ObamaCare: Things Every State Should No

Losing the White House was tough, but in two years, conservatives may look back and realize they won the foundation for the future--in the states. Republicans' moderate message may have blown it nationally, but conservatism continued to rack up governorships at a surprising clip. After last Tuesday's election, they now control 30 of the 50 states' top jobs--the most for either party since 2000. Even North Carolina, which had gone 24 years without a Republican at the helm, elected one. Obviously, November 6 was not the failure of conservative principles that some pundits are painting it as. Instead it was a failure of Washington to lead by those principles.

In the states, voters are rewarding the men and women who govern without compromise on strong values, limited government, and fiscal responsibility. They've seen the benefits of it as more states reap prosperity from lower taxes, reformed entitlements, and budget surpluses where there were once deficits.

Today, these governors have an opportunity to do something equally significant: hold the line on the President's health care law. As we speak, conservative governors from across the country are meeting in Nevada with one burning question on their minds. Will they bar the door from ObamaCare or give in to the temptation to join the health care exchanges in their states? Because of how the policy is structured, the road to ObamaCare leads straight through the governors' desks. Based on the Supreme Court's decision, the federal government has to implement the President's program, but it cannot force states to run it. So don't fall for the line from governors like Rick Scott who are now saying that ObamaCare is the law of the land and suddenly states have to fall in line. They don't.

With 60% of states under GOP management, 180 million people have plenty of reasons for optimism. As FRC's Ken Klukowski explains in an excellent op-ed for Breitbart today, "If a state refuses to set up [a health care exchange], then the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will set up the exchange, but there will be no subsidies." The states that do participate will have to bear 10% of the financial responsibility for the health care law. But, as many governors, including Iowa's Terry Branstad pointed out today, "We don't want to get trapped in something we can't afford and can't be sustained."

That's because there is absolutely no guarantee that the federal government will have the money to hold up its end of the bargain in states every year. That opens up these governors to huge liabilities in the future. If Washington runs out of ways to finance its 90% share of the exchange, then it will simply transfer the burden to states. And, as Ken points out, once you're in--you're in. Governors who agree now are permanently putting their states on the hook for the 2,700-page law and the thousands of regulations issued by HHS in the years to come. "New regulations are coming out all the time, so the federal government has a blank check to profoundly change the [states'] system anytime it chooses."

The deadline for the governors' decisions is this week, although Republicans have asked for an extension. While this sounds like a no-brainer, even conservative governors have a lot to lose. Remember what happened to Governor Rick Perry when he zeroed out Planned Parenthood? The Obama administration retaliated by stripped his state's Medicaid funding. There is no telling what the President will threaten by way of federal programs or assistance if states refuse to join his exchange. But if these governors have the strength to withstand the pressure now, they'll be glad they did in five years, when other states are going bankrupt from the influx of poor people, the lack of federal help, the exodus of doctors to states without big government medicine, and the loss of sovereignty on a whole host of issues (like conscience).

Do your part to push your state in the right direction. Pick up the phone and encourage your governor to say "yes" to the future by saying "no" to ObamaCare now!

A General Nuisance

Of all the ridiculous opinions I've heard on General David Patreaus's scandal, Doris Kearns-Goodwin's takes the cake. On Sunday's "Meet the Press," the Harvard graduate actually suggested that Americans should excuse the marital betrayal of leaders like General Petreaus because it limits the number of "good people" in public life. "I wish we could go back to the time when private lives of our public figures were relevant only if they directly affected their public responsibilities..." she said. "What would we have done if FDR had not been our leader because he had an affair with Lucy Mercer? Think of the productive years that Clinton could have had if Monica Lewinsky hadn't derailed them. We've got to figure out a way that we give a private sphere for our public leaders. We're not gonna get the best people in public life if we don't do that."

Think about it. The man running our nation's top clandestine organization couldn't keep his own affair secret. And he's one of the best people we have in public service? How can Kearns-Goodwin define our greatest leaders as the ones who violate their most sacred vows or who think the oath of office is more important than the oath of marriage? Or is she suggesting that people whose own family can't trust them should somehow be trusted by their fellow citizens? If General Petraeus will compromise here, what's to say he won't or didn't compromise elsewhere?

This idea that character doesn't matter runs completely counter to God's instructions for choosing leaders. While I Timothy 3 speaks directly to church hierarchy, the principles also apply elsewhere. A leader "is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect."

Apart from what Scripture says, consider where a lack of moral standards in government has led. The breaches of integrity in Europe are almost epidemic--and look where those countries are: in complete economic, political, and spiritual turmoil. That didn't happen because the "best people" were in charge. It happened because the truly good people didn't hold them accountable.

PRESS RELEASE

November 29, 2012
Family Research Council Legal Experts Available to Discuss SCOTUS Decision on Marriage Cases

November 13, 2012
Family Research Council Webcast to Highlight Religious Persecution Worldwide

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OP-EDS

November 29, 2012
Ken Blackwell
Independence Forever! Don't Ratify the UN Disabilities Treaty

November 29, 2012
Ken Blackwell and Bob Morrison
Getting It Wrong About The Palestinians

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