American Culture and The Health Law

Americans are inventing  a new kind of human being – a new relationship between one human being and another- and new relationship between the individual and the all.

Thorton Wilder (1897-1975),  a quoted in Thorton Wilder: A Life,  by Penelope Niven , Harper Collins, 2012

I have just completed reading the 810 page  biography of Thorton Wilder,  a quintessential American writer, the author of The Bridge of Saint Luis Rey, Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth,  and the inspiration of Hello Dolly !.    

Wilder was a true patriot – a believer that America had created the most dynamic,  creative,  individualistic, and freedom-loving nation on earth.   

Wilder spent the latter part of  of his life interpreting America,  representing America abroad, and explaining  what America meant to audiences abroad.  He loved America so much he traversed its fruited plains  six times  in his own car to savor “kaleidoscopic “America – stopping often cheeseburger joints,  its motels, and peoples' homes  in out- of- the- way places along the way.

Reading his biography reinforced my belief that in the end America culture will defeat or so radically change ObamaCare so much as to make it unrecognizable.  I have written about this belief in multiple blogs and in unpublished book with this title and subtitle: On American Culture: Posts of a Health Reform Watcher: Given its Awkward Fit with American Culture, Continuing Unpopularity, Broken Promises, Partisan Political Climate, Soaring Costs, Worsening Doctor Shortage, and Implementation  Delays and Tweaks,  ObamaCare May Not Survive

Others have articulated this point of view better than I hsve.

·         Paul Rosenberg in FreemansPerspective.com  in a blog post entitled “Why ObamaCare Will Not Conquer American Culture,” November 1, 2013, in which he says,”Americans expect to choose whenever they want.. Americans expect choices; it is built for individual changes, not collective changes.  This is the DNA of the culture, and no matter what political controlling th liberal ruleship, the culture will simply not fall.

·         Grace-Marie Turner, James Capretta, Thomas Miller, and Robert Moffitt,  Why ObamaCare is Wrong for America: How the New Health Care Law Drives up Costs, Puts Government in Charge of Your Decisions, and Threatens Your Constitutional Rights (Broadside, a Harper Collins Imprint, 2011) who say, “The passage of ObamaCare was deeply polarizing. Never before had Congress passed - and the president signed into law – such sweeping legislation that was so strongly opposed by so many Americans." 

ObamaCare is the central battle over the future direction of our country. It cannot stand. It is a looming disaster for patients- especially seniors- for our economy and for the future of health care in America. It will lead to rationing and government control over health are decisions. The quality of care will decline. Medical progress will slow. And the resulting third-rate health care system will likey bankrupt our country.  The federal government is already racing toward a budgetary train wreck, and ObamaCare will only speed us down the tracks.”

Tweet:   In the long run,  American culture – with its individualism and desire for choice – is unlikely to tolerate and will likely  reject ObamaCare.