We small business owners will bear the brunt of the rhinocerus of a health care bill wending its way through Congress, should it pass.
The authors of this measure suffer from the overreach of hubris. Small business owners are a strong ego lot, but our innate tendency to hubris quickly gets beaten down by the real world. To survive, we must learn to take small steps and test them carefully against real world constraints. Most politicians, like rock stars and other people catapulted into celebrity, seem to believe they–and their efforts–are free of such constraints.
But I think reality is setting in on the health care “sausage making” as I see the growing tide of tough questions coming from all directions, including from moderate Democrats. The American people are often liberal when it comes to wanting things from the government but turn conservative when they see the pocketbook impact — and the constraint of their choices and freedoms.
This new Democratic administration behaves like a starving person let loose in a banquet: they’re taking everything to excess. Desperately needed programs start with a core of good ideas, but then everybody’s ideas get welded to the mix. Economic stimulus, energy policy, now health care. All smothered by progressive pile on. It’s too bad; needed changes may again be delayed if these programs all collapse. But in their emerging forms, they should collapse.
Perhaps Obama will emerge a better president from this, with a touch more of the humility of a small business owner.
– This post was inspired by The Arrogance of Health Care Reform
