Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) has now said that the Senate will consider a health care reform bill with an "opt out" provision that will allow the states to "opt-out" of the public option - or as Nancy Pelosi tried to mince words: "competitive" option.  Can Congress possibly further divide the population between red state and blue state?  It seems the Democrats have picked up a bad habit of recycling the failed policies of their party from the history of the United States.

First, the economic policies are just a re-hash of FDR programs and policy.  The 1930s policies failed and the modern versions have also failed.  However, the Democrats never seem to allow facts to get in the way of ideology.

Finally, the opt-out plan sounds eerily similar to a plan floated by a Democrat Senator named Stephen Douglas back around 1854.  It was called the Kansas-Nebraska Act which would bring Kansas and Nebraska into the Union, but would allow the citizens of these states to decide whether or not they wanted their states to be slave states.  The concept behind the Kansas-Nebraska Act was called "popular sovereignty".  The people will choose in each state what they want.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act - along with the Dred Scott case - helped divide an already deeply divided nation and helped drive the country to the precipice of civil war.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act also helped bring about the creation of the Republican Party - which gave us Abe Lincoln.

Exactly how is this different from Sen. Reid's state opt-out plan - except for the civil war part.  The country is deeply divided over the economy, health care reform, military policy, and many other things.  Many issues that divide us can be laid at the feet of the Democrat Party and their reliance on the use of identity politics to divide and conquer the United States while treating the Constitution and our rights like the discarded waste of humanity.   I can see health care reform passing and then a scramble for states to adopt or opt-out of this health care reform.  In fact, if this happens, what transpires will resemble those lines of the current red state and blue state division.

Popular sovereignty sounds nice and it sounds like you are giving the people a real "choice".  Can you imagine the lobbying money spent to make sure no state EVER opts out?  Besides, the way Washington works, you know they'll put a few strings in there that will ensure that no state can EVER opt out on it's own.  They do it all the time.  In order to get federal funding, a state must do this or that otherwise they won't get their money.  The annual Federal Transportation Appropriations Bill is full of these sort of mandates.  Do what the federal government says or you get no money for your roads.  They'll most likely the strings in the health care bill to Medicare or even attach it to an appropriation bill that has nothing to do with health care, like the transportation bill already mentioned.  As a result, in theory, a state can opt out, but it'll be painful if they do.