Politicians and the public alike have recently focused much attention on efforts in Congress to defund Obamacare, but voter perception about the states’ role in the process is straight out of Tom Wolfe.

“It’s like a boulder rolling down a hill — you can watch it and talk about it and scream and say ‘s–t!’ but you can’t stop it. It’s just a question of where it’s going to go,” Wolfe has said.