The "Just Say No" Party

Today Sen. Max Baucus came out with a healthcare plan, a year in the making. Two WSJ quotes from Republicans struck me:

1. "The bill was swiftly denounced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who complained it would cut Medicare, which provides insurance to the elderly, and impose new tax burdens on families and small businesses."

2. Mike Enzi - "Mr. Enzi warned that "if you have Medicare Advantage [the Baucus] bill could reduce your coverage."

I am not for new taxes. But these Republicans are complaining that Medicare will be cut? So the GOP is for a certain type of government healthcare but just not the Obama one? Why aren't these folks for cutting government whenever you can in one form or another, especially when a Democrat is proposing it?

I understand why the GOP lost and squandered the 12 years they had power and the 6 years they had both the presidency and the Congress from 2001-06. This party has no overall guiding principles. The motto appears to that whatever Obama is for we're against. Republicans should be advocating that we have to return to individual responsibility so that when you require a healthcare service you pay for it except in catastrophic scenarios where the out-of-pocket deductible is more than $10K or some other number. That's where insurance should kick in. We've divorced personal responsibility and any consequences from how we pay for and use healthcare. I've been conditioned to think I shouldn't pay anything at a doctors office more than my $10 or $20 copay too. But is it realistic to think that can go on forever?

Instead of restoring sanity and making people responsible and not just shielding them from every possible hardship that may arise, the GOP just continues to pander. If they can't live without Medicare and the bigger government it represents they deserve to be in the minority. There really is no place to go for an average conservative person.