Wednesday Links: Obamacare and Other Expansions of Government

Daniel Larison is skeptical that there’s a political constituency for repealing Obamacare. He argues that “discontent with the bill will come later as all of its measures take effect after the repeal strategy has been tried and found electorally lacking.” That doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying, though—not least because the Left views this monstrous bill as merely a first step towards still more federal involvement in health care. Sen. Jim DeMint’s short-and-sweet bill is a step in the right direction.

Steven Spruiell offers a three-step guide to socializing an industry: 1) the government subsidizes private firms; 2) the government creates a “public option” to “compete” with the private firms that have grown fat on subsidies; 3) the government federalizes the whole industry on the grounds that the “public option” is cheaper and doesn’t funnel money to private firms. Solution: don’t subsidize industries in the first place.

Apropos of nationalizing firms, Rep. Barney Frank worries that investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac might not be terribly sound. Good thing the federal government “invested” so much money on behalf of taxpayers over the past year!

While we’re on the subject of bad ideas, FEMA’s director has proposed federal disaster insurance as an alternative to federal bailouts for those who suffer a catastrophe. Of course, like federal flood insurance, such a policy effectively rewards those who choose to live in high-risk areas. Furthermore, disaster relief isn’t necessarily a federal responsibility at all, as President Calvin Coolidge argued after the 1927 Mississippi floods.

And last but not least, Armor Games offers an addictive distraction from this week’s gloomy politics (via Jonah Goldberg), and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is raising money for an education center.