It appears as if Republican members of Congress are attempting to exempt themselves from some of the more brutal aspects of Trumpcare. But this is a different kind of exemption than their previous “exemption.”

A few years ago, you might’ve heard just about every Republican member of Congress, along with Fox News and AM talk radio, shrieking about how members of Congress are “exempted” from Obamacare. The point they were trying to make is that Obamacare is so awful and so ridiculous that the Obama administration offered Congress a Get-Out-Of-Obamacare-Free card.

Taking it one step further, they insisted that if Obamacare isn’t good enough for Congress, why should the American people be forced to endure its awfulness? The people should be exempted, too. It’s difficult to encapsulate in any language, living or dead, the sheer intellectual violence of this lie.

Rewind to the marathon healthcare reform debate in 2009.

In an effort to flim-flam the Democrats, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) proposed an amendment that forced members of Congress and congressional staffers to abandon the existing Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan and, instead, to sign up for Obamacare in the health insurance marketplaces just like ordinary Americans. Again, the point was to illustrate the shoddy and undesirable nature of Obamacare, and, subsequently, how the Democrats would balk at the notion, thus undermining their own pitch for how great the law will be.

But the Democrats called Grassley’s bluff and accepted the amendment.

Meanwhile, every day, a Dem Legislator could inset into the Congressional Record how many more Americans have died that day needlessly due to Republican indecision and hand-wringing. As the body count rises, and the premiums and co-pays continue to go through the roof, the message would get through.

I love it.

In fact, I’d say the Democrats’ best strategy is to spend the rest of this Congressional term crafting the legislation to do it, in the open, involving all the real stakeholders. “Crafting the legislation” doesn’t mean that Democrats have to somehow get Republican-controlled committees to formally consider the question. It’s something that can take place outside of Congress…again, in the open, in stark contrast to McConnell’s bill crafted in the fetid darkness of his shell.

The important thing is to have a concrete proposition to present to voters in the spring of 2018: Give us a veto-proof majority, and this is the law we’ll enact.

I find that satisfying not just for the way it advances a moral goal, but also because it’s something the Democrats have needed for a long time, to slap them out of their corporatist neoliberal stupor. The party would be forced to grow at the same time.

And how about this?

The Republicans have disrupted the medical care market so badly and so irreparably that only one thing can restore stability: a single payer system. We already have a popular and organized plan in place that can easily be expanded to take over and bring order out of chaos. Simply expand Medicare to the entire population.

The Republicans justify all their actions by invoking the public dissatisfaction and hatred of Obamacare. The only problem is is that there is NO general dissatisfaction and hatred of Obamacare; they made it all up and now they have come to believe it themselves so totally they can’t see the obvious staring them in the face..

Actually, I’m starting to get slightly optimistic about all this. The GOP has destroyed its credibility and lost its constituency because of their greed and fearmongering. If the Dems don’t screw this up, all they really have to do is sit tight and let the the entire Conservative movement implode. The Left will be the only ones left still standing to pick up the pieces.

Unfortunately, there will be a price to pay. Several hundred thousand, maybe several million, people will die needlessly of preventable and curable diseases and injuries simply because the Right doesn’t want to pay its fair share of its taxes. It will be up to us to make sure that those deaths are not forgotten, or hidden, or swept under the rug. It will be up to us to see that they are avenged.

And seriously, the Democrats are starving for a clear, simple, easily-articulated cause. Something to wash the nasty taste of neoliberalism [ptooie] and corporatism [spit] from our mouths.

And any attempt to pass something AFTER the mid term will only be faced with 2+years of GOP bumbling and incompetence.

They can’t blame this on the Libs, Hillary, or Obama, they OWN health care now. In fact, they’ve owned it since Trump stole the election.

Things could change tomorrow, of course, but right now it looks like the GOP is drowning in its own lies. And its their own constituency that is suffering from these draconic health care plans.

Its not going to affect me. They have to finally put Obamacare to rest and get safely past the consequences of that before they can come after Medicare and Social Security. By that time, I’ll probably be dead. At any rate, that’s what I’m counting on.

It’s no country for young men.

and even with that bit of cowardice it still may not pass….

And the CBO will be rating plans not by how many people lose their insurance, but by how many people lose their lives.