John Raese Quotes
Why do I hate Obamacare? Because it is a blast against freedom. It is a socialist program which will not work. It hasn't worked anywhere in the world. It will be repealed.
Raese, John. "West Virginia Senate Debate." C-SPAN, National Cable Satellite Corporation, 11 Oct. 2012.
In 1955 Jonas Salk invented his polio vaccine. A bill was introduced in Congress to provide the vaccine free to all children:. At the time, very conservative politicians like Hobby, wanted no connection between the government and the health and medical system other than what the military did. What was ironic and made Hobby's view all the more unpopular was the fact that Dr. Salk, refused to patent his vaccine and gave it free to all. (See {628275}.) The only cost that was required was for the small amout that had to be paid to the manufacturers to produce the vaccine. The the government cost was very small.
Under his leadership the conservative Republicans had attempted and failed dozens of times to repeal Obamacare which many Republicans campaigned against in the 2012 Presidential election which they also lost. The irony was that even if a repeal were to possibly pass both housed of Congress, President Obama announced that he would veto the repeal. This futile and repetitive wast of time took place where the House was so extreme that it originated almost no legislation that every became law. The conservative Republicans had opposed every attempt to provide a national health system since they blocked President Truman from it. Yet Medicare was passed and became one of America’s most popular programs. Conservatives blocked all efforts to expand Medicare to cover all Americans until President Obama in his first term passed Obamacare. Since then they made all these attempts to repeal it.
For most of the opponents of Obamacare, it was definitely about health care. For a few like Paul, the fact that under Obamacare, it was the fact that it was mandatory for everyone who could afford it to buy health insurance that was unacceptable. The government in a free country in his view should not require citizens to buy a specific product. Obamacare supporters observe that society has an interest in that if someone who refuses to buy health insurance gets seriously ill, our societal mores will require his to be treated and we all have to pay for that treatment. Without the government mandate, a group of people will simply get a free ride, getting health care if they need it, but never contributing their fair share. Paul and many libertarians do not deny the argument or its basis. They simply argue that such a mandate is unacceptable even for a very worthy purposes. Any loss of essential freedom, can be—and often has been—justified be numerous worthy reasons. Slave owners used to justify slavery be all the good it did for society, economic development, culture, etc. Principled libertarians also oppose, the draft, government wiretapping, drug illegality, and many other steps where some freedom is lost – given up for a worthy purpose.
John Reeves Raese is an American businessman and perennial Republican Party candidate for political office in West Virginia. He has lost campaigns to represent West Virginia in the United States Senate in 1984, 2006, 2010, and 2012. He was also defeated in the Republican primary in the election for Governor of West Virginia in 1988.
