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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Doug Wilson never ceases to nail it on the head.
Some might believe that it is premature to pronounce Obamacare a failure, since the president is only going to be signing it today. Why, some might wonder, shouldn't we give it a chance? There is no need to give it a chance -- it has already failed in seven significant ways.

First, the Bible says not to steal. ... In order to defend Obamacare, you have to be in favor of raw extortion at raw levels. This is a moral failure, and the difficulty that many professed Christians have in seeing it as a moral failure represents an even deeper level of moral failure.

Then there is the simple math. You cannot add millions of beneficiaries, accept pre-existing conditions, along with other forms of magic, and then reduce the costs. This is a failure in basic arithmetic, and since the people telling us all this are not that stupid, we could chalk this up as yet another sampling of the moral failure. But let us cut some slack and call it a failure in telling bigger numbers and smaller numbers apart.

Third, the passage of this bill represents a significant political failure. ... So we failed to examine our candidates, and our candidates, upon assuming office, failed to listen. This is a major breakdown; it represents an enormous political failure.

Fourth, at the macro-level, this means national bankruptcy. ... If all of Congress cannot tell the difference between 25 trillion and 50 trillion, this means that at a certain point, default becomes inevitable. This means economic failure.

The fifth way this represents failure is a bit different from the others.
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Repeal of the bill is actually a possibility, and if that happens the whole thing will have been a major miscalculation on the part of the progressives, who were guilty of impatient over-reaching -- grabbing what lapdog Republicans would have helped them obtain more slowly. But now the lines are drawn pretty starkly. This represents a tactical failure, and is the only failure in this list that I like.

Sixth, oh, yeah, this was supposed to be a health care bill. A finite resource like medical care is like pie dough -- the farther you spread it, the thinner it gets. In a free market, an increased demand will lead to an increase in supply. In the world we are proposing to enter, we have attempted to sever supply from demand. It will therefore be easier for ankle surgery panels (and death panels) to just say no than to pressure Congress to raise taxes yet again. The quality of care for most will go down, and the expenses will go up. We will be paying a lot more for a lot less, which means that this constitutes a first-class medical failure.

And last, the fact that I have written a goodish bit on this health care business does not represent an abandonment of first principles. Politics is no savior -- and if politics were our savior, we now see what a tawdry, dishonest, skulking, mendacious savior it is. It is a lifeguard who cannot swim. It is a contagious and disease-ridden surgeon. It is an accountant who can't count. It is a carpenter who doesn't believe in nails.
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But for those who worship man, this is the way it has to be. The passage of this bill is therefore a religious failure; it is worship failure.
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The only real alternative for us is to worship Jesus Christ, who is the only true Savior. Our response to all this must not be limited to a truncated civic activity -- letters, calls, signing, voting, that kind of thing. All lawful and appropriate, of course, but utterly inadequate in themselves to the need of the hour.

Our response to this must occur on a seven-day cycle -- every Lord's Day, we and our families need to assemble before the Lord and worship Him, cry out to Him, sing praise to Him, and feed on His Word while submitting ourselves to that Word. And why? "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us" (Is. 33:22).

11 comments:

Chris A said...

Well, I have a hard time defining taxation as theft in the biblical sense, because it seems to be the prerogative of the state. But you can't help but feeling like you're getting robbed when you look at this thing. Either you're being robbed of your hard-earned and devalued Federal Reserve notes via taxation or you are robbed of your Federal Reserve notes by having to pay them to the insurance companies.

It is funny to me how the insurance companies faked opposition to the bill. They knew it would mean increased revenue. In fact, I heard on NPR this morning that this is essentially a form of economic stimulus - and NPR is a cheerleader for the bill, or at the very least they are somewhat less than objective tilting left.

When word hit that Kucinich had changed his mind and decided to sell us out after all, stock in the insurance companies shot way up. Gee, I wonder why? Could it be that because the insurance are guaranteed by governmental degree 30 million new customers?!

Some of you may remember that I was saying months ago that this bill was simply another bailout. That's exactly what it is. It is another transfer of wealth to the banks that own the insurance companies. So when people talk about bank runs, economic collapse, currency devaluation, etc., don't take that too lightly.

As far back as a few months ago, you had these paid talking heads on network news talking about how the economy was rebounding because Wall Street was doing better. Yet unemployment continued to rise. Someone please tell me how that spells recovery. They even coined the term "jobless recovery". Talk about an oxymoron!

The government working in collusion with the banks are turning the middle and working class people of this country into serfs! They continue to widen the gap by government "intervention" all the while pretending to throw people a bone with government health care. And when you have middle class people, being forced to either go broke paying for insurance or get on freaking welfare, it is no wonder such a volatile situation is being fomented in our society.

In the coming months, look for the federal government to do all they can to usurp power over the states. Many of the states are already planning lawsuits to oppose the health care law if it passes. A clash between states and the feds have been brewing for some time, but it may be coming to a head.

Events will happen (and have happened) that will result in the empowering of certain agencies like the IRS. Remember that kamikaze plane crash into the IRS building in Austin a few weeks ago? How original. If you don't understand the IRS's role in this law, you need to look it up. They are planning to hire tens of thousands of new employees just to keep up with the additional work this bill will create for them.

Darius said...

Yeah, the insurance companies have no problem with this bill. So what if they have to cover pre-existing conditions? They'll just pass that cost onto the consumer and taxpayer. This bill hurts individuals and small businesses... big business can afford any short-term drop in revenue by passing it along to their customers.

13 states filed lawsuits seven minutes after Obama signed the bill. It begins...

Stephen said...

Sadly for your hateful agenda, even if Republicans win EVERY SINGLE Senate seat up for grabs in 2010, they will only be at 59. Well short of the 67 needed for a veto proof repeal.

*wah-wah*

Chris A said...

Health Care Mandate to be Enforced by IRS Bounty Hunters

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/21228

Darius said...

Thanks for stopping by, Stephen. If you're ever interested in opening your mind a little, I've got some great books to recommend to get you on the right track. Until then, take care.

Stephen said...

If only I had read the same books as you growing up, I could be a part of your enlightened, beloved community of the orthodox. Sadly, I'll continue reading Gustavo Gutierrez, James Cone, Karl Marx, and the Bible. Thus, I will never be converted to your neo-conservative, neo-liberal economics. Oh well.

Darius said...

Karl Marx... enough said.

Stephen said...

I told you that you that our dialogue was pointless.

Chris A said...

It seems to me that the dialogue became pointless the moment you started spewing your "hateful agenda" nonsense. Helpful dialogue doesn't begin with an accusation.

How about every time you comment, I just say "your mom" and we'll see how far we get.

Stephen said...

Chris, there's a little history that you missed. Oh, and your mom. (I think that's gonna help)

Chris A said...

I'm rubber, you're glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.

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Darius' book montage

The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel The Main Thing
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
Overcoming Sin and Temptation
According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible
Disciplines of a Godly Man
Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem
When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Ourselves
The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith
Respectable Sins
The Kite Runner
Life Laid Bare: The Survivors in Rwanda Speak
Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak
A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, ... anabaptist/anglican, metho
Show Them No Mercy
The Lord of the Rings
Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass
The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
Cool It: The Skeptical Environmentalist's Guide to Global Warming
The Chronicles of Narnia
Les Misérables


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