Victor Davis Hanson‘s latest column at National Review Online contrasts ideologues with standard-issue politicians.
Politicians glad-hand, pander, and kiss babies as they seek to become megaphones for majority opinions. But ideologues are different. They often brood and lecture that their utopian dreams are not shared by the supposedly less informed public.
To gain power, of course, ideologues can temporarily become political animals. Barack Obama ran in 2008 on popular positions such as reducing the national debt and opposing gay marriage and immigration amnesties, only to flip after he was re-elected and no longer needed to pander to perceived majority opinions.
But otherwise, Obama the ideologue seems to believe that big, redistributive government is always necessary to achieve a mandated equality of result — regardless of whether it ever works or should work in reality. He opposes a reduction in capital-gains tax rates even though he concedes that such cuts might bring in more revenue.
The administration has deemed the Affordable Care Act successful even though Obama’s assurances that it would lower deductibles and premiums, give patients greater choices, and ensure continuity in medical providers and plans have all proven to be untrue.
No matter: Obamacare fulfills the president’s preconceived notion that state-mandated health care is superior to what the private sector can provide.
