ObamaCare vs. Affordable Care Act

While the battle in Washington continues to be waged for a second day, with the House Republicans now offering to return to the constitutional process of funding government operations on a singular basis (the debt ceiling was passed to do bulk funding for WWI and was never repealed), the crux of the debate has been centered around President Obama’s healthcare law.   

This argument has deeply divided the nation between those that believe healthcare should be made available to all individuals versus those that believe that the free market healthcare system, that currently exists, is the better option.   This argument was taken to the streets recently by Jimmy Kimmel who asked the simple question of which is better:  ObamaCare or the Affordable Care Act.

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It is here that we see the real problem.   The average American is deeply disconnected from what is actually being fought over in Washington.  The last proposal by the House Republicans to fund the government was rejected by the Senate because it required the Senate to give up their special exemption and subsidy.  This was recently reported by Michael Graham of the Boston Herald:

"As I write, I have no idea what the status of the “government shutdown” is. Last time I checked, the National Security Agency was still reading my emails and National Public Radio was still broadcasting pro-Obama propaganda, so it doesn’t appear much has changed.

But what I do know is what happened Monday around 10 p.m., because it’s not in dispute:

Every Massachusetts Democrat in Congress voted to keep special cash payments for themselves and for their staffers. They voted to shut down the government rather than give up their special perks.

That’s not ‘we’re ending the world’ spin or ‘Obama-?care will eat your children’ posturing. That’s the fact."

The issue is that we have deeply dysfunctional government that is more concerned with their own special interest rather than doing what is necessary to get the U.S. economy growing again.  However, the average American, who spends most of their daily lives working for paycheck, is deeply misinformed about the current state of the real economy, monetary or fiscal policies or the future impact of a deeply indebted government. 

It is when the full impact of the Affordable Care Act lands on those working class individuals that sentiment will turn deeply negative towards the government as higher costs, and taxes, not only impact their individual standards of living but continues to erode the economic growth in the U.S.

Ray Fournier recently penned that this is likely the beginning of the end for Washington:

"This impasse [government shutdown] could be the breaking point for a political system that has gone from dysfunctional to nonfunctioning.

This may be the beginning of the end of Washington as we know it. A rising generation of pragmatic, non-ideological voters is appalled by the dysfunctional leadership of their parents and grandparents. History may consider October 2013 their breaking point. There will come a time when Millennials aren’t just mad as hell; they won’t take it anymore.

The Republican Party may be splitting apart. The divide is between conservatives who want to limit government and extremists who oppose governing…

Remember the central promise of Obama’s presidency: He will change the culture of Washington. What happened? Obama has not only been taken hostage by the worst of Washington, gridlock and pettiness, but he seems to be suffering from Stockholm syndrome. His criticism of the GOP last week was as petulant as any GOP talking point. While announcing historic negotiations with Iran, a regime that sponsors terrorism, Obama said he wouldn’t bargain with the GOP…

The salt in voters’ wounds is that this fight does not directly address their biggest issue, jobs. It also not about the nation’s long-term, entitlement-fed debt, an existential issue both parties stopped trying to solve…

Millennials don’t fit neatly into either the Democratic or Republican parties. They are highly empowered, impatient, and disgusted with politics today…"

Of course, the problem a large chunk of those millennials believe that "socialism" is better than "capitalism" as they continue to live in their parents basements.