By skyforbes 
What Senator Joni Ernst’s comments about Medicaid say about her party
At a recent town hall in Iowa, an angry constituent confronted Republican Senator Joni Ernst. Because of her party’s proposed cuts to Medicaid — part of Donald Trump’s big, beautiful bill — “people are going to die,” he said.
“Well, we are all going to die,” the Senator replied.
I guess that’s true, but it also feels besides the point. Back in law school, we’d say that Senator Ernst’s argument “proves too much.” I mean, why not just get rid of Medicaid entirely? Heck, why even have medicine? We’re all going to die anyway, right?
The New York Times reporter that covered the event described Ernst’s comment as “flip,” that is, glib, flippant, disrespectful. And it was that. But more interesting to me is why that attitude comes so quickly and naturally, not just to Ernst, but to her entire party and indeed to the entire conservative movement that underpins it.
In seven words, Ernst demonstrated why her party is unfit to govern. At best, she evinced an intellectual laziness inconsistent with the minimum competence required to do her job. At worst, she showed a moral nihilism that disqualifies her from leadership.