Writing for Forbes, Bruce Bartlett puts forth an interesting hypothesis that healthcare legislation could have been made better (hopefully he meant to write “less destructive”) if the GOP had been willing to compromise with Democrats:
Democrats desperately wanted a bipartisan bill and would have given a lot to get a few Republicans on board. This undoubtedly would have led to enactment of a better health bill than the one we are likely to get. But Republicans never put forward an alternative health proposal. Instead, they took the position that our current health system is perfect just as it is.
Bruce makes several compelling points in the article, especially when he notes that it will be virtually impossible to repeal a bad bill after 2010 or 2012, but there are good reasons to disagree with his analysis. First, he is wrong in stating that Republicans were united against any compromise. Several GOP senators spent months trying to negotiate something less objectionable, but those discussions were futile. Also, I’m not sure it’s correct to assert Republicans took a the-current-system-is-perfect position. They may not have offered a full alternative (they did have a few good reforms such as allowing the purchase of insurance across state lines), but their main message was that the Democrats were going to make the current system worse. Strikes me as a perfectly reasonable position, one that I imagine Bruce shares. But let’s further explore Bruce’s core hypothesis: Would compromise have generated a better bill? It’s possible, to be sure, but there are also several reasons why that approach may have backfired:
1. It’s not clear a policy of compromise would have produced a less-objectionable bill. Would Senate Democrats have made more concessions to Grassley and Snowe rather than Lieberman and Nelson (much less whether the “concessions” would have been good policy)? And even if Reid made some significant (and positive) concessions, is there any reason to think those reforms would have survived a conference committee with the House? Yet the compromising Republicans probably would have felt invested in the process and obliged to support the final bill – even if the conference committee produced something worse than the original Senate Democrat proposal.
2. A take-no-prisoners strategy may be high risk, but it can produce high rewards. In the early 1990s, the Republicans took a no-compromise position when fighting Bill Clinton’s health plan (aka, Hillarycare), and that strategy was ultimately successful. We still don’t know the final result of this battle (much less how events would have transpired with a different strategy), but if the long-term goal is to minimize government expansion, a no-compromise approach is perfectly reasonable.
3. A principled opposition to government-run healthcare will help win other fights. The Democrats ultimately may win the healthcare battle, but the leadership will have been forced to spend lots of time and energy, and also use up lots of political chits. Does anyone now think they can pass a “climate change” bill? The answer, almost certainly, is no.
4. A principled approach can be good politics, which can eventually lead to good policy. Democrats wanted a few Republicans on board in part to help give them political cover. The aura of bipartisanship would have given Democrats a good talking point for the 2010 elections (“my opponent is being unreasonable since even X Republicans also supported the legislation”). That fig leaf does not exist now, which makes it more likely that Democrats will pay a heavy price during the mid-term elections. It is impossible to know whether 2010 will be a 1994-style rout, or whether the newly-elected Republicans will quickly morph into Bush-style big-government conservatives (who often do more damage to liberty than Democrats), but at least there is a reasonable likelihood of more pro-liberty lawmakers.
When all is said and done, Bruce’s strategy is not necessarily wrong, but it does guarantee defeat. Government gets bigger and freedom diminishes. For reasons of principle and practicality, Republicans should do the right thing.
[…] I’ve known Bruce for decades and he’s a fun guy to hang out with, but he’s gone hard to the left in recent years, pimping for a VAT and urging GOPers to sell out on health care. […]
[…] I’ve known Bruce for decades and he’s a fun guy to hang out with, but he’s gone hard left in recent years, pimping for a VAT and urging GOPers to sell out on health care. […]
[…] no to RINO-style compassionate conservatism. When Republicans do the wrong thing, they are usually motivated by political fear (“if we don’t pass a new prescription drug entitlement, the Democrats will accuse us of […]
This bill lacks a public option and single payer, who the heck can you say dems didn’t try to compromise with republicans? This bill is so close to the one republicans have offered in the past its funny to watch people cry government take over. This bill isn’t a government take over. This bill is a private insurer take over that will forever put them in charge of our lives literally.
The gop would be proud of this bill because it requires Americans to buy from their campaign donors and makes it law forever. Its why they are so giddy. They can keep saying no and play both sides of the fence. They are having it both ways and people are blind if they think otherwise.
The reason this bill is so bad is because dems compromised trying to get gop votes. To say they didn’t is dis ingeniousness especially when in the next breath they are called socialist or commies. Both parties are corrupt and to still believe these people are voting the way they vote is for us is comical.
I know from personal contacts with Republicans in the House and the Senate that they went out of their way trying to talk some sense with the Democrats. They tried desperately to interest them in a more market-oriented approach, to no avail. The frustration I have picked up from GOPers on Capitol Hill is unmistakable. Evidently Bruce Bartlett has been nowhere near the epicenter of this debate, nor has he talked to anyone who has.
It is hard to imagine a more radical, destructive fringe of liberals than those who currently run Congress and the White House. Bartlett wants Republicans to compromise with them as if the radicalism of BO, Reid and Pelosi is somehow the fault of Republicans. Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it…?