Karl Rove Misses the Point on Health Care

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove says the Republicans are “winning the health care debate” and that “passing health-care reform could be harmful to the health of congressional Democrats.”

This, of course, is beside the point. If enacted, a massive expansion of government into the health care industry is unlikely to be reversed even if the GOP wins control of the Congress as a result in 2010 or 2012. With this new health care entitlement in place, the Republicans would be relegated even in victory to a role like that of the Tories in Britain, arguing over exactly how much taxpayer money to spend instead of whether to spend it at all. Accepting what is likely to be a permanent expansion of the size and scope of government for the sake of short-term electoral gain, as Rove does, seems like a poor trade-off for conservatives.