As noted frequently on this blog, the Republican Party constantly wraps itself in feigned religiosity, pretends to honor the principles of the Gospels, and claims to be the party of "family values." All are lies and ruses to dupe the ignorant. Especially, the claim of being the family values political party. In truth, the GOP only supports families that are well to do whites who are also preferably knuckle dragging conservative Christians. Families who are non-white, down on their luck financially and/or do not fit the image of the mythical family of Beaver Clever simple are not wanted or welcome. Indeed, the GOP would rather that these families would cease to exist. And to achieve this goal the GOP opposes so-called Obama care that would benefit millions of Americans and seeks to dismantle the social safety net. An editorial in the Washington Post looks at GOP obstruction and those it harms. Here are excerpts:
AFTER PRESSING for months, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) last week finally convinced his legislature to expand the state’s Medicaid program as part of the national restructuring of the health-care system known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA). According to calculations from the Urban Institute, some 212,000 uninsured Michiganders now stand to obtain health-care coverage.
It’s a sad fact that Mr. Snyder deserves congratulations for this accomplishment. You wouldn’t think state leaders would need convincing to accept mountains of federal cash to help people with meager incomes obtain health insurance. But many Republican leaders and activists have waged a disruptive and harmful campaign to complicate, delay and undermine the ACA, which starts phasing in when state insurance markets begin enrolling customers in a month.
The most prominent efforts have been in Congress, where conservatives’ latest move has been to insist on holding the government budget process hostage to obtain cuts in funds intended for ACA implementation. But the most disruptive activity has been at the state level. Twenty-one states have refused to expand their Medicaid programs, blowing a large hole in the ACA’s coverage strategy. The Urban Institute estimates that 5 million people won’t get coverage as a result.
As The Post’s Sandhya Somashekhar reported last week, Republicans at the state level also have applied a variety of less visible measures to impede the law’s implementation. Some won’t enforce consumer protections, including a ban on insurance companies rejecting patients with pre-existing conditions. The result will be illegal discrimination.
Georgia’s state government is doing “everything in our power to be an obstructionist,” Ralph Hudgens, the state’s insurance commissioner, boasted.
Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act. The Supreme Court found most of its provisions to be constitutional. Republicans, having opposed the bill and supported the legal challenge to it, are entitled to be unhappy about the outcome, though in our view they are wrong on the merits. They are not entitled to obstruct and flout the laws of the United States. On the contrary, they have an obligation to cooperate in good faith with wholly legitimate laws duly passed and reviewed by all three branches of government.
Where did the GOP get this mind set? From the "godly Christian" folk and their largely conservative Christian Tea Party first cousins who continue to think that they are above the law. The GOP has been hijacked by those motivated solely by greed and hate. Whenever they begin to blather about family values they need to be condemned loudly. They are liars plain and simple.
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