Sods of Plastic

You thinking what I’m thinking?

Or better yet, you thinking what I concluded back in 1996?

What exactly does the GOP stand for?

Healthcare has been their issue throughout the Obama Administration. They attempted to repeal it sixty times while he was in office. Mostly this was a dog and pony because they knew they didn’t have the votes. It was all show and no go. And we understood that. But after the 2016 election with a Republican president and Republican Congress and Senate, it seemed a sure thing. Those of us who were harmed by Obamacare * saw some relief in the near future. But last night, July 27, 2017, it didn’t happen.

Holding the majority in both houses and the executive branch, the GOP still can’t seem to get things done.

Could it be the problem is nothing was offered to replace it? Nope. Prior to the repeal vote failure, the GOP offered what some deemed Obamacare Lite. And that stalled. Which is good because that was still a government program for healthcare, surely destined to fail and complicate the subject even further. No one offered repealing government healthcare and repealing government involvement in healthcare.

Could it be just a few problem people? Nope. The GOP hasn’t been the party of small government for decades. That includes the mythological Reagan era. It’s been so bad that David Horowitz was practically begging the GOP to either get serious or get lost back in 1999. They’ve had the chance on several occasions to back a real small government candidate for president and have all but ignored them. I’m thinking particularly of Rand Paul in 2016 and twice before him, his father, Ron Paul. You might have to go back to 1964 when the GOP backed Barry Goldwater to see the last time the party stood with a small government candidate for the highest office of the land.

1996 was the first year I became active in politics. It was the first year I picked up my first book on the subject (outside of college) and did some edumacting of myself on the issues. That book was “Why Government Doesn’t Work” by the late, great Harry Browne. I bought it a few days after seeing a two minute clip of Harry Browne being interviewed on CNN. After that brief interview, I felt I found a political house. So I needed to investigate that house to make sure it was a home. And I turned to reading.

I’m happy to say it did turn out to be a nice home. The Libertarian Party has yet to disappoint me in terms of a platform. Some of the candidates haven’t been the best and we sometimes have our clowns, okay, so what? Every party has a clown. In fact, by the very definition of party, it’s not one unless you have a clown.

Well the GOP has had its share of clowns, offering up the current president as the greatest Bozo of them all. And I wouldn’t care if he acted like he acts or the GOP acted goofy at times if they just got this small government game going. But they’re not.

Republicans campaign like Libertarians, but govern like Democrats. I heard this decades ago and it was on full display last night with the failed skinny repeal of Obamacare vote. As not to paint too broad a stroke, there are a few, very few, small government people in the GOP like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Justin Amash. But there’s not enough to make a difference. It should be bleach white, crystal clear by now that the GOP isn’t the party that’s going to give us small government. We’ve waited long enough for more of the right people to get in there. Time to go where the right people already are.

That is with the Libertarian Party.

The Libertarian Party is the lifeboat you small government loving people need to be rowing out to. You think the LP doesn’t have a shot due to small voting returns? Well you’re not getting what you want now. It makes no sense to stay in a domestic abuse relationship just because every now and then the abuser brings you flowers. Better to take a chance with a new relationship than stick around with a lover who routinely cheats on you.

What does the GOP stand for? I have no idea. And neither do you. They are so elastic, bendable, and plastic that the only constant seems to be that right now, all the GOP can brag about is that they’re not the Democrats. I think we can do better. I think it’s time for you last holdouts to leave, jump ship and join the Libertarian Party. You want government out of healthcare? The LP is your only shot. Together we can find a cure.

I initially titled this essay Gods of Plastic but found out there’s a professional Frisbee team with this name and I didn’t want to tarnish their good name by associating them with the GOP I’m talking about. Because nobody should be associating with the GOP I’m talking about.

* In 2012, I was diagnosed with colon cancer and all my treatments were covered by my insurance plan. In 2014, I was diagnosed with liver cancer and to this date, I am paying off debt from not only then, but as new bills come in for continuing treatments and testing. My plan changed due to Obamacare for the worse.