I know voters WANT medicare. The elderly are the biggest voting bloc and they want them freebies, (R) and (D) alike.

I just don’t understand the support for the program as it stands. Shouldn’t it be a solvent program? Shouldn’t it be forced to run on a budget? Shouldn’t it be entirely decimated considering it’s unconstitutional on it’s face?

Medicare IS incrementalism by nature. The government overstepped, forgot the Constitution and put a system in place in order to gain popularity among the elderly and up the chances of re-election.

Without the “gateway drugs” of Social Security and Medicare (and all the expansions therein) we wouldn’t be having this healthcare debate in the first place. Once you wet people’s appetite for freebies it becomes almost impossible to take them back.

Besides the fear of political suicide, which always leads to compromise on the part of wishy-washy Snowe-Collins (R)s, there is no justifiable reason to support Medicare.

… won’t happen while the (D)s control Congress and the White House. This issue has devolved into an (R) v. (D) issue and I think those on this side of the fence are missing something — the (R)s don’t have much credibility as a party currently.

This is all IMO and perception so take it with a bag of salt — However, (R)s didn’t pioneer this movement. The “Tea Parties” started independent of the (R) party and they jumped on because they [mostly] agree with the principle of the movement. When the GOP was complaining about Rush, Rush was complaining about Socialism. Now Rush is back in the good graces of much of the party (it seems) but the party is still in disarray.

California is typically a great place for (R)s to raise money because the (R)s here loathe many of the (D)s, we’re just gerrymandered into obscurity. Problem – the GOP in CA tanked us with Arnold using fuzzy logic and popularity. Now we’re worse off than before we started. People are wising up to the notion that once enough votes are secured (or enough people are bought off), the rest of the legislature is typically saving their butt. Voting NO is no longer acceptable, one needs to actually work, in the open (and behind closed doors) to stop legislation.

To put that in context nationally. I don’t care that my Congressman voted no on Cap and Trade. I don’t care that the “Blue Dogs” were bought off. Those “Blue Dogs” that voted No? I don’t trust them either. Why? Once the Snow-Collins-Graham flock gave the (D)s cover, they were able to save some votes in 2010/2012.

The (R) party is notorious for capitulating and selling out fiscal responsibility. See Medicare Part D for reference. See illegal immigration. See talk on real reforms.

Yes, the Obama administration is going hog-while not wasting crisis after crisis. But that doesn’t de-facto mean we can trust the (R)s to fix anything, they haven’t in the past. 9/11 happens and we get MORE government. The (R)s take over Congress? We get MORE government.

The (D)s didn’t bribe the Conversative seniors. The (R)s bribed them as well. The “Conservative Seniors” would vote you out if you didn’t give steal from Paul to give Peter his Medicare. If you think the (D)s are the only bad guys here you’re forgetting Trent Lott’s thoughts on pork legislation (it’s only pork if it doesn’t go to his district).

Interstate Commerce won’t work as a solution simply because the Commerce Clause is so huge you can drive a truck through it. And the government does just that constantly. In 2004 the SCOTUS ruled in Reich v. Ashcroft that the Federal Government had the right to stop Medical Marijuana because it theoretically violated interstate commerce because if it had been sold (it hadn’t), it could have competed against interstate vendors (which didn’t exist) and thus was covered under interstate commerce. All it take is one administration to drive another truck through the clause and you’re toast.

Watch Glenn Beck and you’ll see more of what people are thinking – people are tired of being lied to and this “the (D)s are wrong and have betrayed the elderly” isn’t quite true. The government has betrayed America. (R) and (D) alike. Look at the cost analysis for Medicare reform under Bush. Look at the speed at which the Patriot was read (it wasn’t). We’re not getting anything NEW right now, we’re just getting it at light-speed. People are seeing this and it’s hard to watch.

I happen to like the (R) side simply because I can typically have a rational conversation with people on this side of the fence and butt heads and go home friends, whereas the (D)s just scream at me and then go cry into their lattes.

Unfortunately I don’t see any real change from this side. The GOP helped eviscerate Sarah Palin both before and after the election. The GOP alternative plan on healthcare, while “better”, is still a joke. It doesn’t matter which side of the aisle you’re on anymore. If a (D) will fix the border, I’ll support a (D). If a (R) is owned by K Street or GE or Disney or whomever, I’ll vote against that (R). I’m tired and I think many of my fellow Americans are tired as well.

My local (R) is a huge fighter against Pork in Congress and yet when the GOP held power he couldn’t even get support for anti-pork legislation. If the (R)s want us to believe in them and vote for them, there needs to be something more to vote for than the notion that “we’re not Obama”. That didn’t work for Kerry, it didn’t work for McCain. It won’t work for 2010.

Finally, we should all understand that people are really good at spotting irony and hypocrisy. You cannot reform healthcare in this country while keeping the borders open and refusing to deport illegal immigrants. You cannot reform it while keeping bureaucrats in charge of decisions (such as medical marijuana). You cannot truly reform it with a more complex tax-code that nobody, not even our Congress, can read or understand.

The GOP needs to understand that they’re jumping on the fiscal responsibility bandwagon right-now, not leading it.