Perhaps my favorite movie of all time is "Cool Hand Luke"...this is a little surprising considering the fact that I really don't like watching old movies much at all...I don't know why, but I just love it...on the one hand, Luke, a decorated veteran, was anything but a heroic figure in post-war freedom, yet he had some innate admirable and endearing qualities that revealed themselves in incarceration (he was sent to prison for cutting the heads off of parking meters in a drunken fit of exasperation and boredom with life)...I don't know, the story just struck a chord in me...
If you know the movie, the early turning point occurs when Luke, refusing to take his place at the bottom of the established prison pecking order, chooses to fight the top dog, Dragline, rather than to submit and conform...though he knew the fight was unwinnable, he had to try because his pride and stubbornness were really all that he had left...his refusal to stay down and to concede, despite the pummeling that he was receiving, earned him the respect of his peers and helped him to salvage his own self-respect...
If anybody has read my thoughts about the political standoff that has evolved over the last couple of weeks into the current partial government shutdown, you know that I did not think that tactically it was the right fight at the right time, though the enemy, the ACA, certainly merited the opposition...despite my disagreement with the tactical decisions made by some Republicans, however, I refused to criticize them and applauded their conviction and efforts...
When the efforts to avoid shutdown failed, at first I thought that it was best to pass a clean CR, having gone on record for all to see that we oppose not only the ACA but its illegal, inequitable implementation by this President...after mulling it over throughout the week, I have had a change of heart...I thought about Luke and the many instances throughout history in which Americans stood and fought for causes that they believed in and against injustices they perceived, even when the odds were stacked against them, as they were against Luke...
While I believe that the ACA is both flawed and dangerous legislation that will ultimately implode under the weight of its own expense and ineffectiveness, as well as from the deleterious effects of the concomitant unintended consequences, I think that it is time to make a stand against the liberalism of this President and his Democrat supporters...
Unless a satisfactory agreement can be reached (and despite the spin from the President and the Democrats, the Republicans have offered to agree to several concessions short of defunding or repeal of ACA), then we need to stick to our guns and ride this thing out into the debt ceiling negotiations and deadlines of mid-month...as I posted last night, the notion that NOT raising the debt ceiling automatically means default is just not true...would it result in some difficult choices and bring some real frugality to bear in government?...certainly...but maybe that's what's needed to derail this runaway train of liberalism and to keep the nation as a whole on the tracks...
As a conservative, what would an acceptable agreement look like to me? I would think that re-opening the government (resolving budgetary disagreements and all parties agreeing to pass a budget according to the prescriptions of law next year) and agreeing to raise the debt ceiling for a year (perhaps two) in return for a) delaying the individual mandate for a year (enrollment in and implementation of ACA could move forward, but it would be voluntary for a one-year period), b) repealing the medical devices tax, which actually makes healthcare less affordable and stifles the development of new medical technology, c) elimination of all waivers and exemptions from the ACA, applying it equitably to everyone, d) new spending cuts to reduce future deficits (we are almost $17 trillion in the red, for God's sake), e) a blueprint for tax reform, and f) approval of the Keystone X Pipeline project...
So, after processing all of this, I have clarified my own views and position by asking this question: WWLD?...What would Luke do?...sometimes, you just have to fight...bring it on, Dragline..."You're gonna' hafta kill me"...
If you know the movie, the early turning point occurs when Luke, refusing to take his place at the bottom of the established prison pecking order, chooses to fight the top dog, Dragline, rather than to submit and conform...though he knew the fight was unwinnable, he had to try because his pride and stubbornness were really all that he had left...his refusal to stay down and to concede, despite the pummeling that he was receiving, earned him the respect of his peers and helped him to salvage his own self-respect...
If anybody has read my thoughts about the political standoff that has evolved over the last couple of weeks into the current partial government shutdown, you know that I did not think that tactically it was the right fight at the right time, though the enemy, the ACA, certainly merited the opposition...despite my disagreement with the tactical decisions made by some Republicans, however, I refused to criticize them and applauded their conviction and efforts...
When the efforts to avoid shutdown failed, at first I thought that it was best to pass a clean CR, having gone on record for all to see that we oppose not only the ACA but its illegal, inequitable implementation by this President...after mulling it over throughout the week, I have had a change of heart...I thought about Luke and the many instances throughout history in which Americans stood and fought for causes that they believed in and against injustices they perceived, even when the odds were stacked against them, as they were against Luke...
While I believe that the ACA is both flawed and dangerous legislation that will ultimately implode under the weight of its own expense and ineffectiveness, as well as from the deleterious effects of the concomitant unintended consequences, I think that it is time to make a stand against the liberalism of this President and his Democrat supporters...
Unless a satisfactory agreement can be reached (and despite the spin from the President and the Democrats, the Republicans have offered to agree to several concessions short of defunding or repeal of ACA), then we need to stick to our guns and ride this thing out into the debt ceiling negotiations and deadlines of mid-month...as I posted last night, the notion that NOT raising the debt ceiling automatically means default is just not true...would it result in some difficult choices and bring some real frugality to bear in government?...certainly...but maybe that's what's needed to derail this runaway train of liberalism and to keep the nation as a whole on the tracks...
As a conservative, what would an acceptable agreement look like to me? I would think that re-opening the government (resolving budgetary disagreements and all parties agreeing to pass a budget according to the prescriptions of law next year) and agreeing to raise the debt ceiling for a year (perhaps two) in return for a) delaying the individual mandate for a year (enrollment in and implementation of ACA could move forward, but it would be voluntary for a one-year period), b) repealing the medical devices tax, which actually makes healthcare less affordable and stifles the development of new medical technology, c) elimination of all waivers and exemptions from the ACA, applying it equitably to everyone, d) new spending cuts to reduce future deficits (we are almost $17 trillion in the red, for God's sake), e) a blueprint for tax reform, and f) approval of the Keystone X Pipeline project...
So, after processing all of this, I have clarified my own views and position by asking this question: WWLD?...What would Luke do?...sometimes, you just have to fight...bring it on, Dragline..."You're gonna' hafta kill me"...
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