Here is the HUGE difference between “Romneycare” and “Obamacare:”
The majority of the citizens of Massachusettswanted “Romneycare.”
The majority of American citizens did NOT want“Obamacare.”
I don’t have to dig into the nuances, the technical differences of the two laws or anything else.
It is as simple as those two statements. “Romneycare” (as it has now been dubbed) was developed by a coalition of Labor, Management, Republicans and Democrats, who collaborated on its makeup, its contents, and represented the people of the state of Massachusetts—at that time in history. That is how a representative democracy works. If Romney disagreed with parts of the Massachusetts law, that was overcome by the 85% Democratic legislature’s power.
Obamacare was “crammed down our throats” by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, in spite of the fact that almost 2/3 of Americans neither favored the law nor wanted it! And almost that many still do not like it, and still do not want it. Pelosi’s now famous statement, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it…away from the fog of the controversy…” is indicative of the disregard for the wished of American citizens.
In a representative democracy, elected officials should strike a balance between their own policy beliefs and personal values, and those of the constituents they are elected to represent. In MA, Mitt Romney did that. In his quest for the presidency, he is similarly doing that, but striking a balance for all Americans. No one is better positioned to correct the mistakes in Obamacare than Mitt Romney: He doesn’t have the pride of authorship (as Barack Obama does), and his early work with Romneycare taught him the parts that were good and the ones that were not good.
So Romneycare was constitutional and the people of that state wanted it. It was not ram-rodded or snuck in during the night, but it was the product of both parties and many interested and knowledgeable parties. It was not done for political reasons.