You might think that Republican Chris Christie’s Tuesday victory over Democrat Jon Corzine in the New Jersey governor’s race spells trouble for President Obama’s proposed healthcare overhaul because the win signals a GOP resurgence that may leave Blue Dog Democrats in Congress thinking twice about voting for the $1.1 trillion package.

DrRich says you’re wrong: Christie’s victory spells trouble for Obamacare because Christie’s fat.

Demonization of the fat provides us with a fundamenal mechanism by which we can cut our healthcare costs – that is, by which we may covertly ration healthcare – under any reform plan.

Government-funded healthcare (by whatever subterfuge we finally get there) permits – nay, demands! – that we declare to the obese that their unsightly physiques are no longer a matter of personal choice, but are now a matter of legitimate public concern. The choices they are making – that is, their gluttony, sloth and all other manner of self-indulgence – are placing unwanted and unsustainable demands on us purer, svelter, fellow-citizens.

By their own selfish actions, then, the obese become fair game for whatever manipulations our government can devise to cause them to either lose weight, or pay for their sins. Such maneuvers may begin with simple taxes on foodstuffs favored by the obese, but the sky’s the limit. A special “carbon tax” based on their BMI would be legitimate, for instance, since it will always cost a lot of energy to move a fat person from point A to point B, whatever the mode of transportation. The periodic mandatory “weigh-ins” such a tax would require would serve the useful purpose of public humiliation, an important incentive to weight loss. And it goes without saying that the ultimate censure – already employed in more enlightened cultures like Great Britain – would be simply to withhold certain healthcare services if one is deemed too fat.

More importantly, ostracizing the obese sets an important precedent for our central authorities to restrict, control and tax virtually any human behavior they can claim may lead to an increased risk of healthcare expenditures – which, really, encompasses virtually any human behavior you can think of. Furthermore, successfully dehumanizing the obese will establish that our society may, whenever it needs to, discriminate against the lower economic classes (since these classes are well known to indulge in becoming overweight). And finally, since obesity (despite our decision to blame it on personal failings) is largely determined by genetic predisposition, our success in dehumanizing the obese will give us a useful tool which we can later employ to withhold healthcare expenditures for other genetically-mediated medical conditions.

So you can see what a large (so to speak) triumph New Jersey voters’ decision to make the fat man their chief executive represents.  Another round of doughnuts for the governor-elect!