Soccer Dad

Whatever happened to consent of the governed?

The editors of the Washington Post wrap up an editorial The public deserves a hearing for a Medicare appointee with:

Dr. Berwick, as we have said previously, comes to the job with impeccable qualifications and broad support, including that of three Republican predecessors at the CMS. But he has made numerous controversial statements about which Republicans ought to have been able to question him fully. It's unfortunate that Mr. Baucus and the administration seem disinclined to have that happen, and it lends credence to suggestions that the administration was motivated not only by the asserted need for speed but also by a desire to avoid a public debate about Dr. Berwick's views.

Which leads to:

Who is playing political games now?

In it's endorsement of candidate Obama, the editors of the Washington Post wrote:

But Mr. Obama's temperament is unlike anything we've seen on the national stage in many years. He is deliberate but not indecisive; eloquent but a master of substance and detail; preternaturally confident but eager to hear opposing points of view.

Of course there was never any evidence that Obama wanted to hear opposing points of view and now it's clear that he certainly doesn't want voters to hear them.

Continuing this disturbing line of thought is Charles Krauthammer with Beware the Lame Duck.

It's a target-rich environment. The only thing holding the Democrats back would be shame, a Washington commodity in chronically short supply. To pass in a lame-duck session major legislation so unpopular that Democrats had no chance of passing it in regular session -- after major Democratic losses signifying a withdrawal of the mandate implicitly granted in 2008 -- would be an egregious violation of elementary democratic norms.

Perhaps shame will constrain the Democrats. But that is not to be counted on. It didn't stop them from pushing through a health-care reform the public didn't want by means of "reconciliation" maneuvers and without a single Republican vote in either chamber -- something unprecedented in American history for a reform of such scope and magnitude.

As Krauthammer observed in the beginning of his article, President Obama (and his legislative majorities) have spent all their political capital passing sweeping changes in our economic life; even bypassing the usual norms to pass what they wanted. Now will they continue flouting the legislative ground rules to preserve and even expand the role of government that they've imposed on us?