TheBlaze Radio's Jay Severin contrasts the Republican Party’s handling of Obamacare today to its handling of slavery

November 01, 2013

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On radio this morning, Glenn shared some exciting news about TheBlaze Radio Network. TheBlaze Radio currently offers a simulcast of Glenn’s radio and TV show in addition to a full slate of original programming, including Pat & Stu, The Morning Blaze with Doc Thompson, The Buck Sexton Show, and much more. Earlier this week, TheBlaze Radio expanded to include TheBlaze Radio Philadelphia – a radio network that reflects your values, while offering exclusive Philadelphia news, traffic, and weather.

Jay Severin is the Marconi Award nominated host of the Jay Severin Show, weekdays from 2-5pm ET only on TheBlaze Radio Network, called into Glenn’s show this morning to talk about a fascinating theory he has about the Republican Party’s handling of Obamacare.

“I want to bring Jay Severin in because on The Blaze Radio he brought up something that was such a great observation,” Glenn said. “And he compared the way we're handling this healthcare thing to slavery. He said what are we doing? We're arguing the wrong argument.”

In Jay’s opinion, the Republicans in Congress have taken the wrong position when it comes to criticizing Obamacare. During the hearings on Capitol Hill this week, Republicans primarily focused on the problems with Healthcare.gov when, in reality, they should be talking about the big picture, long-term effects of the law.

“I started to look at this and said we know the basics: Obamacare is evil. It enslaves. It's anti-constitutional. The government forces us to buy and do things we don't want. It is going to end up murdering people, so we know all these things,” Jay explained. “I'm saying okay, here we go. Here's the supposed opposition party, the party of Lincoln, no less, with the issue all teed up. We have a Congressional Hearings. We've got the power of subpoena. We've got Secretary Sebelius. We’ve got a national TV audience. Here's our chance for the opposition to tell America what's wrong with Obamacare, but what I listened to for days was people saying, ‘Hey, hey your website ain't working. Haha.'”

“Imagine that at any time in history we are given – and I hope to God we are given – a do-over on the mistakes we've made. I choose human slavery. It could be Native Americans,” he continued. “But imagine we had this hypothetical hearing and on the stand, under oath, we have the chief administrative officer in charge of initiating slavery and the very best objection we could conjure is: ‘Hey, your sign-up process isn't working properly. You really screwed that up. This proves it's time to delay and fix it.’ Fix it? Fix what?”

The way Jay sees it, do we believe Abraham Lincoln would have said something along the lines of ‘Hey, your slavery arrests are way behind schedule,’ or would he and his fellow abolitionists have taken the opportunity to mount an argument about why slavery as an institution is wrong, immoral, and unconstitutional?

“It's not in the inefficiencies of how you are rounding people up, but rather in the immorality of enslaving them. A more effective means of signing them up is, and can never be, a rational or a moral measure of the success,” Jay said. “And in doing this, the Republicans missed such an important teaching moment… The Republicans politically got jujutsu by progressives into the oldest misdirection trick since Houdini. They allowed themselves to be trapped such that now the argument for both sides isn't the virtues or vices of the system. It's only about is the web site working well."

In this fictitious situation, if the slavery website had suddenly began working properly, would slavery have suddenly been okay? No. And that is where Republicans have lost this fight against Obamacare. Instead of focusing on the problems with the law, they focused on the problems with the website, which, when the website is finally working properly, will be disastrous for their argument.

“When the Obamacare website works, and it will, what in the absence of any sound moral objection is left for the Republicans to say,” Jay asked. “I mean, they could have marched in there day before yesterday with a piece of paper saying the website works, and Sebelius could have said, ‘I have just been handed a piece of paper, the website's working. I'm going the leave now.’ What could the Republicans say? ‘Oh, the website is working. We have no other objections then. Okay, have a nice day.’”

Watch more of Jay’s analysis in the clip below. Catch Jay weekdays from 2-5pm ET on TheBlaze Radio. You can learn more about TheBlaze Radio HERE. Do you live in the Philadelphia area? Learn more about how to listen to TheBlaze Radio Philadelphia HERE.

Dockworker strike: Everything you need to know

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At midnight on September 30th, dockworkers across the East Coast went on strike, effectively cutting the country's import and export capabilities in half.

Don't go out and panic buy a pallet of toilet paper and instant ramen just yet. It's going to take some time for the full effects of the strike to be felt and hopefully, the strike will be good and over by then. But there are no guarantees, and this election cycle could get significantly more insane as we draw near to the election. And even if the strike is settled quickly, it shows growing cracks in our infrastructure and industrial capacity that needs to be addressed if America wants to maintain its global dominance.

Here is everything you need to know about the dockworker strike:

What do the dockworkers want?

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As with most strikes, pay is the driving factor behind this situation the country now finds itself in. The longshoremen want more pay, and with rising inflation who can blame them? After all, working the docks is hard and dangerous business, and fair compensation only seems... fair. But when you compare the wage of a dockworker, which is around $100,000 to $200,00 a year to the average income in America of $56,000, suddenly they seem significantly less sympathetic.

How much money are they asking for? For most Americans, a three percent raise is considered high, but the unions are asking up to 15 percent, depending on location. On top of that, they are asking for a 77 percent raise over the next six years. The West Coast dock workers recently made off with a 36 percent raise and were considered lucky. These increases in costs are just going to be transferred to the end consumer, and we'll likely see a jump in prices if these terms are accepted.

The other major ticket item is protection against automation. Autonomous ports are quickly becoming a reality, with major ports in China that are capable of handling vast amounts of cargo being run by a single office, not an army of dock workers. Naturally, the longshoremen are concerned that their jobs are at risk of being replaced by machines that can work harder, longer, for cheaper, and without risk of injury.

How will it affect Americans?

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Don't panic yet!

It is going to take some time for consumers to feel the effects of the strike and it is possible that a resolution could happen at any time.

Week one should be pretty much business as usual. It might be a good idea to stock up on fruit and other perishables, but there is no need to go COVID-lockdown-crazy yet.

Week two is when you'll first start feeling the pinch. Fresh fruits and veggies will become scarce, along with other imported goods like shoes, toys, and TVs. Prices will start to creep up as the shelves will start to look a little sparse. The supply of tools, lumber, and other hardware materials will also begin to dry up.

By week three, the cracks in the system will really start to show. Entire industries will begin to slow down, or even stop. Factory workers will get furloughed and sent home without pay. Stores will have to ration items, prices will be sky-high, and online orders will come to a standstill. At this point, the strike will have escalated into a full-blown crisis, and even if it was resolved immediately, it would still take weeks to restore everything to working order.

At the four-week mark, the situation will have developed into a national security crisis, and as Glenn describes, a poly-crisis. Small business will be closing their doors, entire brands will be out of stock, and everything that remains will be so expensive it is unaffordable. By this point, the holiday season will be drawing near and there will be a rush on any sort of gift or decor items left. At this point, irreparable damage to our economy will have occurred and it will be months if not years before it can be mended.

While that sounds bleak, with the election just around the corner, it seems unlikely that the Biden-Harris administration will let it get that bad. That being said, their administration has not been characterized by good decision-making and reasonable policy, so there are no guarantees.

What can be done?

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The big question is "Why hasn't Biden already done something?"

President Biden, who ran on the image of a blue-collar, union-worker, has been uncharacteristically absent from the issue. Despite his earlier involvement in a train strike, Biden has declared that involvement in union fights is not a presidential issue unless it getsreally bad.

So where's the line? At what point will he step in? He has to understand that an economic crisis right before the election will reflect poorly on Kamala.

Join Glenn TONIGHT for BlazeTV's exclusive VP debate coverage!

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POLL: Can the VP debate affect the election?

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The first (and likely only) Vice President debate will be held on CBS News on Tuesday, October 1st.

The debate takes place at 9 p.m. Eastern Time and will be the first time we see J.D. Vance and Tim Walz face off in person. Typically, the VP debate is little more than a formality, and rarely does it affect the election in any significant way. But this is no ordinary election. The stakes are higher than they have been in years, and Trump and Harris are still in a razor-thin race, according to the polls. Both Vance and Walz are relative newcomers to the national stage and still have room to make an impression on the American people, and with the race as tight as it is, that might make all the difference.

So what do you think? Can this VP debate make an impact on the election? Are you going to tune in? And what sort of questions and issues need to be brought up? Let us know in the poll below:

Will this VP debate be important in the overall election?

Are you going to watch the VP debate?

Should the debaters be asked about the Biden-Harris administration's failing economy?

Should the debaters be asked about climate change and energy policy?

Should the debaters be asked about the rise of globalism?

Five things that PROVE Kamala's plan for climate authoritarianism

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If you wanted to cripple America for years, what would be the best way to go about it?

If your mind immediately went to the power grid, you think a lot like Glenn. For decades the secret to America's growth and prosperity has been its abundant and relatively cheap energy. Electricity has been so cheap for so long that many Americans take it for granted, though raising prices has put it back on many people's radars.

There are forces on the Left, including Kamala Harris, who is working to be "unburdened by what has been," and plunge America into a dystopian future where only the elite can afford "luxuries" like A/C and dishwashers. While Kamala has either remained silent or been dismissive of her radical climate policies, here are things that prove that Kamala has disastrous plans for our energy future:

Kamala endorsed the Green New Deal

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In 2019, then-Senator Harris was proud to co-sponsor the Green New Deal. This was, by all metrics, the most authoritarian legislation in U.S. history. It was so over the top, cartoonishly evil, that it hardly seemed real. It aimed to ban all coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear power, and dismantle and rebuild every aspect of our lives, from what we eat to how we travel (for the worse). It also aimed to provide economic security to those "unwilling to work," aka, money for nothing.

Had several failed climate actions

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After the Green New Deal was defeated, Kamala tried several times to pass something similar. First was the "Comprehensive Climate Plan" which she introduced during her 2019 presidential bid. This plan had a staggering 10 TRILLION DOLLAR price tag, which is double the entire U.S. federal budget and aimed at exceeding the Paris Agreement climate goals.

In 2020, she introduced the Climate Equity Act, which would have created another government office called the "Climate and Environmental Equity Office.” This office would review all congressional bills and judge their potential impact on "communities that have experienced environmental injustice or are vulnerable to climate injustice.” As if that wasn't overreaching enough, it would also require every government agency to publish a biannual "climate and environmental justice accountability agenda.”

Finally, she pushed the “Environmental Justice for All Act,” which is exactly what it says on the tin. It boils down to a bunch of new rules and advisory bodies that would give cash handouts to "environmental justice communities." Fortunately, just like the other two this one never saw the light of day.

Inflation reduction act

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The crowning jewel of Kamala's "historic" vice presidency was when she cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the Green New Deal Jr, otherwise known as the Inflation Reduction Act. While it was obvious from the beginning that the Inflation Reduction Act had nothing to do with inflation, and was just a climate change bill in disguise, Biden recently confirmed this to all the nay-sayers. Kamala confirmed that this was more than just another Biden gaffe when she admitted that it is "the single largest climate investment in American history.”

So what fruits does this wonderful piece of legislation have to offer? 60 out of the promised 2,000+ EV school buses. It is unclear if the delay is caused by schools backing out of the program due to the technological limitations of the busses or the outrageous cost- more than three times that of a traditional bus. Kamala's vision of the future sure is bright.

Skyrocketing home prices

PATRICK T. FALLON / Contributor | Getty Images

If the Inflation Reduction Act is the greatest climate bill ever, then we have a pretty good idea of how it affects the average American: poorly. Over the past year, U.S. electricity prices have risen 3.6 percent, which outpaces inflation. Current estimates suggest the average American is paying 5,000 dollars a year more on utilities than they were before Biden and Kamala took office. Not to mention all the new green mandates enforced on new homes, which on average is adding 31,000 dollars to the price of homes.

Judging by the climate-leading state of California, this is pretty standard. Californians' electricity bill has gone up over three times faster than the rest of the nation since 2008 and Californians collectively owe more than 2 billion dollars in unpaid utility bills. Not to mention the havoc green energy is playing on the electric grid.

Ban fracking

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Over the last fifteen years, the U.S. has reduced our emissions more than any other nation, but this was accomplished despite the authoritarian legislation, not because of it. Natural free-market developments have encouraged a transition from coal to natural gas, largely due to fracking, which has dramatically increased the availability of the fuel. A whopping 43 percent of American electricity is generated by natural gas, meaning its price has a huge impact on the cost of energy. So naturally the Biden-Harris administration has cracked down on natural gas and oil exploration, and in 2019 Kamala stated that she favored banning fracking. She has since walked back that statement, but seeing how hostile the administration has been towards fracking it's almost certain that a Kamala presidency would spell doom for natural gas.

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