"Code Red Rally' to Oppose Government Health Care

As the health care reform bill grinds on in the Senate, with the paid-for abortions now in and the public option also out (sort of), Americans who oppose the bill are once again attempting to make their Senators listen with the Code Red Rally.

The Code Red Rally, scheduled to happen before the US Capitol on the Washington Mall on December 15 at 1 PM EST, is being publicized by the Internet and talk radio. The Red Room blog states as the purpose of the rally:

"It is time for every Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, and Undeclared voting citizen to show this country's leadership that their vote is not inevitable and the direction they are headed with the potential approval of a 2,000 plus page monstrosity of a public takeover in the decisions that are critical to our lives is the wrong direction. It is time for every voting citizen that wishes to stop the erosion of our country's Constitution to converge on the mall in Washington DC."

Media personalities Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham have publicized the Code Red Rally. Rush Limbaugh mentioned the Code Red Rally on his radio show on Wednesday.

It is hard to understand what the political calculation is that causes members of Congress to still support health care reform. Opposition to health care reform is growing daily while job approval ratings for President Obama and the Congress are plunging.

One theory, posited by Rush Limbaugh, is that the Congressional Democrats are behaving as political suicide bombers. The idea is that they can pass health care reform that will lead to the fulfillment of the dream of a government controlled health care sector and it will not matter if the Democrats take a thumping in the 2010 elections. Entitlements like health care reform are virtually impossible to repeal once they are enacted.

Another theory, suggested by President Barack Obama, is that the Democrats are in a bind over health care reform. The Democrats have already angered a broad swath of the American people who oppose health care reform. These Americans will stay annoyed no matter what, whether health care reform is passed or not. But if the Democrats do not pass health care reform, then the liberal base will become angered as well, making the shellacking they face in 2010 only worse.

The problem with the first theory is that, combined with anger over cap and trade, spending, tax increases, and general incompetence, the opposition to Barack Obama and the Democrats is reaching a critical mass. If the Code Red Rally draws significant numbers, similar to the at least hundreds of thousands that the Tea Party Rally in Washington drew, that fact will only be driven home.

In any case the Democrats may be faced with an even worse problem. The "public option" is being disguised by a "government supervised" private insurance plan that will not satisfy proponents of government health care and will not fool opponents. Meanwhile, the House version of the health care bill has a ban on abortion funding while the Senate bill does not. Thus the entire process could collapse into chaos, with health care reform not passing because the Democrats couldn't get their act together, but with no vote either way.

Code Red indeed.

Sources: High Noon for Health Care

Get up, stand up - "Code Red" rally Dec. 15, 1:00PM ET, Edmund Jenks, Red Room, December 9th, 2009

The depths of Demcare demagoguery, Michelle Malkin, December 9th, 2009

Code Red Rally Tuesday 1:30pm Dec 15th US Capitol, Laura Ingraham, Laura Ingraham Unleashed, December 8th, 2009