GOP's ObamaCare Brawl May Win Over Young People

The commentariat has widely written off the GOP's crusade against the Affordable Care Act as a short-sighted tactic, either cynical or foolhardy. But Robert Hahn and Peter Passell think it might actually "prove a plausible strategy" for winning over voters Republicans have been losing badly: People in their 20s and 30s. "With hindsight, it may yet be seen as the opening salvo in a generational war," they write in the LA Times. It's another instance of older Americans burdening already struggling younger ones.

ObamaCare's mandate-based approach has virtues, but it only works because younger, healthier Americans are essentially subsidizing care for the comparatively old and unhealthy. Its supporters could just ignore that fact, "hoping younger households will be unable to figure out what's happening, or simply unwilling to throw in their lot with opponents of gay marriage, marijuana reform, and the like." But it's probably a better idea to "start paying attention to the building crisis as younger households scramble ever harder for a middle-class living standard." Click for their full column.