Subjugate: to conquer, subdue, make submissive
In Thursday’s floor session, there was a discussion and roll call vote to accept the report of the House Commerce and Consumer Protection Finance and Policy committee on HF 5. I’m not interested to debate the Minnesota Insurance Marketplace bill. There are plenty of folks doing that already.
In Thursday’s floor session, Rep. Jim Abeler said, “I don’t wish that it would never pass, um, because if it didn’t, we’d get the federal version.” (18:05)
Rep. Erin Murphy said the Affordable Care Act "has been the law of the land for two years." (17:00)
Says who?
The assumption in these remarks is that the State of Minnesota is subject to the federal government. That’s not what I’ve learned in the history of our country.
I recall that people created the States. The States later came together to create a federal government. They intentionally stated that any powers not clearly assigned to the federal government were reserved to the States and the people.
The direction of political power is pretty clear to me: people -> States -> feds. Why do Rep. Abeler and Rep. Murphy (and many others) have it backwards?
Money? I’m sure money plays a large role. Minnesota has received over $100 million dollars to “pay for design and development” of its exchange. (side note: The “exchange” is often compared to Travelocity or Expedia. I doubt their combined development costs were $100 million.)
The real cause is probably ignorance by our elected officials. They don’t know their own role if they think they must put the needs of the federal government before the citizens of Minnesota.
Minnesota has been a national leader in health care delivery and insurance coverage. The Legislature should be debating the problems and solutions for its citizens, not what the federal government has imposed.
Any legislator who does not understand their job and is willing to subjugate themselves to the wrong master, then they need go. And that applies to both sides of the aisle.
Interestingly, the root word for subjugate, jugum, means “yoke.”