse from there.
“Historians will see this health care bill as a masterfully crafted piece of legislation,” wrote Jonathan Chait… “The new law untangles the dysfunctionalities of the individual insurance market while fulfilling the political imperative of leaving the employer-provided system in place. . . . They put into place numerous reforms to force efficiency into a wasteful system. They found hundreds of billions of dollars in payment offsets, a monumental task in itself. And they will bring economic and financial security to tens of millions of Americans who would otherwise risk seeing their lives torn apart.”
It did none of these things. It did not fix the dysfunctions of the individual market; it destroyed it. It did not save money; it squandered billions. It did not bring peace and security to tens of millions of people; it took it away from them. The best and the brightest had made their predictions. They were wrong.
Liberal Pundits proclaimed the genius of the plan while knowing none of the details…we were told details didn’t matter. Promises were made to the public by the highest memebers of the administration, most notably the President himself. Promises that turned out to be nothing short of lies – it was known that the bill as being drafted would not allow many people to keep their plans or doctors. But since that change was what most of the public feared the lies were integral to the passage of the act.
These people are (allegedly) the best and brightest among us…this was their moment in the sun. And they failed…spectacularly. There is a reason why cliches are cliches – because they’re true. So when someone says they’re from the government and here to help, brace yourself – you’re about to get it good.
