A Bridge Too Far

"If I like your plan, you can keep it"
 

 

Uh Oh! This in the wake of the government's dismal response to Hurricane Sandy and now the Titanical rollout of Obamacare.

A new Quinnipiac University poll this week found for the first time that a majority of Americans — 52 percent — say Obama is not honest or trustworthy. (WaPo)

To be fair to President Obama, it is the entire government that is not honest or trustworthy. Honesty and trustworthyness are virtues. Impersonal, soulless organizations cannot by definition possess them. There can be honest and virtuous individuals, but in any bureaucracy, the drones owe allegiance to the hive, not to you or me.

 

A Stone Tablet Government in an iPad Era

Which brings me to my next point. We are a large, diverse population. As Scott Rasmussen recently wrote, A One-Size-Fits-All Government Cannot Survive in the iPad Era.  (RCP)
 
Arrogance and Incompetence: A Dangerous Combination

Anyone who sets out to construct such a central planning monstrosity as Obamacare is either naive or power-mad. In this case, I think it's a dangerous combination of both.

“Why can’t we call people who know how to do these things, who do it for corporate America, and say, ‘We have a website, fix it,’” said Rep. José E. Serrano, D-N.Y. “Maybe I’m being simplistic, but can’t we call Bill Gates up and say, ‘Take care of this?’ Or go to a college dorm and say, ‘You guys, you invented Yahoo, can you take care of this?’ (Rollcall)

Indeed. The Socialist from New York's plaint could be better stated thusly:

Why can't government bureaucrats and shyster politicians who know nothing about these things keep their grubby dick skinners off of our lives, and leave it to the experts, the people?

This is Progressivism's Bridge Too Far.

Related:

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/190206-vulnerable-dems-scramble-to-keep-distance-from-obamacare

Obama's blunder is a disaster for progressive causes
http://blog.nj.com/njv_editorial_page/2013/11/obamas_blunder_is_a_disaster_f.html

The Democrats' Worst Nightmare
http://nationalinterest.org/commentary/the-democrats-worst-nightmare-9396

Hope is all Obamacare has left
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-11/hope-is-all-obamacare-has-left.html

 

The best take on the disastrous rollout:
http://nypost.com/2013/11/15/backpedaling-bam-is-fumbling-and-bumbling/