ObamaCare's Bumper-Sticker: "Let 16,500 IRS Agents Set America Free!"

Paul Ryan (4:38) frames the larger ObamaCare issue: the American Idea under attack.  George Will sees Obama's real agenda....

Advancing private dependency on public goodies dispensed by government:

As America's teetering tower of unkeepable promises grows, so does the weight of government, in taxes and mandates that limit investments and discourage job creation. America's dynamism, and hence upward social mobility, will slow, as the economy becomes what the party of government wants it to be -- increasingly dependent on government-created demand.

Promoting dependency is the Democratic Party's vocation. It knows that almost all entitlements are forever, and those that are not -- e.g., the lifetime eligibility for welfare, repealed in 1996 -- are not for the middle class. Democrats believe, plausibly, that middle-class entitlements are instantly addictive and, because there is no known detoxification, that class, when facing future choices between trimming entitlements or increasing taxes, will choose the latter. The taxes will disproportionately burden high earners, thereby tightening the noose of society's dependency on government for investments and job-creation.

Politics in a democracy is transactional: Politicians seek votes by promising to do things for voters, who seek promises in exchange for their votes. Because logrolling is how legislative coalitions are cobbled together in a continental nation, the auction by which reluctant House Democrats were purchased has been disillusioning only to sentimentalists with illusions about society's stock of disinterestedness.

Ben Stein sees South American junta-style governance, ignoring the Constitution.  Mark Steyn summarizes what ObamaCare will do: diminish private freedom, stunt economic growth, undermine America's ability, and even inclination, to sustain a Pax Americana, for want of the military to sustain it.  A British voice sees a "dark day for freedom" here.  Bill Kristol calls "Repeal!" the GOP goal.

Bottom Line.  Expect more IRS agents to be hired in the coming years.

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