The Annals of Soft-Despotism

"We Know What's Best For You"

When governments would be as God to their people, and when the people think the government speaks with a divine voice, foolishness and stupidity rapidly bud and bloom on the vine.  That's why President Reagan is alleged to have said the most terrifying sentence in the language was, "I am from the government, and I'm here to help."  Governments that pretend to be omni-competent end up being profoundly incompetent, dumb, and stupid, which when coupled with oppression, become very hard to bear indeed. 

Take the much vaunted roll-out of universal, government run, healthcare in the United States--aptly coined "Obamacare".  We are not referring just to the government designed and run websites purportedly allowing folk to research and purchase health insurance--which are proving to be a spectacular failure, with more bugs than a Florida swamp in summer. That's bad enough.  But everyone with half a brain, and with even a very basic idolatry-meter, knows that this is just the beginning. 

Blogger Patterico explains that the bad news is going to keep coming.
 

There are a lot of shoes still to drop on this ObamaCare thing. Commenter JVW sums up much of it nicely:

The first crisis of ObamaCare was the failure of the website rollout. The second is the cancellation of existing policies, regardless of the promises that Dear Leader made. The third will be the sticker shock come the enrollment deadline when practically everyone discovers they are paying more than expected. The fourth will be the completely predictable — except to the administration and its fan club — announcement that instead of reducing the deficit by the $250 billion over 10 years that they promised, ObamaCare is now forecasted to increase the deficit due to the expanded need for subsidies and the drag on economic growth. And the fifth crisis will be the full implementation of the cost control panels, which will impose British-style rationing of health care.

There’s at least one crisis missing from that summary: the crisis that will occur when people learn that their new and improved plans — you know, the ones with the higher premiums and deductibles — also have a smaller network of providers. Thus, after sticker shock, we will get access shock. “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” will be forgotten as people rage about an even more insidious lie: “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”

It’s non-stop bad news for months and months to come.

We have not stopped laughing over the hubris and folly of those brilliant politicians bravely attempting to defend the tsuinami of cancelled, perfectly good (private) health insurance policies because they did not comply with the government approved versions (you know, the ones which require that women are covered for abortions, or pregnancy, or venereal diseases), only to hector these abused clients that their previous insurance was sub-standard and that the new Obamacare replacement policies are sooooo much better.  They will now get coverage for things they will never use nor want, and end up paying four to five times for the privilege.  Ain't that a good deal. 

"We are from the government, we know best, and we are here to help".  The arrogance is breathtaking, and very, very offensive.  It illustrates how paternalistic, shepherding governments always become despotic.  Claiming to know what is best for private, individual citizens morphs into controlling their lives, restricting their choices, and telling them where to line up, and how much they will pay.  Underneath the soft-despot is always a rapacious, adamant tyrant. 

When people turn away from the Living God and His Messiah because they think the yoke is too heavy and the burden too onerous, they end up in unbreakable chains of their own making and in burdens which break their backs. 

We expect that Obamacare will prove to be a classic case study of the evils and perils of soft-despotism.