Diary: Republicans May Not Really Oppose Health Bill

In some quarters, those who oppose the Administration's Health Bill are condemned and insulted as being Republican. But, there are plenty of Democrats, and Independents and Progressives and others who oppose the legislation as well, calling it, rightly, The Insurance Industry Windfall Bill.

What is needed, of course, is a Single Payer system that would remove private health insurers from the public health system...a move that would not only drastically reduce health costs but also eliminate the atrocious Conflicts Of Interest which has for-profit insurers owning many Billions Of Dollars of holdings in the worst health-damaging industries on Wall Street. That includes oil, fracking, military weapons, coal, nukes, pesticide-soaked cigarettes, etc, and Pharms that make tobacco pesticides.

But, here's the big mystery. Why would the Bizness Uber Alles Party, the Repugs, work to deny this windfall to Big Insurance and their investment properties? Is there any big PR campaign, with full-page ads and TV spots etc, by the insurers to condemn and unseat the Repugs who oppose the Bill? None that I've heard of.

This raises suspicion that Republican opposition to the Bill is a sham, designed to fail...that it is just a big theatrical production to convince right wing voters that their representatives (including Governors etc) tried their best to defeat a "liberal" black president and his "Obamacare". Perhaps it is understood that this Supreme Court will let the mandate go forth despite Commerce Clause questions.

It is telling that a potentially quite effective Free Speech argument against the mandate is not being tried by Republicans. This would be based on Constitutional prohibitions against Compulsory Speech, especially when that speech (with words and money) incidentally supports insurers' political campaign funding (for candidates we may not choose) and their lobbying (for laws we may oppose).

Even if that Constitutional tactic fails, to simply have the Compulsory Speech, campaign funding, lobbying, and conflict-of-interest issues widely discussed would turn many away from the mandate, and from private insurers, towards Single Payer. That may be exactly why Republicans don't take that path.

Another big mystery is---Why doesn't the single-payer-supporting left take that direction? Is it fear of accusations of being right-wing or racist?
But, with Obama more obviously than ever morphing into Baby Bush II, any fears of seeming to have racial bias against him are increasingly unjustified.