On Hamilton, Madison, the Origin of the Two Parties, Ted Kennedy and the GOP Health Care Bill
Last edited Fri Jun 30, 2017, 07:01 PM - Edit history (1)
Reflecting on 1790 and 2017, and the failure of the GOP:
http://www.borntorunthenumbers.com/2017/06/on-hamilton-madison-origin-of-two.html
"Hamilton was unhappy because his intellectual partner, James Madison, had just launched a broadside attack on Hamilton’s report, a critique that dumbfounded Hamilton. Just two years before, the pair had written 80 of the 85 Federalist Papers that were so instrumental in securing passage of the Constitution, thereby replacing the Articles and setting our nation on its unified course. Madison was the strongest voice in Congress, and his blessing, which Hamilton took for granted, was crucial to passing Hamilton’s plan. But Madison, it turned out, was wary of a strong, centralized government, and he knew the assumption of states’ debts would irrevocably establish the federal government’s preeminence over the states.
And so began the battle still being waged in Washington, DC, today over the power of the federal government. Hamilton and Madison would become arch-enemies, Hamilton (and President Washington) favoring – to put it mildly -- a strong, centralized government, while Madison (joined by the new Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson), fearing the same, and favoring states’ rights instead. The party names have changed since the time of the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, but the Dems and the GOP carry on the debate.
It is hard to find an issue that better exemplifies the two underlying party philosophies than the health care insurance debate. The Dems believe in a strong role for the federal government, expressed through Obamacare, which sought to subsidize health insurance for the previously uninsured through an expansion of Medicaid, paid for by taxing the wealthy, and requiring a commitment of all Americans to enroll in health insurance program, the so-called mandate. The GOP considers Obamacare to be yet another massive federal entitlement program, and for years argued for its repeal and a return to a market-driven system, with no “forced choices” such as the mandate. Once in power, however, Trump realized that simply “repealing” the now-popular Obamacare would leave him and the GOP open to huge criticism, and thus announced a goal to “replace” it as well."
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