The Jackass and the Barn

"However, when the carpenter (that be Speaker Ryan) was asked yesterday what the plans were for rebuilding, it seems the cat got his tongue."

Sam Rayburn is quoted as saying, "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a carpenter to build one." Well the barn in 2010 was our nation's health care system. And the jackass which kicked it down was the head jackass of the donkey party. Even though he was warned over and over and over again by people much smarter than I, he went ahead and did it anyhow. Not the barn is partly broken and the other part has a serious lean to it.

And the $64,000 question is ----- where do we go from here? The Republicans have been saying for years now that if they ever get back into power, they will pull this cancer called ObamaCare up by the roots! Kill it! And then replace it with something much, much better. In other words, they promised to be the carpenter. The carpenter who could rebuild the barn. However, when the carpenter (that be Speaker Ryan) was asked yesterday what the plans were for rebuilding, the cat seems to have got his tongue.

In 2013, when our health care system first started to become dismantled and molded into this thing called the ACA, our old health care system started to became history. Every year since 2013, the ACA stuck its roots deeper into our economy and national health system. And it is not over yet. This total roll out of ObamaCare is not supposed to finish until 2022.

As we enter the year 2017, the roots of the ACA are so deep and pervasive, to end this thing without significant repercussions will be a balancing act. Now word has it that our incoming President has zero interest in ending ObamaCare unless Ryan has a much shinier penny ready to go at the same time.

On a related note, Congressman Erik Paulsen, whose district contains many medical device manufacturers, cannot wait to gut the "device tax" from the ACA. Should he be able to do that, a plan would need to be hatched where to make up that revenue. Currently, many costs once the ACA went into effect were supposed to have gone away. They have increased instead. So much so, many insurance companies have asked to he dealt out of the game. Then where did many of those costs end up? In higher premiums for the middle class. If the "device tax" goes away, those costs will only climb further.

Not to equate the world of politics with a chess game, but I will anyhow. The Democrats have played this one well. They have boxed the Republicans into a tight corner. Our incoming President does not want to be tagged with the ruin of our nation's healthcare. As bad as the ACA is right now, it is still something.

Right now, there are zero Republican fingerprints on ObamaCare. Once the Republicans become the jackass who kicks down the rest of the barn, the Republicans will own it. If a carpenter is not standing right next to that jackass with plan and tools in hand, it could cost the Republicans dearly in 2018. And the Democrats are counting on that.

One of my former managers told me when we were trying to reconstruct a deal with the Navy something very profound. When I complained how difficult this task was, he told me, "As easy as it is to take a watch apart, very few people can rebuild one. Our success lies in rebuilding this watch." 

Remember that Speaker Ryan. You must rebuild this watch. Be the carpenter and not the jackass. The stakes on this issue could not be higher.