October 23, 2009
Pelosi to backdoor public option with trigger

Posted at 8:45 am, in: Health Care
Tags: Barack Obama, Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, Public Option, Senate, White House

Lacking the votes for a “robust public option,” Speaker Pelosi opts to sneak it in with a trigger rather than put it to an actual vote:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi counted votes Thursday night and determined she could not pass a “robust public option” — the most aggressive of the three forms of a public option House Democrats have been considering as part of a national overhaul of health care.

Pelosi’s decision—coupled with a significant turn of events yesterday during a private White House meeting—points to an increasingly likely compromise for a “trigger” option for a government plan.

Administration officials have been telling POLITICO for weeks now that this the most likely compromise because it can probably satisfy liberals—albeit only reluctantly and after many vent frustration and some even threaten to walk away from the bill.

This would clear the way for backers to sneak a limited public option through the Senate by attracting moderate Democrats and then to win President Barack Obama’s signature.

Let me beat this dead horse, again. I don’t care whether opinion polls say the American public wants a “public option” or not. I don’t care what our politicians want. The fact of the matter is, they do not have the constitutional right or authority to do this. If they want to change the constitution to grant themselves that right, there is a process in place for that. Until they have changed the constitution the rest of this debate doesn’t matter.

If we, as a society, are going to continue to accept the abandonment of our founding documents that are the framework in which our Republic must work in order to survive, then we are ensuring our own demise. Abdicating our responsibilities as citizens and letting our elected officials trample our constitution then we have secured and guaranteed our nation’s demise.