Even While Barack Obama was a candidate for President, Republicans made clear their absolute opposition to giving all Americans access to healthcare. 

A July 29, 2017 Newsweek article, “GOP Aims to Kill Obamacare Yet Again After Failing 70 Times,” states: “Newsweek has found at least 70 Republican-led attempts to repeal, modify or otherwise curb the Affordable Care Act [ACA] since its inception as law on March 23, 2010.” 

This despite the fact that, on June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.  

Barack Obama

Republicans expected June 28 to be their day. The day when the Court struck down the ACA. It would be a day to celebrate—and to revel in the sheer ecstasy of their hatred for the country’s first black President. 

Yet when President Obama sought to provide full medical coverage for all Americans, regardless of wealth, that–-for the American Right–-was a crime beyond forgiveness.

As President Obama’s best-known achievement, its destruction by the Supreme Court would discredit the reputation of its creator. And this would arm Republicans with a potent election-time weapon for making Obama a one-term President.

Among those Right-wingers poised to celebrate on the morning of June 28 was Ohio Congresswoman Jean Schmidt. 

Jean Schmidt

Wearing a white dress, she stood in front of the Supreme Court waiting to hear about the healthcare ruling–-when the joyful news came:

The Court had ruled the Act was not enforceable under the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution! 

Although this was in fact true—and reported on CNN and Fox News—it was not the whole story. A cell phone camera-wielding onlooker spotted Schmidt on her own cell phone.

“Yes!  Yes!” Schmidt screamed.  “Oh, what else?  Thank God!  No, they struck down the individual mandate!  They took it away! Yes!” 

Her fascistic joy manifested itself in ear-splitting screeches and air punches.  Her entire body rocked up and down, shuddering with the ecstasy of passion. She resembled, more than anything else, a woman caught up in the frenzy of an orgasm.In this case, an orgasm of pure, undisguised hatred–-

• for the Affordable Healthcare Act;
• for those millions of uninsured Americans needing healthcare coverage; and,
• above all, for the President himself.

It was a lust so demonic, so characteristic of the all-out, lethal hatred that Republicans aim at Obama, that words alone cannot fully describe it. It had to be seen for its full, revolting quality to be felt. 

Click here: Rep “Mean Jean” Schmidt Wigs Out Thinking Supreme Court Struck Down Health Care Reform – YouTube 

But then came the bad news:

The Court had ruled that the Act was Constitutional under the power of the Congress to levy taxes. Thus, the hated individual mandate—requiring the wealthy to buy insurance—was legal after all.

Republicans’ arguments have been couched in economic terms: It would “bankrupt” the country to provide poor and middle-class Americans with access to the same healthcare provided to the richest 1%. 

The previous President, George W. Bush, had lied the nation into a needless and destructive war with Iraq by repeatedly claiming that: 

• Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden had teamed up to bring on 9/11;
• Saddam was going to get a nuclear weapon; or
• Saddam already had a nuclear weapon and intended to use it against the United States. 

That war cost the lives of 4,486 Americans and well over $1 trillion.

George W. Bush

And Bush—taking a “hands-off-business” attitude—had presided over the 2008 Wall Street “meltdown.” By the time Obama took office in 2009, the unchecked greed and stupidity of wealthy businessmen threatened to bankrupt the country.  

But for the American Right, these weren’t crimes.  They were simply incidents to be ignored or arrogantly explained away.

And there was always the predictable rants about the dangers of “socialized medicine.” (The fact that countries like France and Britain have had “socialized medicine” for decades and are still solvent and powerful has no meaning for these ideologues.)

Not every Republican is a certified member of the Ku Klux Klan or American Nazi Party. nevertheless, it’s the racist and totalitarian ideology of these groups which now guides the leadership of this party.

There are three major reasons for Republicans’ vicious opposition to the Affordable Care Act:

1. It was backed by and implemented under a black President; 
2. Republicans want to placate their “campaign contributors” (i.e., bribers) in the insurance and medical industries; and 
3. By making healthcare unavailable to millions of poor and middle-class Americans, they expect to kill off, by illness and disability, millions of people they despise and consider disposable.

This last goal dovetails nicely with Republicans’ all-out assault on Social Security, Medicare and social services programs. By eliminating these social safety nets, Republicans intend to deprive their recipients of access to food, clothing and shelter.

If this seems outrageous, consider this:

During its invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, the Wehrmacht caused the deaths of millions of captured Russians without firing a shot. They did so simply by fencing them out in the cold without medical care or food.

What Ronald Reagan once said about the leadership of the Soviet Union now applies to the leadership of his own party: “The only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat.”