Republican members of the U.S. Congress have a job we all should hope for. They are paid well. They have a lot of perks. When they don’t feel like working, they can instead do a lot of no-value busy work and then throw up their hands and go home for recess.

Before leaving, though, a core of GOP lawmakers said that if they don’t get their way, they will do what they can to stop the government from functioning. By getting their way, they mean that Obamacare — passed by a majority of the House and Senate, affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court and then reaffirmed in last year’s presidential election — must be defunded, or they will wreak havoc.

This is politics by terrorism.

The Republican attack against Obamacare is understandable. They didn’t like it when it got passed without their involvement. They tried unsuccessfully to ride Obamacare opposition to the White House in 2012 — a difficult task, since their nominee had ushered in a strikingly similar plan when he was governor of Massachusetts. In the House, they continue to pass meaningless votes to repeal the act — 40 times — as an empty political gesture.

What they haven’t done is put forth a reasonable alternative.

One could wonder if the goal of Republicans in Congress is to maintain high profits for insurance companies, pharmaceutical interests and others in health care. One could also wonder if Republicans are worried that, once enacted, Americans won’t find the act Draconian. No death panels?

Will Obamacare lead to lower health-care costs, a smaller federal deficit and better health outcomes? The jury is still out on that. But there is good reason to believe that many more Americans will not have to face a financial calamity for medical reasons.

Republicans are placing themselves on the wrong side of that argument.

— Livingston County (Mich.)
Daily Press & Argus