Congressional Guts

It is hard to believe, but it looks like the Congress will actually deliver a health care reform bill to the  President’s desk in January, and we can all sing ‘Hallelujah’ that finally we have struck one for the un-lobbied interests and the common folk of America.  All you have to do is look at all the self righteous Republicans, who to a man (or woman) voted against the reform in lock-step with some ideological premise that had them by genitals, issued forth by the health care and pharmaceutical lobby, to recognize the bald face of self interest and immorality.

This action has been a long time coming.  Ted Kennedy and all the other Democrats have been working on this for decades and finally.... finally!, have been able to beat back the naysayers and “Chicken Littles” to the advantage of all Americans.  It ain’t perfect, but it is at least a beginning.  For the first time, we will all have equal treatment by the insurance companies, and the Federal Government will have the ability to control the most egregious abuses.

Finally the Republicans have been rebuffed, and stopped in their two-decade old jihad to create a more fractious and self interested society.  Just look at the vote in the Senate and House.  Not one Republican could find it in their cold, tightly squeezed little hearts to find something good in this effort worth voting for.  Instead their leaders are warning of horrible budget deficits and higher premiums and higher taxes.  How does the party that brought us unregulated banking and the worst economic crisis in 70 years know with such certainty that all that bad stuff is going to sink the ship of state?  They don’t.  Just like they didn’t know in 1993 that Bill Clinton’s tax hike on the richest sliver of American society and tax cut on the poorest and smallest businesses would leave America with a  $559 Billion surplus, and yet they all voted in lock-step against that action too.  In fact that was the beginning of the current vitriolic partisanship that has epitomized this era of Republican self interest and self righteousness, complete with screaming, frothing talk show conservative loudmouths.

Expect the absolute worst from them over the near term, too!

I have a different hope.   I think that this is a good thing for our country if, for no other reason, than we have a chance to see if ‘change we can believe in’ , personified by this action of moral courage by the Democratic Party, can actually be realized.  Let’s give this a chance.  It certainly could not be any worse than what we are living with now!  As Timothy Egan of the New York Times says in an editorial today, “As people get a chance to see what’s actually in the bill, sentiment will shift. Over time, it closes the dreaded doughnut hole, which makes cash-strapped seniors pay for their meds at the point when they are most in hock to Big Pharma. It forces insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. By creating an exchange where people can shop for coverage, the bill seeks to bring care to 31 million additional Americans. And it does all this, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office, by reducing the deficit $132 billion over 10 years.”

What is so terrible about those things?  Just ask a Republican and they will tell you all the things it MIGHT cause.  Like I said before, why should we believe anything they say?  Look where they have led us……

Obama may have bitten off more than he should have with all the difficult issues he is trying to deal with, but let’s give the guy some kudos for having the balls to push on this so that at least we can say we tried to make things better.  And let’s at least give the Democrats the benefit of the doubt for the present, and our admiration for trying to do something in the people’s best interest for a change. 

Let time tell us whether this is a better path.  It is certainly better than no path at all!