The below editorial diatribe was sent to me in an e-mail by a dear friend who thought I might have a strong reaction to it. He was right!

 

Obamacare Should Remind Us We Are Not 'Subjects,' We Are People
Laura Hollis is a professor at the University of Notre Dame
November 20, 2013|10:42 am

"The unveiling of the dictatorial debacle that is Obamacare absolutely flabbergasts me. It is stunning on so many levels, but the most shocking aspect of it for me is watching millions of free Americans stand idly by while this man, his minions in Congress and his cheerleaders in the press systematically dismantle our Constitution, steal our money, and crush our freedoms."

There is more of this article, but this is what you need to see. A Catholic  business professor complaining because a lawfully enacted piece of legislation may actually do some of the things her Pope has called, “humane and necessary” Ya think her agenda has to do with the birth control issue? “Steal our money, crush our freedoms??” Would that be the freedom to let the poor die?

And of course, all of this is indicative of the tactic, honed by Gingrich, Atwater and their ilk - the great lie. In this case the great lie is that all the concern about health care and all the legislation has been done by one person, acting alone, not a Congress, not the majority of Americans who believe it's a good thing, one person who is evil incarnate. That sounds stupid because it is.

Like it or not, and some (but not a majority of voters) don't, the majority of Americans believe that the Affordable Care Act is a good thing. The reaction of the lunatic right to the Affordable Care Act, is very much like the reaction to (and the glitches are similar to) the Bush initiative (also passed by Congress and also derided by some) of Medicare part D (drug coverage). In fact their reactions  were as vocal (and as wrong) over Medicare/Medicaid in general and Social Security before that. There are certainly things in the legislation that will bother some, since powerful economic forces have opposed this legislation with a massive lobbying effort based on corporate greed of the Insurance and drug lobbies. There are also compromises in the bill because of special interest pressures which were satisfied to get a passable law.

The fact that the AMA approves it matters little to those like Palin, Cruz, etc  who have actually succeeded in convincing some of their poorer sycophant acolytes that this legislation which, in actuality, is to their benefit, was drafted by Satan and fine tuned by  Hitler, Stalin and Jack the Ripper. I especially love the resurrection of the "death panel" shibboleth by this Notre Dame business professor. She implies that any refusal to cover any condition amounts to a "death panel". What the hell does she think Insurance companies do now? You want to see a death panel dramatized, but realistically portrayed - read Grisham's "The Rainmaker."

     As in all these scurrilous writings, check the credentials of the author. This lady is a business teacher at the flagship Catholic College in the World, and as a Catholic is probably really upset that a Catholic owned business might actually have to provide a medical plan that would allow a Protestant employee to have birth control coverage if their MD so prescribed. Why should any employer's personal religious tenet be allowed to get between an employee and their doctor. I guess it's sort of "Medical doctor patient relations are privileged , unless of course, as your boss, I disagree with your doctor." Sound stupid and retrograde when stated like that, doesn't it, yet some Catholics are right there. Another analogy might be an employer who was a Christian Scientist (oxymoron alert!) who would only pay for prayer and anointing as medical coverage!

 And last, as to her opening salvo about the President acting in an authoritarian manner: Most Americans didn't want to go to war in Iraq in 2000, no matter how many lies they were told (and we know they were lies now), but since a majority of Congress “signed off” on it, misle4ad by a President who had another agenda from the day of his inauguration (see Bob Woodward’s book) to war we went. The Affordable Care Act will save some lives and improve others. The War in Iraq, which really was the result of a President acting as dictator, has cost over 4000 American and over a million Iraqi lives. I guess the risk here is listening to business teachers who have an agenda instead of historians who have a perspective.