This past weekend Mitt Romney said that “there are a number of things that I like in [Obamacare] that I’m going to put in place.” Such a revelation is yet another example of why relying on federal politicians -particularly of the Republican persuasion – to restore human liberty is foolish.
Throughout the primary season Romney assured Republican voters that he was against the Affordable Care Act and, if he was elected president, would put an end to it. In June of 2011 he told CNN’s Piers Morgan that “if I’m president I will repeal Obamacare.” (The entire clip is full of gems, and worth watching, if you have the stomach for such things). He continued this promise throughout the debates, and used it a number of times to parry attacks from Rick Santorum on the issue.
That he’s now reversing his rhetoric should come as no surprise. Such flip-flopping is standard fare with Mitt Romney, as virtually everyone is aware; his YouTube collections of contradictory statements and backpedaling are impressive, if not comical for their sheer numbers. Now, this is not to say that other politicians don’t also have similar montages, plenty do, but what’s striking about Romney’s are that some go on for twenty minutes.
No doubt some conservatives and right-leaning independents are surprised and disappointed by this shift, but they had ample warning he would do this. Back in March, even before the primaries had concluded, Romney’s senior campaign advisor, Eric Fehrnstrom, was asked if Romney’s conservative rhetoric would hurt his chances with moderate independent voters. Fehrnstrom replied: “I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again.” We’re seeing this shaking of an Etch A Sketch right now, and continuing to play with someone who’s constantly hitting the “reset button” is just insane, by any common definition.
So, instead of sticking around and hoping that he’ll change twenty years of chameleon-like behavior, conservatives, Republicans, and Right-leaning Independents who want to repeal the Affordable Care Act should give up on the GOP’s progressive big-government candidate. Don’t play the GOP’s Etch A Sketch game, smash the Etch A Sketch into a million pieces! Join with the Tenth Amendment Center and continue the work to nullify the act at a state or local level. Here is where real change can take place, and where it can be done effectively, without everything hinging on some guy with what must be the world record of flip-flopping videos
- ‘A Collection of Politicians in Robes’ - November 24, 2014
- Hemp is Back, Finally - October 22, 2013
- ‘We’re Actually in Charge’ - August 7, 2013