Obamacare (and its microcosm, Cover Oregon) are textbook examples—case studies, even—of the utter failure of any attempt to execute a massive change of anything in one fell swoop. The attempt is born of good intentions heavily informed with arrogance, with a good measure of impatience added: we don’t need to see how things are going, our plan is sound because our hearts are pure.
No. Every change needs interim evaluation steps with which to determine whether the golden plan is, in fact, still on track and if not what changes are necessary—even to the point of changing course or canceling the program rather than mindlessly tweaking the present stage due to glitches. The ubiquitousness of unintended consequences alone dictates that.
And the program doesn’t have to be done right now. It just has to be done (always assuming we’re agreed on the program, an agreement notably absent with Obamacare, but that lack is for another time).
Now President Barack Obamacare wants to do another massive, all in one step, change of another enormous system: our collection of immigration laws.
President Obama and his top Democrats on Capitol Hill appear to have reset their sights on the Republican-controlled House passing comprehensive immigration reform, instead of a step-by-step process.
The president on Friday appeared to urge the House to back the comprehensive, bipartisan immigration bill the Senate passed this summer….
What was that bit about repeating a thing and expecting different results?