The Mobilized Interests and the Potential Power Abuse
the action taken by the citizens when dealing with social issues. The government will be easier to rule the country
if they can manage the people‘s behavior. So, the spirit of freedom and liberty are used to underline the norms to be logically
accepted by the citizens if they want to attain what has been promised by such way of life. Thus, if the norms are presented as truth, the government will have no
barrier in directing the citizens. Before going further, it is better to take a look at the facts of Obamacare
cited from http:obamacarefacts.com . Obamacare‘s official name is Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act PPACA which was signed into law to reform the health care industry by President Obama on March 30, 2010 and
upheld by the Supreme Court on June 28, 2012. Its goal is to give more Americans access to the affordable quality insurance and to reduce the growth in
health care spending in the U.S. In facts, as cited from Obamacarefacts.com, Obamacare does not replace private insurance and does not regulate health care
but it regulates health insurance. The goal, therefore, sounds well and helpful for Americans who has not had the health insurance but it also create some
contradictions. In its implementation, as cited from Obamacare Pros and Cons, article
by Kimberly Amadeo http:useconomy.about.com, Obamacare is success to give new healthcare benefits for Americans, preventive and wellness service,
customer protections, cost assistance for middle class and small business, and also attention to quality over quantity. However, it also has the negative effects such as
the raising taxes on small business, raising premium payment, and Obamacare
actually cost government more money and limits the choice of doctors and medical care.
In the beginning of his planning, Obama had not reached the agreement in the state fiscal budget with his oppositional Republican Party. It causes the
government shutdown that started on October 1, 2013. Below is Obama‘s Remark on the government shutdown and Obamacare.
―Set aside the issues of security and finances and how you‘re impacted by that, the stress involved in not knowing wheth
er or not you‘re going to have health care. This is life-or- death stuff.
Tens of thousands of Americans die each year just because they don‘t have health insurance.
Millions more live with the fear that they‘ll go broke if they get sick. And today, we
begin to free millions of our fellow Americans from that fear.‖ Remarks by the President on the Affordable Care Act and the Government Shutdown,
October 01, 2013, http:www.whitehouse.gov
The government shutdown lasted for three weeks impacted worst on the U.S. economy vitality that urges the congress to finally accept Obama‘s plan on
health insurance. As a politic commodity, Obamacare which has been promised during his campaign will be the main offer of Obama to gain the support of the
citizens. That is why he suggests that the health of American is more important than saving the balance of state funding.
Once a discourse is spread, it becomes mutual awareness and so is the economy discourse shared among U.S. citizens. The norms presented by the
president are accepted as truth and so are the governments programs. When these all happen, there is a potential power abuse that might not be realized by the
citizens. In facts, it is already happened in U.S. society. What the president wants is that the hard work of the citizen as individual to support the market economy.
There is no real freedom as promised since the citizens are now directed to act as the government wants. It just looks like the citizens are free to act because
they have become trust in the definition of liberal reproduced in the addresses. In fact, there is no such thing as individual‘s basic measure of happiness when it
comes to living in society that is required to put the common purpose in front of one‘s purposes. Individuals are now alienated from themselves and they are not
realize that the power has manipulated the way they are thinking and acting. In other words, the people no longer belong to themselves but to the calling that they
have chosen. The economic recovery proposed by Obama happens to be an illusion
covering the real labor which citizens must pay. Citizens are directed to support the free market system which known to be the economic system belongs to
American Liberal Democracy. Again, the ‗free‘ in free market is only achieved by following the rules and regulations because every market has some rules and
boundaries that restrict freedom of choice. Obama himself states that government function is to ensure the competition and fair play. Here, ‗free‘ market is a
political definition where government is always involved and those free-marketers are as politically motivated as anyone.
Free market is just a false impression. It is only free because the citizens so completely accept the adjustment that set them up so that they become unseen. As
it is politically motivated, even the government has the potential to misuse the authority. When they say that regulation should be eliminated or the market
should be expanded, it means that those who possess the capital should be given more power in that sector. Conversely, when they say that certain regulation
should not be introduced, it means they refuse the rights that are to be preserved
by the proposed law. Then, an ideological mask is utilized to disguise their political interest to be seen as an objective economic truth.
In democracy, the danger is found if it is run by those who are ignorant. Since the self-interest is the most powerful human trait, the ignorant people will
not know how to use the political power for preserving others‘ good. Equality must be difficult to earn even it is pledged by liberal point of view. The common
people are easily swayed by the rabble-rousers who flatter and mislead them to win the power. So it happens also in the free market system.
Obama speaks as if it is the government‘s which means tax payers‘ responsibility to guarantee that everyone enters the middle class. While, the free
market system adjusted with ―free enterprise‖ and ―individual initiative‖ will make richer the rich with the already owned property while those without
possession will remain weaker. His plan is to therefore raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans in the interest of covering the ―government works on behalf
of the many, and not just the few.‖ That is his version of the utilitarian ―happiness for the greatest number‖ talks no matter if it violates the wealths‘ property rights.
However, it is also impossible to do the re-distribution of wealth as viewed by a utilitarian.
He also acts as politician who offers his own interpretation of the democratic ideal. The main purpose of politicians is to persuade their audience of
the validity of their political claims. Political influence flows from the employment of resources that shape the beliefs and behaviors of others. Rather
than redistribute the wealth, Obama tells the people of finding their basic measure
of happiness which is impossible to do without comparing to someone else‘s standard of living. Furthermore, the vague definition applied to each raised values
are potentially played by a party with tendency to benefit themselves. There, inequality will always exist.