Martyrdom
By Joseph Randolph
web posted March 8, 2010
The requirement of possibly falling on the sword is the latest directive coming from the incumbent party's command. Apparently almost any political body count from their own is deemed negligible by leaders who see in it the promise of a new and better life for Americans—the birth and installation of universal health care in these United States. Such a charade of blood and guts politics creates the appearance of selfless servants of the people remaining heroically steadfast in the face of their own political death.
This almost-ultimate sacrifice of political fatality paraded before the people is lost on the people who oppose the program for which these politicians will sacrifice their careers. Nevertheless, the touted fight to the finish for health care is the plan from above of tenacious strategists mounting their last stand in the face of an untimely election in Massachusetts which deprived them of a nearly assured sixty votes only weeks earlier. The sting of this defeat quickly overcome (or ignored), the need for still pushing forward provoked a lining up of some underlings to take a few bullets for the cause of righteousness. When the martyrs are asked if they have any last words, the appointed dead men voting will remark—after being ordered to say so by their superiors—that their vote is for the new health care and the new America, and thus the party acquires an eternal reward for their own temporal defeat.
If ridding the country of monstrous government programs were only as easy as being rid of these politicians. The call to martyrdom is couched in the calculation of party officials that sizeable current citizen opposition to political meddling in medicine will abate when citizens experience this latest benefit from government. That is, in time citizens will largely soften their opposition, such that they will develop the maturity to think they cannot do without this new healthcare after they have experienced its gentle caresses. The November political seats to be sacrificed due to current voter hostility will be negated later by the beneficent program finding hospitable roots among the people and in time continuing to live in perpetuity.
Even if the citizens dislike it, moreover, removal afterward would take herculean effort—and with none of the ease of voting out politicians. These appointed martyrs will—though not ever one willingly of course—sacrifice themselves for one more gigantic and enfeebling program for the nation. Any "victory" will be characterized from above with all the rhetoric of the conqueror who takes something else not his own, while he explains how our lives below will be the better for his actions from above.
One hears from the incumbent party that some of our most savored government programs endured tremendous opposition before their birthing, though the thought of being without them today is unthinkable. So the incumbent party ultimately charges its opponents with making martyrdom necessary for the faithful few for the disbelieving many—who will later willingly recant their opposition to the purpose for which the martyrs sacrificed their political seats.
The urgency of the next visit to the doctor makes the reigning party talk as if disaster is close if their health-care bill is not passed, but any conservative answer to higher price, such as allowing the citizens to keep more of their money, coupled with more competition, is unthinkable to proponents of yet another government takeover. Thus, Bush's tax cut of some years ago was assailed by many of these same politicians reminding us that we could not predict the economic future, and thus it would be hasty to give money back to the owners that government might need later for the citizens. Unfortunately, at the present rate, soon government will need even more of it—as seen in the strident effort of the current administration to repeal those tax cuts.
Until then the reigning party is only asking for a few political lives from its own members, so as to assure its own perpetuity in office. Money, therefore, is no real object of attention to this incumbent party—power is. The historic recklessness and arrogance of liberals with taxpayer money remains unabated as the appetite for power escalates. Not all of the party members will get to see the promised land of government health care while seated in Washington. The martyred remnant will nevertheless not be forgotten, only out of office while their party remains in power. 
Joseph Randolph is an academic and writer living in Wisconsin. His 2010 book Debilitating Democracy: Power From The People, is available from Wasteland Press and Amazon as well as Barnes and Noble. His email address is jqrandolph@hotmail.com.