Maybe in the next election, "deep- red Utah" voters will remember what party frustrated a small- d democratic initiative and voted to restrict expansion of life- saving Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare):
When voters of deep-red Utah approved a ballot initiative to expand Medicaid in November, David Heslington, bishop of an inner-city congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was elated. He has seen first hand that expanding health coverage to poor and working-class Utahns would save lives, having conducted funerals in the spring for two Salt Lake City men who had overdosed on opioids, unable to afford addiction treatment.
Two weeks ago, as the Utah legislature rushed to shred that initiative, Heslington implored lawmakers to reconsider: “Do you feel any obligation to implement the will of the people you supposedly represent?” [Ed. : nah!]
On Monday, the legislature gave its answer: It enacted a Medicaid plan that would cover tens of thousands fewer people than what voters called for, despite demonstrations by people carrying signs saying, “Respect democracy, our vote matters.” Within hours, Gov Gary R. Herbert (R) signed the measure into law, saying that it “balances Utah’s sense of compassion and frugality.”"Compassion," indeed. As in the oxymoronic "compassionate conservative," i.e., a conservative who says they're not going to help you, but they feel real bad about it. But, hey, it takes some perverse chutzpah to be this compassionate! Not expanding Medicaid is going to cost Utah $50 million over the next 2 years, while at the same time denying health benefits to 48,000 of their low- income citizens. Take that, Obamacare!
We hold no hope that "deep- red Utah" will suddenly overturn decades of self- owning by kicking Republicans out of office at the state level. That would be too rational and too much in their self- interest. Not when there are brown people and socialists to fight!
