The Repeal Pledge
Ricochet contributor Heather Higgins is up to something very interesting. In her recent post, she calls it "mischief." It is a little mischievous, but it's also a really smart idea.
It's called The Repeal Pledge. The idea is to get incumbents, challengers, and -- here's what I really like about it -- citizens to pledge the repeal of Obamacare. It's a newer, more urgent version of Newt's Contract with America. Here's how it's described on the site:
Congress and the Administration disregarded the clear will of the people in enacting the government takeover of our medical care; we must deauthorize, defund, and REPEAL it.
To do so, we must create accountability, so there is no more saying one thing and doing another. There are three interlocking building blocks that together create accountability:
- Incumbents must take an action-oriented pledge that promises to DO everything they can do to make repeal a reality, and be held to it.
- Challengers must take an action-oriented pledge that promises that if elected they will DO everything they can do to make repeal a reality, and makes clear what they would be doing now if they were the incumbent.
- American citizens must let our political leaders know we mean it. As more of us sign the People’s Promise, two things happen:
- Members and candidates know we won’t vote for them unless they’ve taken The Repeal Pledge, so there will be pressure to sign their own pledges.
- And longer term we let the political leadership know that we expect this promise to be fulfilled, and are holding them accountable.
So sign the Pledge. Help us get other candidates to sign – your voice matters. ShareThis with other citizens who care about the future of quality medical care, and the future of America.
Obama, whether he likes it or not, is on the ballot in November. So is his misbegotten agenda. The clearer and more resoundingly we make that repudiation, the better. The Repeal Pledge, seems to me, is a great way to do that.
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Comments :
May '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Umm. Don't know where my email, phone number, home address, Twitter name and Facebook name are going -- it's not explained how they are to be used. I'm disinclined to hand all that over to any cause -- even to Heather. Also don't like promising my vote away. The pledge requires politicians to "do everything they can," but demands citizens not vote for anyone that has not taken the pledge. I'm not opposed in principle, but don't cotton to the idea of placing a condition like that on my vote. Why not language that says "support candidates that sign the pledge." Sorry, just saying...
Jun '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Repeal without replace is to offer a pig in a poke. Leave what? The status quo? -- This would be my pledge:
This I Believe:
The health care system in America is broken. Costs are rising at an unacceptable rate. Too many patients feel trapped by health care decisions dictated by insurers and HMOs. Too many doctors are torn between practicing medicine and practicing insurance. And some 47 million Americans worry what will happen to them or their children if they get sick.
Universal access to high quality health care is possible, and Americans are justified to expect it. ...America needs to build the best health care in the world. We need to empower patients, and reduce the power of government and insurance bureaucrats. Every American should be able to get the care they need.
We will move closest to this goal when we promote the same innovation and competition in health care that we see in every other American industry. America should achieve universal access in a way that puts individual Americans in charge of their own health care decisions
Therefore, I Pledge to support The Patient's Choice Act
(Totally cribbed from Sen Tom Coburn)
Edited on Sep 21, 2010 at 10:05amAug '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Obviously Obamacare needs to be repealed but we have to be careful how we do it. An out-and-out repeal ain't gonna happen unless you get enough Republicans to override an Obama veto.
I've read some talk about defunding provisions of it but I'm not sure that's a wise course. If the Republicans successfully defund parts of this than Obama can say in 2012 that his plan would've worked but the Republicans wouldn't fund it. Healthcare funding will still be a mess in 2012 so we have to be careful not to give the Dems cover in that pivotal election.
We need to get our best and brightest on this - Ricochet contributors?
Jul '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Good thing Castle lost...he said he wouldn't repeal it. (if I remember correctly)
Sep '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
What I wouldn't give to return to the March 22nd status quo on health care. I signed the pledge.
Jun '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Mack The Mike
What I wouldn't give to return to the March 22nd status quo on health care. I signed the pledge. · Sep 21 at 11:30am
If by "status quo" you mean a clean slate with Republicans ready to offer a realistic free-market solution to universal access that actually bends the cost curve downward, I agree. If "status quo" means no recognition that there is an unsustainable healthcare system that leaves millions as free-riders at the same time that the rest of us are getting priced out of the market, then no.
Sep '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Our conservative politicians don’t convey the message that government spending is not like private-sector spending.
P.J. O'Rourke describes the four types of spending by example of a new set of golf clubs, perfectly by the way. Anyway, you can 1) spend your money on yourself, 2) spend someone else’s money on you, 3) spend your money on someone else, or 4) spend someone else’s money on someone else. These four ways profoundly affect your motivation for the quality and cost of whatever you’re buying. In 1, you want good quality for a reasonable cost. In 2, you’ll get best quality regardless of the cost. For 3, only so-so quality at the lowest cost possible. And 4, the realm of almost all government spending, ends up with low quality and high cost (hence only slight embarrassment for 55 L.A. jobs on $111M spent).
In a government healthcare takeover, the abysmal quality concern is exacerbated by formal accountability limits. For example, damages under the Manitoba's medical malpractice law are limited to $30,000 (Canadian $’s!) to the spouse of the deceased. You know that cap figures into their quality/cost decisions.
May '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Hmmm. I'm torn.
Reasonable people can differ on tactics, even strategy, in achieving conservative goals in healthcare. No need to alienate voters who favor a more realistic incremental undermining of Obamacare's more nasty provisions over the next two years (which, afterall, is all we're capable of doing) by insisting on all-or-nothing, do-it-now purity.
The most sensible stategy might very well be a couple years of guerrilla hits--all the while letting Dems own the problems they've caused (and even some they haven't)--while we prepare the battlefield for our major offensive in Jan. 2013.
Jun '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Thanks, Michael for the O'Rourke quotes - amusing and right on. However, there's a fallacy in your medical malpractice cap argument. The cap can be anything you like and the provider will insure the risk. Once insured, the costs are in the system (and on your bill.) Some efforts are made by the carriers to improve quality (reduce risk) but most of the med mal costs are for incidents that were simply unavoidable at any reasonable cost. The crap shoot nature of compensation under the tort system is a very expensive means of marginally affecting quality, cost of which are borne by all. (Paging Tommy de Seno...a conservative tort lawyer Contributor should start a thread on this one)
Sep '10
Re: The Repeal Pledge
I'm with Pilgrim--the status quo is pretty bad. I was contemplating this the other day (for my day job), and I realized that one of the reasons that the individual / small business market is such a mess is the same reason you cannot buy a car on Sunday in many states: benefits of improving the system accumulate to the many, but only on the margin. Benefits of the status quo benefit the few, who are organized to sustain it.
Re: The Repeal Pledge
Thanks Rob. Just quickly: giving almost all info for people signing the People's Promise portion is discretionary - we're collecting only what you want to give us, but as so many people want to do things through facebook and twitter, and get alerts that way, we're open to accomodating.
Re Replace - absolutely. If you go to the home page it talks about what the principles are that we need for something that is effective in solving the problems the system had even before ObamaCare came along, and in my view, exacerbated it.
Re Repeal: read the pledge -- one of the things that makes it different is that it talks about all the incremental steps that might be taken between now and the capacity to override a veto (or not have one), as well as applying now. BTW, Coburn loves it and was one of the first signers.
Off to DC! TV in the AM, then Grover's meeting - Cheers all - H.