Feingold misses the point.

Russ Feingold was my senator in undergrad and I have had the pleasure to talk to him personally on a couple of occasions. He is one of the great senators of our time even if I disagree with him on a number of issues. Feingold is easily one of the smartest senators and understands policy implications better than most. That being said, the following quote comes from this politico article. I think it shows where the democratic senators are misunderstanding the tea party/conservative movement as a whole.

Feingold, at every stop, quotes Johnson’s having called health care reform “the greatest affront to personal freedom in my lifetime.”

“He must have led a charmed life,” Feingold jokes. “How does it hurt him that our youngsters can stay on their parents' insurance? And how does it hurt him that our seniors are finally going to get some help on that doughnut hole.”

He misses the point entirely. The criticism that his opponent put forth was about the freedom-killing aspects. Johnson is critical of a law that forces the consumer to purchase a certain good that they do not feel they need. To make it worse, the government decides which hand-selected firms are able to sell this service. I would suspect Johnson disagrees with any law that artificially raises the price of a good or service and then the government forces people to purchase it.

The response from Senator Feingold is telling. He does not say that this law does not limit personal freedoms. He doesn't even speak to that. Feingold says that the law will help people. The problem is that, at best, it helps people by taking away their freedoms. If people thought health care was a good value, they would already purchase it and Obamacare would have been unnecessary. It is precisely because the government limits competition raising the health care costs that people do not purchase it.

This is the disconnect that is happening all across the country. The people are yelling for more freedom and the government keeps acting as if we are too stupid to know what we are asking for. It is time for Feingold and anyone who voted for bailouts, TARP, or Obamacare to get the message. I demand my freedom and I don't particularly care if you think I am too stupid to know how to use it.