Taking the Backroads

Let’s start with the source of my irritation on this rant.  They’re comments or talking points along the line of “This bill says nothing about (whatever).  Show me where in the bill the (whatever) appears.”

Usually, this is in the form of a comment calling one of us out on things like:

• Death panels
• Illegals getting health care at America’s expense
• Amnesty in “immigration reform”

No, the bills don’t explicitly state any of this.  There is no specific line or paragraph that says “We’re going to give illegals free health care” or “We’re going to ration health care to the old to the point they may die”.  However, the end result is the same, because these bills take the backroads to getting what they want.  Either there’s no enforcement provisions to prevent something, or the bill by its nature will cause something like rationing without having to say so.

It also works the other way.  For example, you can say you’ll make illegals obey the new immigration laws, but they haven’t been made to obey the existing ones.  You can therefore make the reformed laws as tough as you want, fully aware that they’ll never be enforced but look good on paper.  Then you can pretend it’s not amnesty, but the only thing enforced in that path to citizenship will be the citizenship.  However, since the actual lines are there, it’s supporters will use that as plausible deniability.  Michelle Malkin calls it “shamnesty”.

I touch on this trick in The Stupid Politician Tricks Wrap-Up, but it bears repeating.  I still hear attempts to use it, especially by Obama on Disastercare during his 9/9 speech.  And no, what we’re using to call attention to this bill isn’t explicitly stated in the bill.  It will just be the end result.

Filed under: Commentary and Opinion on September 12th, 2009 No Comments