If Obamacare Is Repealed, Conventional Wisdom is Defeated

After Obamacare was passed into law, those who articulated conventional wisdom argued that “repeal” would be impossible. Instead, we heard that the best anyone could hope for is that sections the law would be reformed. We also were told that the public would totally reject “taking away” healthcare benefits from those who just received them after the law’s passage. A clear warning was sent to Obamacare opponents to move slowly.

Originally, the pragmatists seemed to have history on their side. There is little precedent for an enormous government entitlement being scrapped, and George W. Bush learned how difficult it was to reform an entitlement like Social Security. Overall, politicians prefer to buy votes with other people’s money.

However, a federal judge in Florida today struck down Obamacare, and according to Senator Jim DeMint, all Republican Senators have cosponsored a bill to repeal Obamacare S.192. This comes just a few weeks after the House of Representatives voted to repeal the law, placing the momentum clearly on the side of repeal.

If repeal is ultimately successful, it will not just be a temporary win for small government libertarians. Instead, it will likely galvanize many proponents of limited government to throw conventional wisdom out the window and fight together.

Moreover, if Obamacare is repealed, its ramifications will likely extend beyond Obamacare itself. It would mean that all entitlements are on the table when future budget cuts are proposed, and it will create the precedent necessary to give confidence to those who want to reject the conventional wisdom.