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The Right doesn’t give a frick about consensus

September 28, 2010 on 3:01 pm | In General, Health Care, Politics | 2 Comments

Quite a while ago I wrote complaining about Obama’s health care package. Despite having a majority in both the Senate and the House, he waited a year pushing his proposal. He conducted town hall meetings, he tried to form a consensus with the Right, he went on TV to explain his plan, etc…

In the end the bill which was passed was not what Obama or the Left wanted. Despite having a clear majority, the plan he wanted was destined to fail because of his desire to explain and compromise and build a consensus with those who oppose him.

A friend of mine responded in the comments to defend Obama and wrote that Obama did not want to be accused of pushing a plan down America’s throat.

The fact that Obama went WAY out of his way to have a bipartisan bill which the Republican unanimously rejected anyway will hurt the Republicans more than it will hurt Obama.

But that’s not how the Right operates. They don’t look at situations and facts objectively. 18% still believe that Obama is a Muslim, despite all the objective evidence against it and the complete lack of objective evidence in favor of it.

The Right doesn’t give a shit about compromise or building a consensus. It’s their way or nothing. (example 1, 2 and 3, 4) To them their positions are correct, and if you disagree with them, you’re guilty of treason.

Stephen Dodson is a Rightwinger who is angry about the health care bill which was eventually passed. He supports the Repeal Amendment which would allow the legislatures of 2/3 of the states to repeal any federal law or regulation. He says:

“There has to be some ways to control what the government is doing,” Dodson said. “It seems like right now they are not listening to what the voters are saying. It seems they are doing more things behind our backs and behind closed doors.”

See! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Despite the fact that Obama bent over backwards trying not to shove anything down anyone’s throat, that’s exactly what the Right is accusing him of. It simply does not matter how much bending over the Left does. It will never be enough. To the Right any plan initiated by the Left is by definition the wrong plan.

When will the Left learn this? Until they do, the Right will always be in power in the US. Even with a majority in the House and in the Senate and a President in the White House, the Left is still powerless.

Update: You can find a great comic on this topic right here.