John Kasich's plan to take the money and run

King Hezekiah messed up and there would be consequences. Because of his pride, the king foolishly displayed all the riches of God’s temple to snoopy Babylonian envoys. The prophet Isaiah paid him a visit and told him Babylon would be back again—but next time not merely to have a look around.

When would this happen? Not in Hezekiah’s time. The king at fault in this disaster would go to the grave of his fathers with Judah still intact. The unpleasant fallout would fall on the king to follow him. Hezekiah’s reaction to that part of the prophet’s message was relief:

“‘The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?’” (2 Kings 20:19).

This seems to be the attitude of Ohio Gov. John Kasich in taking the tempting bait of federal government dollars to greatly expand Medicaid in his state. It’s all fun and games now, when the Republican presidential candidate can still bask in the accolades of helping the needy.

But as the real price tag for this initial 90 percent federal matching funds offer starts to dawn on people, Buckeye citizens will find themselves in an ever-tightening financial vise. Their share of the cost for the $14 billion expansion to childless and working-age adults (over the wishes of the Ohio General Assembly, which had rejected Obamacare) will incrementally increase—from 5 percent of the benefits expansion next year to 10 percent in 2020.

By that time Kasich, like Hezekiah, will be long gone. And Ohioans, now firmly addicted to the trough of Washingtonian paternalism, will gnash their teeth at the mentality of a leader who thought to himself while courting the oily emissaries from D.C.:

“Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”