And now it is the Czar’s turn to receive email from the enigmatic but clearly refined and educated D.T.:

Oh Czar, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid:

Like any diligent operative I’ve been following the Obamacare Фиаско with great interest. It’s obvious what they’re trying to do (make serfs of all Americans, and even their short-term reason (to enrich their friends, seize more power for themselves, etc.). Typical liberal aims, of course.

However, the long-term impact of their scheme is obvious—our economy will be ruined, and the only possibilities revolution or national bankruptcy. Why would anyone, even that ろくでなし Pelosi, think that to be a good idea? Surely even the most banal, self-serving lout can’t be that short-sighted, can they? Or are they trying to do to us what αδερφός Dutch did to the USSR?

Please, sire, share your wisdom. I just can’t fathom the end-game.

Your Faithful lackey agitator boot-licker Servant,

D.T.

P.S.: Congratulations on your epic win with Ms. Lohan. Your ploy to corner the world’s market on milk cannot possibly fail!

First, if D.T. believes that an obsequious rhapsody like this will get him moved up in the operative ranks, he couldn’t be more correct. Between ‘Puter and the Czar, we oughta be able to get him moved up out of the basement and away from the Mandarin. Possibly food services, but not a taster. Our last few tasters got poisoned. No, not from enemy action, but because we were testing a new thiopentone sodium derivative. Suckers.

Second, is ろくでなし really the word you want to use? It has such a masculine connotation. Try ミイラ. It fits her look better.

Third, there is as you suspect some historical context here. Healthcare is not so much a liberal aim as it is a Progressivist one. Liberals are all for healthcare and healthcare reform, but are not backing it in perfect numbers (no doubt some of them have actually checked into the current Senate bill before simply and blindly endorsing it). Even libs are starting to grow concerned over potential 10-to-20 trillion dollar deficits: they liked it better when it was a few billion—the price of an unholy war—but now…well, most liberals kinda like their existing health plans just fine, thanks.

But of all the entitlement programs the Progressivists have attempted, the big enchilada has been healthcare. It has been this way since Bismarck introduced nationalized healthcare in the Weimar days (which helped bring down that republic, financially). You may be aware that FDR attempted to incorporate nationalized healthcare into his utterly progressive programs; it was one of the very few that failed to happen. Johnson got close when he got Medicare passed (a partial nationalizing of healthcare masquerading under social security entitlements). You will doubtless recall healthcare was a major drive of the Clintons (Hillary in particular) in 1992 and following, and wound up being a landmine for Bill that could have cost him his second term.

Some of this is near-religious obsession with Progressive folks: it is the last milestone achievement for them, and this is the ramrodded closest it has ever been. 1994 also taught them that this go-around may very well be the last; if the current bill fails, there will be reform, but it won’t be a Progressive vision: it will be a conservative-led effort to make sure this never happens again—tort reform, limitations on illegal alien coverage, elimination of obscure insurance industry regulations that limit packages, and so on. The Czar doubts that we would see all that under a Republican president and Congress, but the Progressive folks fervently believe it to be a given. If they eff this up, the conservatives will lower costs Reagonomically and the Progressives will look like total asshats. Forget about any wackier plans.

But if it passes, why, anything becomes possible for the Progressive movement. As one brilliantly insightful essayist put it:

So health-care reform was not just a goal in itself. It was also a lever to revive liberalism, so that all the other myriad problems in this country could also be addressed. That’s why this issue was so cherished by the left. Now that lever has been pulled – only to bring about a moderate-Republican bill, sold on explicitly conservative grounds, that has been unpopular almost from the beginning.

Check out that link: the author goes through a well-structured argument that describes the compulsion to keep fiddling with healthcare while Rome burns. The reasons are several, linked, and pretty clear. It is well worth the read and will answer your question in considerable but simple detail.

Fourth, while it is quite true that we have a peculiar history with milk, the Czar is uncertain he ever employed Ms. Lohan in any such capacity. He has however used Ms. Lohan in the past to drive up the price of alcohol by reducing supply (until it turned out ‘Puter was a lot cheaper). The Czar will look into this. Perhaps an underling is responsible (which would be a first).

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.