"I Shouldn't Have to Pay for Your Health Care!"

"If this sounds vaguely familiar, it echoes what we heard repeatedly among angry grassroots [6] conservatives during the 2008 campaign, particularly after the financial collapse: Irresponsible people (many of whom happen to be minorities) have wrecked the economy by taking out mortgages they couldn't afford, and were subsequently trying to elect Obama to get themselves more welfare at the expense of good, productive people who didn't live beyond their means. Indeed, long after welfare reform supposedly took this conservative wedge issue off the table, anger about 'welfare'--as applied to mortgage relief, progressive taxes, and now health reform--has made quite a comeback."

Ed Kilgore in The New Republic, and in Salon, explains the fundamental principle underlying conservative opposition to proposed health-care reforms.