The month of March was filled with political battles and tensions ran high. This battleground was not limited exclusively to Democrats and Republicans. The most heated battle of them all took place within the GOP itself; it was the battle between Paul Ryan and the House Freedom Caucus. 

It all started with the secrecy shrouding the new healthcare bill that House Republicans were drafting, and it ended with the Freedom Caucus syphoning enough votes to kill the bill before it even made it to the floor for a vote. With everything that has occurred since the reveal of the American Healthcare Act, there are a few questions that I am sure everyone has: What is the House Freedom Caucus? What do they support? Why has the AHCA been deemed “ObamaCare Lite?” And why is this bad for Republicans?

The House Freedom Caucus was established in early 2015 and has been a thorn in the side of both Democrats and Republicans ever since. This group vehemently opposed a vast majority of the agenda set forth by former president Barack Obama, former speaker John Boehner, and it would seem they are content to oppose Speaker Paul Ryan and President Donald Trump when they are in the wrong. 

The HFC is comprised of 30 members of the House, and they are considered to be the most conservative or libertarian members. The caucus exists to push fiscally conservative and pro-liberty legislation through Congress, and with a Republican president, their success rates should be higher. With that being said, if we can expect more legislation like the AHCA it would seem like the HFC will have to continue blocking bad bills instead of being able to promote good ones. 

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul labeled the GOP replacement plan “ObamaCare Lite” before the bill was even released. He did this because he knew the campaign promises were going to be defaulted on and that these members of Congress are faux conservatives. 

Everyone is free to have opinions on what healthcare should be, but Republicans won elections on the promise of “repealing and replacing ObamaCare,” according to CNN. 

The AHCA features a lot of the same basic characteristics of the Affordable Care Act, one being allowing insurance companies to penalize individuals who go long periods of time without health insurance. This is not exactly the same as with the Affordable Care Act, because the government exercised the penalty, but the penalty remains nonetheless. 

The GOP promised a free market alternative to the current set of healthcare laws in this country. The free market is exactly that—free. Attempting to draft legislation that does anything other than fully repeal the Affordable Care Act and allow individuals to buy insurance in the free marketplace is a disaster and lie. The free market does not exist when government tentacles are wrapped around it and are attempting to manipulate it. 

Lastly, this is bad politics for the GOP. The fact is, they won elections based on public dissatisfaction with policies like the Affordable Care Act.Trump won the presidency because he did the same thing—he capitalized on dissatisfaction. 

Now, when the GOP finally has the reins and can pass basically any legislation they want, they choose to be extremely moderate and scared. They are scared of change, scared to rock the boat, scared to possibly lose their seat in the House in two years. It was easy for them to posture politically when Obama was in office, but now comes the tough part: passing conservative legislation.

As a libertarian, generally speaking, I prefer legislation drafted by Republicans, especially fiscal policy. However, this bill was a sham. Say what you will about Democrats, but at least they don’t tip-toe around the GOP like the GOP tip-toes around them.