Focus on Winning Issues in 2014: ObamaCare and School Choice

The year that we are bidding farewell to has been nothing short of creepy when one considers it through the prism of personal freedom. As I write this, I’m fairly certain the NSA is watching me through the lights on my Christmas tree, which also seem to be blinking “What are you wearing?” in Morse code. We have a unilateral edict egomaniac in the White House and we are mere hours away from the IRS being able to demand your financials AND your latest colonoscopy pics (trust me, they’ll get there). Throw in the fact that Common Core is abandoning all pretense about the political indoctrination motives of public education in America and it has been quite a dystopian twelve months. 

As we move into a year that will feature one of the more important midterm elections in American history, let us consider where our focus should be. In a word, I believe it should all be about choice

Although you will never get one to admit it, liberals abhor any choice that isn’t abortion related. They want to dictate virtually every second of your life once you’ve survived their reproductive gauntlet. 

Liberty minded activists should take the “pro-choice” label and turn it into a weapon against the opposition. There are any number of issues that this would work with but we need to keep it simple for the politicians, so I propose two, and only two, to talk about for 2014: Obamacare and school choice. 

The anti-choice, condescending paternalism of Obamacare was on full display when the first wave of cancellations began to hit. The only defense by PPACA proponents was that people were having inferior policies cancelled and replaced with more expensive, but better, ones, with the government being the sole arbiter of what constitutes “better” for the individual. As we have all known from the beginning, the law has never been about helping anyone, it has always been about government control of citizens and industry. 

There is no one in America with an IQ above .25 who thinks Obamacare is going to get better any time soon. That the GOP’s priority (especially in Senate races) should be a constant hammering of Obamacare is a no-brainer. In the spirit of new beginnings, I won’t harp on past performance, and will instead hope for the party developing the ability to embrace the obvious in the New Year. 

When asked in recent months about what the GOP should be talking about I always mention school choice first. It is an issue that should be front and center as it is at the heart of what ails America. 

Leftists use public education to reinforce ideology. They fear average Americans having school options because it takes kids outside of the clutches of the National Education Association and its spin-off teachers’ organizations minions. Because they have been largely successful at dooming children to inferior government run schools in so many places, they’ve just minted a generation of participation trophy voters who have been taught an entitlement attitude that’s perfect for the progressive sales pitch.

Inroads with groups that the GOP hasn’t appealed to very well aren’t made through top-down pandering. That’s a game the Democrats play far too well and will never be beaten at. It is also thoroughly disingenuous. The way to win new voters is to clearly present them with a more appealing alternative. 

School choice probably has more potential to do this than any other issue out there.

There are children all over America who are doomed to go to schools where they are at risk for a variety of ills, many of which are physically threatening. And they are forced to stay in these situations by the double-headed Democrat/Teachers’ Union monster. 

If we can provide safe haven and real opportunity for these kids we have done something so much more powerful than simply babbling about caring or helping. 

This is a fight that isn’t easy because Big Labor throws a lot of money and muscle behind maintaining this awful status quo. It is, however, one that should emerge as a priority for those who live in fear of an Elizabeth Warren presidency. 

But it’s a fight that, if successful, will help people in Democrat strongholds where-SURPRISE-many of the worst schools in America are. 

There’s the blueprint, kids. Two things to talk about and provide clear alternatives for. There is no need for the GOP to get distracted by fringe issues as so many modern politicians have a bad habit of doing. 

Freedom. Choice. For our health and for our children. 

What else is there? 

Happy New Year, everyone.