“The campaign to make people sick to make rich people wealthier never sleeps,” so says the profane journalist, Charles Pierce, as he writes about the current efforts of Republicans to make minor tweaks to their medical care plan. These tweaks, of course, are just that, tweaks. Changes are unlikely to be substantial, but just enough to pretend that the bill is better than it is.
The Republican plan is evil. If it becomes law, over 20,000 people will die each year because they lack medical insurance. Further, the public knows that the scheme is wrong. That is why in recent polls only 12 to 17 percent of the public is in favor of the bill(s). There is not a majority in any state—no matter how red the state—that supports the bill. So why are the Republicans trying so hard to pass the bill? Why are they doing this?
Often if you follow the money, you will find answers to many issues in American society, regardless of political party. That is certainly the case here as the Republicans usually favor the rich by consistently moving to cut their taxes. However, I think something else is also at play here—ideology. Republicans are more different from Democrats than ever, and they are in almost complete control. So their ideology is becoming more prominent in our national policies.
Democrats tend to be liberal (often not enough for me) and Republicans are conservative. Liberals believe it is the duty of the government to reduce social ills and to protect civil liberties and individual and human rights. Conservatives do not believe this is the role of government. They believe in personal responsibility, limited government, and free markets (without regulation). They tend to think that everyone deserves what they get in life. They favor tax cuts for the wealthy because they believe the rich deserve their wealth and should not have to share it with others (through taxation). They also tend to believe that the poor deserve their poverty and should not be supported by others to escape their poverty.
This is not wild speculation. The famous social scientist of the 19th century, Herbert Spencer, wrote that the poor deserve to be poor and the rich deserved to be rich. He thus opposed social reform as interfering with natural processes. These kinds of ideas have been a part of American society for a long time. They lead Republicans to object to social programs, especially if they spend public funds. As such they have never been too keen on Medicare and Medicaid. Representative Paul Ryan, the Majority Leader of the House, has often said that as a youth he often dreamed of one day cutting Medicaid (presumably because the poor deserved their poverty and others should not financially support them).
Despite that in the mid-1960’s Southern Democrats tended to be conservative (Dixiecrats) and Northern Republicans tended to be moderate to liberal, the Republican opposition to social programs was at play in Congressional voting to create Medicare and Medicaid. While many Republicans voted for these programs, a slight majority voted against them, and they have tried to weaken both of these programs ever since. With very few, if any, liberals among Republicans in the Congress now, being against social legislation like the ACA (and possibly Medicaid and Medicare) is consistent with the conservative philosophy.