OPINION:
Kamala Harris, the California senator who first rose to national fame by over-aggressively interrogating Jeff Sessions during attorney general confirmation hearings and, second, by hinting at a 2020 presidential run, has found a new cause: Pressing for single-payer health care, a la socialist style.
Harris actually jumped aboard the Sen. Bernie Sanders bandwagon to co-sponsor his “Medicare for All” bill. More apt would be to call it “Medicare for All, ’Til the Money Runs Out” bill, but what’s a few millions versus billions to a self-described socialist-type like Sanders? Counting money is so — gauche.
And, as it turns out, unnecessary when it’s tax dollars.
“There’s no question that … all people should have access to affordable health care,” Harris said to a hometown Oakland crowd, Politico reported. “And as we talk about moving toward a single-payer system, I think there is certainly energy and momentum toward that. Americans are making very clear when they defeated the repeal of ACA … that they don’t want to play politics with their health care.”
There’s so much wrong with her words, it’s hard to know where to begin.
Lie Number One: “All people should have access to affordable health care.” Well, Ms. Harris, all people already do have access to health care. They always did. Affordability is subjective — a real eye of the beholder type of thing. What’s new and disgustingly anti-American about the post-Obamacare health care system is that Democrats have sold the line that people don’t have access to health care — and they do it by conflating the topic with the matter of government-paid, er, tax paid, health care. But truth is: Both pre-Obamacare and post-Obamacare, health insurance is not a basic human right. And tax paid health insurance is not an interchangeable phrase for access to health care. But health insurance has been widely available and affordable for those in the country who’ve wanted it for decades now.
Lie Number Two: “Americans are making very clear when they defeated the repeal of ACA …” Americans didn’t make anything of the kind clear. Americans didn’t defeat anything of the kind. Sen. John McCain and other RINOs on Capitol Hill took matters into their own hands to thwart the will of voters to repeal Obamacare by going thumbs-down on a bill when they should’ve gone thumbs-up. Let’s stay clear on that point, please.
Lie Number Three: “As we talk about moving toward a single-payer system, I think there is certainly energy and momentum toward that.” There’s not. It’s a Democratic thing — a progressive-slash-socialist thing. Republicans aren’t on board. And as a matter of fact, neither are all the Democrats — rather, mostly those facing heavy election fights. In July, Democrats opted against taking a vote on government-run health care — a single payer system — because even they knew it was bunk.
From Politico, in July: “Four Democrats and one independent … voted with all of the chamber’s Republicans against the amendment, which failed 0-57. The four Democrats are facing reelection in states that President Donald Trump won. ’I’m not going to support something that’s a sham, and that’s a sham,’ Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) said before the vote.”
So where exactly is the momentum to which Harris referred?
It’s electioneering, pure and simple. Promising free stuff is a politician’s biggest draw.
Harris, seeking to build political capital for a possible White House run, can make an entire campaign out of protecting the little people from Big Bad Wolf Trump. This is just the drop in the bucket of what’s to come. Truly, Harris is shaping to be a dream Democratic White House candidate already — soft on truth, hard on spin, committed at all costs to the partisan win.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.