Why Republicans Cannot Replace the ACA, Or Accomplish Anything Else

When ideology rules all, acknowledging dissonant facts is treason. Reality, in that way of thinking, is a mere construct owned by history’s winners. This brand of cult reasoning explains why Republicans despise journalism, deride universities, and disregard the advice of scientists. Within the walls of the GOP cult, those who concern themselves with accuracy, who allow themselves to be constrained by empirical measures, are seen as history’s losers. They are destined to be forgotten, obscured in the shadow of The Great Men.

Republicans may keep winning elections, but they will never be able to govern until they can grapple with these four realities. Each item on this list is measurable, provable and broadly regarded as obvious. Failure to acknowledge these four truths means being as categorically, empirically wrong as it’s possible to be in the otherwise mushy, gray realm of politics:

1. Climate change is real and it is caused primarily by human activity.
2. Human beings evolved from simpler life forms, and the same evolutionary process shapes all living systems.
3. Abortion is a complex issue because it involves two legitimate liberty interests in conflict with one another.
4. Race still skews economic outcomes in the United States.

With great care and a willingness to avoid exposure to facts, one can live successfully in denial of these four realities. However, anyone incapable of recognizing these obvious truths should not hold public trust. Like a poorly aimed weapon, any legislation or executive action crafted in defiance of these four truths will, at best, yield unnecessary collateral damage. In many cases, it will reap calamity.

The mental and institutional disciplines necessary to acknowledge those four simple realities are the same ones necessary for forging sound policy. Master them, and other skills will follow. Continue to deny them, and nothing good can come from Republican legislation. In no corner of America can a Republican survive a primary while openly acknowledging these four truths. Until that changes, Republicans cannot be trusted to build sound public policy. Efforts by the GOP to craft complex legislation, like an ACA replacement, will usually collapse under the weight of their own delusions. On the unfortunate occasion when Republicans do enact sophisticated laws, they will wreak havoc.

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Like embattled cult members, we deny ourselves better policy outcomes to protect our deluded beliefs about the nature of markets and preserve our odd pathologies around race.