"Some Subterfuge is Historically Necessary"

It's one thing when President Bush "lies" about WMD. Actually he didn't lie. He stated that, on the most reliable information, Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

But it's another thing when it comes to pushing through a massive new government program which will be almost impossible to "rescind." In that case, according to John Cassidy at the New Yorker:

"Putting on my amateur historian's cap, I might even claim that some subterfuge is historically necessary to get great reforms enacted."

So. It's OK for liberals to lie about a massive upheaval, a seizure of one sixth of the nation's economy. That's OK because it is historically necessary.

But woe betide if Republican President Bush puts a bit of polish on his argument for invading Iraq.

The real reason for ObamaCare, according to John Cassidy, is that achieves two political goals for Democrats. It makes "the United States a more equitable country" and it helps keep Democrats in power, long term.

Well, looking really long-term, government mandated equality doesn't improve equality and meanwhile destroys "civil society," the web of voluntary organizations that is the real warp and weft of human sociability.

Anyway, the question really becomes: What do the American people want, and how hard are we willing to push to get what we want? We'd better face facts. The educated and cultural elite are perfectly happy with increasing government power. In fact, they want more more for the government. They think it means more power for the elite.

Properly, the national elite, through their domination of the aristocratic branch of government, the judiciary, should have stopped the expansion of government power. But they didn't. They have stood by for a century and applauded, and rumbled about historical necessity while politicians have steadily increased government power and piled taxes, regulations, and restrictions on the American people. We cannot look to the national elite to protect freedom.

So it's up to the American people. Do we care that we are going to be shoved into government health care, designed for the convenience of the governing elite? Do we care that we are being manipulated into a grateful dependency which will more or less force us to vote our corrupt masters into power again and again rather than risk the horror of losing our benefits?

Democrats either hope or believe that they can get this cram-down through and make most of it stick even if they lose their majorities in Congress in 2010.

Maybe they are right. After all, their experience is that you can always ratchet up government spending with another government program. Once you have got your program in place then you can get to work expanding it.

But then maybe they are wrong. Maybe the US has reached the tipping point on government programs. Maybe we are reaching a historical turning point, and the Democrats have gone a bridge too far.

The only way to find out is to find out.

But whatever happens it has to start with a massive off-year election in 2010 with at least a 50 seat pickup in the House of Representatives for the GOP.

Anything less than 35 seats means that the Democrats have won and that the American people want more benefits rather than more freedom.