Obamacare And The Tyranny Of Democracy

In a republic, there are things we have no right to vote on

By Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.

Increasingly, limited government is illegal in America. What are you going to do about it?

We’ve had decades to observe statism vs. market capitalism, to compare central planning with entrepreneurial freedom.

We’ve had centuries to ponder the fruits of power hungry, lawless and dictatorial politicians, in contrast to our often smeared founders.

Unfailingly, excesses of the state were and are grotesque.

And yet here we are in the 21st Century with Obamacare’s futility characterized as “glitches” and “hiccups” by the Washington Post and NPR.

Those aren’t “glitches.”

They are, as one title by the great Ludwig von Mises put it, an inevitable manifestation of the impossibility of Economic Calculation In the Socialist Commonwealth.

In modern America, this abomination should never have even been suggested, let alone enacted.

In this showdown over Obamacare in the continuing resolution and debt ceiling debate, we are continually reminded by Barack Obama that the public “voted” for the law, particularly via his re-election.

This being the same law that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) famously said we had to pass so we could see what’s in it.

Yet, she wasn’t quite right.

Obamacare must fail so we can see what’s in it, which is the path to even more complete government control of health “care.”

Unlimited government threatens our health care system and our very way of life–and the media is talking about national parks being closed.

It was Iowa Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin who recently said today’s contentious politics are ”Every bit as dangerous as the break-up of the Union before the Civil War.”

It’s not that bad.

But even Harkin must recognize that about the only form of cultural diversity not celebrated by elites is the practice of limited government.

Not only are “the silken bands of mild government” not celebrated; we are told we may not practice that lifestyle without penalty.

A constitutionally limited republic recognizes boundaries. It respects the dignity of the individual. It rejects unchosen obligations and servitude.

In a republic, there are things we have no right to vote on.

Rule of law rather than of men, cultural commentators used to say.

One must not plunder one’s neighbor; and more crucially, one may not gain power by promising to do so.

That is what people like Harkin do not see. So Harkin is right in thinking there exist irreconcilable views regarding governance in this unique country.

The people who want to live by limited government are increasingly marginalized.

Even the young folks who voted for Obama are aghast that they are being used as means to others’ ends.

MoveOn admitted, “[I]f younger, healthier people don’t participate, then costs will skyrocket and Obamacare will fail.”

Government schools did not prepare young Americans for this icy wake-up call.

Individual rights exist precisely to protect individuals from the majority doing to them what they are now experiencing. They rarely hear that in school.

That’s not an accident. Government funded state education in America largely consists of instructing kids that the state can do anything it wants, as long as the majority votes. I have four kids and I know this to be the case.

Sadly, charter and private schools are not the solution to this grave philosophical problem. A highly educated media that acts as campaign staff for the coercive utopianism of political progressives illustrates that.

Just look at the new cover of Time magazine, with its dramatic scratching out of “Majority Rule,” as if that is the sum of legitimate government.

“The vote,” over-delegation of power to bureaucrats, and Congress’ own assumption of unlimited powers–like forcing someone to buy an insurance product–substitute for rule of law.

Even the Supreme Court affirmed Obamacare’s core, as if it even mattered that Obamacare’s penalty is deemed technically a “tax.”

The nucleus of human freedom, and the antidote to tyranny, hinges upon the premise that we cannot routinely delegate to lawmakers powers that we do not possess ourselves; that we cannot compel others.

The school of hard knocks, not government schools, is where one must learn that democracy and individual rights can be enemies.

Alas, democracy is unstable and probably temporary, in the historical context, unless someone stops the majority’s increasing plunder and institutes a limited constitutional republic.

This is why the modern philosophical war matters.

Men organize into society–a voluntary association of individuals–because there are benefits to be had from doing so.

But there seems increasingly less tolerance in America for people who prefer life under a system of limited government.

Many cannot accept that state of affairs.

We yearn for society, but must oppose coercive utopia and the loss of basic liberties. That is why the government shut down.