Closing Our Ears To Sin
In the late 1520’s
and early 1530’s, the Anabaptists, a radical (and persecuted) fringe of the
Reformation, flooded into the German city of Münster. By 1533, inspired by the direction of
Bernhard Rothman, they gained enough support so that they were able to win control
of the City Council. There, they proceeded
to create a messianic kingdom under John of Leiden, and expelled all non-Anabaptists.
530 years later, on
June 27, 2003, the House of Representatives, on an almost entirely partisan
vote of 216 to 215, enacted H.R. 1, the largest single entitlement program
since the institution of Medicare in 1965. The opponents of the bill complained
about its cost, lack of controls, and inflexibility. The proponents argued it was something we
owed the beneficiaries, something critical that was lacking in the then-present
insurance market.
As you might have
imagined, the initial reaction to the Münster revolution was not entirely positive,
and John of Lieden found his poll numbers dropping precipitously. An army of Catholics and Protestants
surrounded the city and besieged it. In
response, the ruling Anabaptists went further, mandating common ownership and
even polygamy, saying these were in accordance with Biblical precedent. Books were burned, property destroyed, and people
were encouraged to go naked in the streets to prepare themselves for the
rapture.
By 1535 (presumably
in time for the “mid term elections” ) the city was recaptured, and the
Anabaptist leaders all met violent ends; they were tortured, then executed, and
their bodies were hung in cages from the steeple of St. Lambert’s church at the
center of the town.
Things did not
quite go so badly for the supporters of HR-1.
Despite the opposition, and despite sharply rising deficits and economic
uncertainty, the law survived. Many of
them remain in Congress (most in the House, some now in the Senate) to continue
to ply their trade and stand up for the principles they hold dear.
Who were these
people who voted for HR-1? 207 of them
were….Republicans. 2003 was not a typo,
and the gigantic entitlement program was Medicaid Part D. Newly empowered, having won control of the
House after Karl Rove savaged the Democrats in the midterm elections for being
insufficiently patriotic after 9/11, they were persuaded the lock in the senior
vote by creating this massive giveaway.
As a sweetener to their corporate backers, the government was forbidden
from negotiating discounts with the pharmaceutical manufacturers.
HR-1 was introduced
by Denny Hastert (yes, that Denny Hastert, of the “Hastert Rule.”) Among the Republican ayes was a Mr. Boehner
of Ohio’s Eight Congressional District.
Joining him was Eric Cantor (now House Majority Leader, and Cassius to
Boehner’s tremulous Caesar) and Darrell Issa (head of the Inquisition.) Also, Tea Party stalwarts Mike Rogers and Spencer
Bachus of Alabama, and now current Senators John Boozman of Arkansas, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Johnny Isakson of
Georgia, Mark Kirk of Illinois, David
Vitter of Louisiana, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, Rob
Portman of Ohio, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
Also, such
luminaries as Chris Chocola, then representing Indiana’s Second District, now
head of the adamantly “shut it down” Club for Growth. He was for Medicaid Part D. And crazy Joe
Barton and Jeb Henserling of Texas (Chair of the House Financial Services
Committee). And former Vice Presidential
Candidate Paul Ryan. And I could go
on. For a very long time.
All these folks worried so much then about the seniors in this country that expended every
ounce of concern for their fellow human beings in that one agonizing vote. They
just plum tuckered themselves out. Now
every single one of them is front and center on eliminating Obamacare and in
using a government shutdown and the debt limit as leverage. And many are insistent on using the same
tools to cut back Social Security and Medicare at the same time.
What happened to
these people in a scant ten years?
Besides the spelling of the last name of the person in the White House? You
would have to ask them. Surely something
has converted them, made them see a new light, drawn them away from the
“Compassionate Conservatism” (and party-building) of Mr. Bush. They burn with righteousness.
Religious fervor like
that can be near an eternal fire. It can
take the form of a complete reorganization of the present to purge the sins of
the past. The Anabaptists, for example, wanted
to strip away the excesses of an ossified Catholic Church too hierarchical, and
too dependent on the selling of indulgencies and relics. They wanted to simplify, to return to the
spirit of the more primitive church, the one closer to the individual.
Sometimes, as in Münster,
things got out of hand, and the counter-reaction was violent. But religious reformers like the Anabaptists
often saw in their suffering and persecutions an echo of the martyrs of the first
few Christian centuries, and drew strength from their defeats.
Political reformers
also often find themselves caught up in a new passion. They forget their past lives, purge
themselves and their followers of (political) vices and even memories. and move
forward with the zeal of the newly converted. They, too, are ready, if
necessary to martyr themselves for a cause.
Take Congressman
John Culberson of Texas, who, in a frenzy of pure passion for the new Gospel,
evoked the spirit of the heroes of United Airlines Flight # 93, and shouted out
to the Republican Conference “I
said, like 9/11, ‘let’s roll!’”
In case you were curious,
Congressman Culberson voted “aye” on Medicare Part D in 2003. He has since found the courage to close his
ears to sin.
And so, as the clock passes
midnight on October 1, 2013, so must we all.
MM
