No one ever said Freedomworks had any care for racial sensitivity, but yesterday's call to support "nullification of Obamacare" in South Carolina seems calculated to stir up even more white resentment than there is already.
In a newsletter sent to their members Sunday, Freedomworks' Vice President Adam Brandon called for more members to join the battle to repeal, or in South Carolina's case, nullify Obamacare:
Last Tuesday, FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe gave the keynote address at a rally to support nullifying ObamaCare in South Carolina. Progressives are watching this fight all across America. They know that if ObamaCare is nullified, it could be the end of Obama’s radical health care takeover.
Matt went down to South Carolina to cheer on this important effort. The State House already passed the measure. Now it’s the Senate’s turn to act.
Nullifying ObamaCare in South Carolina could set a precedent for the rest of the country. Americans are fed up with the health care takeover. Premiums are going up across the country. Hard working citizens are losing their coverage. The economy is in trouble and ObamaCare only makes it worse.
By right-wing standards, that rhetoric is actually pretty mild, except for that term "nullification." South Carolina's nullification crisis in 1832 foreshadowed the issues which framed the Civil War 30 years later. Here we are today using the same kind of rhetoric and inflammatory language over...health care?
There is pending legislation in the South Carolina statehouse which would offset the individual mandate with a state tax deduction. The term "nullify" is used in the language of the legislation, though what it proposes would not be nullification. SC State Senator Tom Davis seems to be a bit squeamish over the term nullification, so he proposes to remove the "nullify" from the legislation while strengthening it in ways that essentially nullify it.
Davis’ amendment, which he plans to introduce next week, would make it against the law for state agencies or local governments to help people buy insurance on the federal health exchange. It also would ban the state from ever accepting federal money to expand Medicaid, the joint federal and state health insurance program for the poor. (The Legislature declined to accept that money last year.)
And it would ban state agencies – or any group that receives state money – from taking federal money to help people sign up for health coverage on the federal insurance marketplace. Also, any group that takes federal money to help people sign up for health insurance would have to be licensed and regulated by the state, including having “navigators’ pass a written exam, and complete various training and certification requirements.
One of those groups is the S.C. Progressive Network, which partnered with the Cooperative Ministry to receive a $98,000 federal grant to pay 11 navigators to help people sign up for health insurance. The city of Charleston allowed some navigators to use city-owned buildings and computers to meet with people and help them sign up for insurance. Davis’ amendment would make Charleston’s assistance illegal.
They are falling on their puny, dull little swords with this, and Freedomworks knows it. They're certainly not above stirring up their base with loaded terms, but later in the very same newsletter, there is this:
Have you chosen your Prescription for America yet?
FreedomWorks is asking patriots like you what ObamaCare should be replaced with. We know the health care takeover will fail. Millions of Americans have already lost their coverage. ObamaCare is adding trillions to our national debt. We can’t afford this new entitlement and we can’t afford to lose any more jobs.
That’s why FreedomWorks wants you to choose alternative free market reforms.
It’s easy: all you have to do is choose your top reform options. FreedomWorks will soon tally your choices and present them to lawmakers in Congress. This is your chance to influence public policy and choose a REAL alternative to ObamaCare.
Do you think health care should be portable? Should the federal government get out of the health care business? Should workers be allowed to have tax-free Health Savings Accounts?
ObamaCare can’t be replaced with a free-market alternative unless you make your voice heard.
Suddenly the Nullify Brigade wants to come up with a replacement that looks remarkably like all of the failed reforms proposed by Republican throughout the ages? My favorite entry on their 'prescription list' was this one:
I think South Carolina and the Authoritarian Republic of Freedomworks would secede immediately if the latter actually happened. But do we really want to fight another Civil War over health care?
