How to repeal Obamacare

Instapundit reader John Miller has an excellent suggestion about how to dismantle Obamacare: 

Yes, you make the Senate vote on ObamaCare again.

You make them vote on a lot of things.

Were I in Boehner’s shoes, I’d be preparing a long list of very short, very simple bills, each covering a single issue with broad public support.

Race-neutral enforcement of civil-rights laws.

Sanctioning ’sanctuary cities’. 

Voter ID.

Forcing the DOJ to implement the voter-roll cleanup provisions of HAVA.

And so on. Single-issue bills that can be read by any voter in five minutes.

Run them through the House and, should a few more of these Senators staring 2012 in the face decide they don’t dare oppose the bills, we get to see Obama double-talk his way through vetoing motherhood and apple pie.

This is similar to what I have been saying for a while, that the most obvious way to dismantle an existing law - to write an anti-bill that cancels it out exactly – is likely the most difficult way to get rid of it.

The reason why is because every law is written to have some political appeal. Even a 2,700 page monstrosity like Obamacare has popular aspects – probably quite a few, judging from its length. So when you propose an anti-bill, you fight on ground of the enemy’s choosing - always a bad idea. But if you write a completely new law that addresses the things people don’t like about the act you want to get rid of, the other side must fight on grounds of your choosing.

For example, one piece of really bad legislation is the Americans With Disability Act that was enacted under the George H. W. Bush’s administration. Among its ill effects is that employees can sue their employer for wrongful dismissal if they can prove that their alcoholism, drug addiction or other antisocial attribute (that makes them completely unsuitable as an employee) is a disability, because under the Americans With Disability Act, the employer must accommodate your disability. Well imagine repealing something called the Americans With Disability Act! Can’t be done. But if you write a law that specifically targets its bad effects then the political playing field all of a sudden changes. It is now the Americans With Disability Act’s supporters who have to explain why trucking companies should be forced to keep alcoholic drivers on their payroll.

So if the Republicans try to pass the anti-Obamacare act, Obama can demagogue the fact that the GOP is taking health care away from 30 million people – how heartless and cruel of them! 

Instead, they should write simple, clear bills that attack Obamacare’s unpopular core principles directly. Take, for instance, a ½ page bill that bans the government from restricting what kind of health care individuals can purchase (going so far as to allow them not to purchase any). Very simple law with no complicating side issues that Obama can latch onto to muddy the waters. He is either for individual choice or he’s against it. He must choose. The optics are all on the side of the free market and against Obama. While the President might choose to swallow a few such poison pills, I bet he will end up having to let some of this stuff through.

Keep sending him these kind of laws. By 2012, the GOP will look effective and Obama will look evil.

 

Comments

[WiseGuy]

An excellent suggestion, but they may just try to pass a bill that repeals the whole thing. They may even pass it through both houses and even get a veto-proof result (this thing is so unpopular).

If that doesn't work, than this is the next obvious step.