Healthcare, Who Cares?

Well that is really the question. I thought I cared about healthcare. I thought that I (WE!) voted for someone who was going to bring national healthcare. I feared it slightly but that was the kind of change I was voting for. Then the congress started debating it. Then the Republicans made it clear that they were not going to agree to any reform, other then tort reform. Then the Democrats did what politicians always do, creating a bill that served a variety of special interests, towards doing a lot of good things, but short of national health care. Then they really started debating it. Then the tea Party people waded in. Just STOP they cried. Socialism! Death Panels. As I type this Tuesday night the people of Massachusetts are voting for another type of change because they like me think all this shit has got to stop, so we vote against whatever is going on. And I do not care. I know the Tea party People and the republican's will tell you it is referendum on health care, or even better a referendum on Barack HUSSEIN Obama but they are missing the point.

It is a referendum on our whole current government. Not the Democratic controlled Congress, but Congress itself. Not on the President, but the office of the President. I don't disagree at this point. the bill or bills that congress approved does not accomplish what I elected Obama to give me which was healthcare for everyone. I know we have healthcare for everyone now, but grudgingly and it is certainly not guaranteed. I would have even given healthcare to the dreaded illegal aliens. it also does not seem to be doing a lot to control costs since he cut deals with insurance companies, drug companies, the AMA etc... I don't know everything in the bill. I tried to get educated and what Glenn Beck. I tried to read summaries of it. I just could not take it all in. Neither could congress. I watched Beck and Limbaugh pull peaces out of it to demonize Congress and the administration. It didn't really tell me anything. Frankly the whole exercise has pointed out how divided our country is and watching cable news incessantly dissect every vote on every issue as the bill progressed... made me sick. I still wanted health care reform. But in the end I also want world peace. This appears to be something that is just not going to happen.

So I am assuming that weird Democrat lady in Massachusetts lost to that good looking, rich guy "man of the people" and that the republicans will be able to stymie health care reform. They will be lauded by the 20% of the country who adamantly oppose the bill. They will be vilified by the 20% of people who wanted the bill. The rest of us will just be dumbfounded and depressed that this is the best our elected officials can offer us. Seriously? This is it. Total division. Barack said he was going to "forge a new area of bipartisan politics. The Republicans made clear that anyone who would vote for ANY bill submitted by the Democrats was a dreaded RINO! The democrats then decided to play hard ball and use their elected supermajority to push through a more liberal bill, though still not as liberal as their far left constituents would have wanted. They miscalculated Teddy Kennedy's batteries and the patience of the people of Massachusetts with the current level of bull shit.

The Dems and crazy Nancy Pelosi will try and force through a bill, a watered down bill. They will likely fail and even if they succeed they fail because it will be a lot of nothing. So, we get the healthcare we deserve. Just like we get the government we deserve. You can vote these guys out but it is the dreaded "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" thing. Until we get rid of career politicians and big money special interest lobbying the game will remain the same. Demonize people who do not agree with you. Question their intelligence and their motives and their agendas and cobble together a 51% majority to try and shove your favorite policy down someone else's throat.

So. Who cares about healthcare reform? Well, you will when your old. You will when your sick. You will when your daughter marries a putz without health care from his job and she gets sick, or their baby gets sick. Ou system and the way we deliver healthcare is broke. Perhaps what Congress finally came up with would make it even worse but perhaps something might have worked and we could have started to sift through ideas keeping the ones that worked. Instead the healthcare industry will continue to dominate the debate and take up a larger and larger part of our GDP, our economy and what was formerly take home pay.

I want to elect Rush and Glenn. They have lots of creative ideas about how to fix the system. Oh, no they don"t. But they are entertaining if you can stomach them.

Democracy is a good thing. This is how it works. The Democrats have blown an opportunity here. It will be a while till they have another clear shot. Elections have consequences but this one, not so much.

***

Post Script: That was last Tuesday night and not surprisingly I called it. Although it is only the Senate seat in Massachusetts, the media (and not just FOX but all the media decided it was a referendum on Obama, healthcare, socialism, the economy, everything wrong in the country. This is of course silly but... I am wrong about this one. I am out of touch with the country. It is all about the economy and when the economy is bad everything is bad and it really is all that matters. All the social issues, abortion, gay marriage, immigration, taxation and even cries of socialism are all just back ground noise for the economy. The Tea Party cannot make tea if all those people are happy, employed and employing people. But they are angry and we are scared and we are sheep. We will vote these guys out quickly and vote in a different kind of problem. If the economy stays bad we will vote them out too and bring in some more.

On a brighter note, my brother and most of my clients were very pleased and it was nice to see them happy for a few minutes. Still angry... but hopeful.

Nothing will get done on healthcare because the only "change" we can stomach is change we believe will be beneficial for us. Any other change, no matter how needed is unacceptable and when your talking healthcare there is too much to scare people out of. Once again the only wisdom of the Diner Review is that we get the government we deserve. It is actually a George Bernard Shaw quote. He was a negative guy and the quote is:

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better then we deserve." God help us. Even better God have mercy on us because rarely has our country been collectively acting so ultimately scared and selfish.

Ahhhh... Politics...of Waterloos At Home And Abroad

There is a portion, a small and deeply troubled portion, of the massive readership of The Diner Review (estimated circulation 3.6 MILLION readers and that is only because they block me in China) that encourages my noxious, one sided, commie political ramblings soooooo.... here goes.

Health care. Dead before it gets passed. They will pass something. It just will not accomplish anything worthwhile and will polarize us as a people even further. Obama mistakenly believes he has to pass something. Mistake. Health care as an issue is a mistake for any party or President. That is why nothing has been done. It is easy to say that doing nothing is what has gotten us here and that no Republican has ever tried to reform health care other then to push stronger tort reform and damage caps and to provide more and more safety and profit for the insurance companies with zero...ZERO regulation of how they do their job. Let me be clear. They will pass something. let me also be clear, we will still have costs spiraling out of control, drastically in excess of inflation and that for a lot of people, their care will suffer as we adjust to the new rules. I would prefer they pass nothing to this and unfortunately it is not "getting it right". I still admire the courage it took to try and do something. It has been and will be (as the republicans predicted) his Waterloo. It could not have been anything else. Rahm Emanuel should have told him. The Democrats do want "European style health care". It will lead to a diminution of care for many and maybe even most of it.

My father in law is a very thoughtful man who just had a a quadruple bypass. Before he surgery we were riding to the Race Track and discussing Healthcare (4 months ago) and he said, the Bottom line is that we all expect the best possible healthcare and that every measure and technology be used to take care of us in the best possible way... and that there is no way to afford that. He is right. Once again we have built up expectations for top notch health care as a "right" and entitlement. We are spoiled children. And demanding and unforgiving ones.

PREMISE: BUDGET DEFICITS ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND WE MUST STOP THIS PROFLIGATE SPENDING IMMEDIATELY! UNLESS IT IS FOR HEALTH CARE.

One commentator suggested that this European Health Care will demand a European style military (not much) suggesting that you cannot do both. Perhaps that is right. Which brings us to:

Afghanistan: "Never Fight A Land War In Asia". Although attributed in our most excellent culture to the movie "The Princess Bride" this was actually an admonition of General Doulas Mac Arthur regarding the Vietnam War. How much does it say about our culture that "The Princess Bride". Is what we remember. My guess would be that the quote well predates Mac as well and goes back to...the Japanese...the British...The French and Napoleon...Alexander...(you get the idea). Whether it is because of the hugeness of the land mass or the hostility of certain areas we (the Republicans and the Obama administration) have forgotten this general Chestnut though my guess is that it was taught to our generals at West Point.

Along with it you can the idea that history has taught over.... well a few thousand years at least and that is that an occupying army always eventually loses. Why? Because the natives live there and never have to "go home". Ultimately they out last you and the will of the people who sent you.

Along with it add that America does not have the time or the patience to engage in any over seas adventure for more then two terms (8 years). There are no exceptions.

Finally in regard to Afghanistan add "Where Empires Go To Die".

PREMISE: BUDGET DEFICITS ARE DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND WE MUST STOP THIS PROFLIGATE SPENDING IMMEDIATELY! UNLESS IT IS FOR THE WAR ON TERROR.

Wake up Barrack! In your campaign and in order to win you changed the focus from from Iraq to Afghanistan. Prudence would have dictated abandoning that premise (and promise) and gotten us the hell out of there and spending that money further working up our intelligence and our border security. There is no national security interest in keeping a massive force there. The country cannot (and does not have the will, the history or the government) to be tamed and "civilized".

So far we have 5300 casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, not counting any of our coalition (soft laugh) partners or any of the indigenous people killed who we clearly do not care about enough even to bother to count. The estimate regarding Iraq and Afghani casualties is about 10,000 in Iraq and 3,000 in Afghanistan. Most of these deaths were caused not by our troops but as collateral damage from insurgent bombings. Not counting dead in Pakistan (no estimates) that is about 20,000 lives expended.

Dead at World Trade Center: 2976.

Deaths in the first Gulf War (where we waded in and destroyed their military and their country) 294. Hmmm....

The U.S. needs a new policy on terror saying that we will do what we initially did in Afghanistan. When attacked we will identify who the attacker is to the best of our ability. We will go after them wherever they hide and exact a huge price on whoever was and is harboring them. We got that done in Afghanistan 7 years ago. Yes, Bush might might have blown getting Osama, but we totally kicked the shit out of that country. Then for reasons that become more and more unclear we took out eye off them and went to Iraq. Oops.

For these two miscalculations...Obama is a one termer. The 24 hour cable news culture does not allow mistakes. Look at that poor Huckabee guy. Career...over. Why, a pardon he made based on his best and humanly (humanely?) fallible judgment. No mistakes guys. We might never have more then a one term legitimately elected President ever again. You heard it here first. I will miss Obama. So will Glenn Beck.

Why Are We So Angry? Maybe "WE" Are Not

So we have a continuing theme of anger in our country and it seems to at the current administration. The Tea Party people, the Christian right and the “conservatives” all will tell you it has nothing to do with “the President” but the policies AND with the people who are “the system”.

Where is anger at people and administration who brought us here? It is non existent. And it should be. Bush is done. Even Cheney is done. But their cobbled constituency of the biggest American Corporations and Banks and the radicalized evangelical community remains as an incredibly solid base of 20% of the electorate and a boat load of money. These loud, angry people are controlling the debate. They are “motivated”. When engaged what they are motivated to do it is to tell the government to “just stop”. I understand the sentiment but once again where were you for the last 8 years? The government is a big ship that is hard to turn and momentum in any direction is hard to stop. We headed down this road for the last 30 years which were great years. Reagan and Clinton and Bush’s dad ran us down the path that unbridled capitalism (funded by government in many cases) will solve all problems and that government debt has no consequences. Unfortunately we all suspect that Obama will accelerate that process but be clear, Obama has not spent a penny of our money yet. Our deficits and indeed this budget are all creatures nurtured by our past “leadership”. But we have stuff like this going on:

PHOENIX (AP) — About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday — the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Good stuff!














I have really appreciated the few Republicans who have said “Elections have consequences.” This guy was elected by a large majority. He was never unclear about what he wanted for healthcare and America spoke that this was “change” they wanted. When faced with being frightened regarding how the details might effect them they have reacted like everyone would and are saying “whoa”. I know the system is broke and cannot be fixed but do not change it if it is going to effect me. We elect people at times for the purpose of forcing us to do unpleasant things and putting a bullet through the head of our current healthcare/industrial complex might be one of those things. Our country voted hugely for change and groups of vocal people, peacefully assembling while carrying guns to meetings and asserting their rights have hijacked that majority will. I have not seen a single tea party member who has said, “I voted for Obama and I made a mistake”. It is important to note that literally tens of thousands of Americans have joined these peaceful/angry/reasonable/spontaneous/coordinated by Limbaugh, Beck and FOX demonstrations. According to the census bureau there are approximately 307,500,013 of us in the United States which means that as many as 307,400,013 have not yet joined these citizen revolts. But you wouldn't know it to watch ANY cable news.

What about racism? Seriously? This is a meaningless discussion. We are NOT a post-racial society and will not be in my life. It is a fact that many of us are VERY uncomfortable having a black liberal as a President. Some of us have let this color and exacerbate our basic opposition to his policies. This is a fact. Live with it. People are human. I do, when watching FOX hearken back to the days when you were a traitor and a commie under the sacrosanct rule (when Bush was President) to "Never Criticize a sitting President at a time of war." And so i not be remiss. Lets talk about ACORN. This organization was originally a good idea. They have blown it and are done. No matter what an organization has stood for you cannot be "entrapped" into the type of stupidity they have and not have organizational accountability for your employees. They as I said are done. I do note with interest that the same cannot be said for pro life organizations when there members kill people. They cannot be blamed for the crazies among them.

This was of course stupid then and it is stupid now. But where from the Christian right is the basic moderator of their faith? Of our faith? Of MY faith? Jesus lived under an oppressive totalitarian regime. In all the Gospels other then "render unto ceasar..." he didn't say squat about it. he wanted his disciples to focus on healing people, helping people and moving them to faith and to concentrate on the higher things. There is this guy who wrote a lot. St. Paul. He wrote a lot of letters to people in strife and dissension. On such group was the Phillipians. They were a generous people and this was a letter of spiritual encouragement. Paul said "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

So where does that leave us? Well, perhaps all of us are NOT that angry. perhaps by watching Glenn Beck, exchanging email forwards that mock the President, all just reinforce our feeling that EVERYONE feels this way. Maybe talking to people who agree with us and do not challenge our vitriol (especially from a Christian perspective) is self reinforcing of our anger. Perhaps we ought to read a book. Maybe some fiction or maybe even better some American history. because one of the other things that really saddens me is the lack of confidence the angry people have in the greatest Democracy in the free world. Every President, from Lincoln to Obama had been accused by some segment of the country in undercutting and imperiling our Democracy. They have not succeeded in doing it yet. This guy will not be the one to get it done either.

When we are talking about healthcare, government, or our brothers and sisters in the human race... think upon these things. INDEED.

Here was a thoughtful rant on healthcare from an unexpected source, my favorite singer songwriter James Mc Murtry. A tax paying Texan. http://blurt-online.com/blogs/view/2781/