Symposium

An except from Robert George's contribution to a National Review Online Symposium on health care:

Congratulations to the Republicans for standing firm and united against the giant step that is being taken towards refashioning the United States of America as a European-style social democracy.

As for the Democrats who joined the Republicans in voting against the Obama-Pelosi health bill, their “no” votes should give them no immunity in November. This is not a time for sentimentality. We should target the Democratic “no” voters for defeat no less vigorously than we will be targeting the “yes” voters.

First, many of the Democrat “no” voters were prepared to vote “yes” had their votes been needed to pass the Obama-Pelosi bill. They were given permission by the Democratic leadership to vote “no” in the hope that recording a “no” vote would enable them to hold their seats against Republican challengers by falsely claiming that they opposed this travesty. Second, even the sincere Democrat “no” voters are culpable: Their votes for Pelosi as speaker helped to put the House in the control of left-wing Democrats.