In my last post I expressed my disappointment in the health care proposal which, last evening, was passed by the United States House of Representatives.  It was a “better than the status quo” solution to the health care crisis which is in the process of destroying the American economy (with, of course, a lot of help from eight years of GW Bush/Dick Cheney) – or, at least, that is what the democrats are promising and I, for one, hope they are correct.  I’ve also spent a lot of time on this site, which was originated because of my displeasure with the aforementioned Bush administration, pointing out what I believe are President Obama’s shortcomings since taking over at the White House.  However, last night as the debate played out its final moments in the House of Representatives – the outcome of which was pre-determined, the distinction between the democrats and republicans was STARK.  I was at school correcting papers from my sixth graders and had the opportunity to watch pretty much the entire process and I came away wondering how any decent minded, thoughtful, caring American could support the republicans and their RADICAL fearmongering that TOTALLY exposed their HYPOCRISY which seemed to be on steroids.

Now, I fully realize that virtually ALL OF US are hypocrits to some degree or another.  In fact, while not a “fundamentalist zealot,” I am a confirmed, devout, Christian (I guess you’d have to say I’m part of the “Christian Left”).  I agree that life begins at conception (I’ve seen actual evidence of this), I have always supported an economic policy aimed at a balanced budget, I believe in traditional American values (that’s pretty subjective though, isn’t it?), and I agree that the “disintegration” of the family is at the core of America’s present problems.  Does that sound conservative to you?  It has always felt conservative to me.  However, ALL my friends and acquaintances who listen to people like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Fox “news,” etc. consider me a flaming LIBERAL!  I can only surmise the reason for this is that I take the teachings of Jesus seriously.  The republican leaders of this nation actually remind me of the Pharisees.  Now, there’s no one out there who reminds me of Jesus (except Jesus himself), but these republican leaders seem to be doing everything they can to undermine what Jesus stood for, what he taught, and, of course, many of them use his name to do that.  I believe that is what bothers me the MOST about this debate over health care.  (other than the fact that my own apparent need to sit in “judgement” on republicans causes me to feel a sense of hypocricy over my own actions – I do understand the Bible says “Judge not, lest ye be judged” – quite the dilemma)

Listening to the republican side of the argument last night – despite, in my mind, that both sides were being disengenuous at best – the republicans made my stomach queasy.  And, after reading so many books detailing what they did during the “Bush years” – when they had the opportunity to address the health care crisis in America – was what made their every word seem like “HYPOCRISY” on steroids, as mentioned above.  Let’s just analyze their argument against this healthcare reform legislation against their own record of the past 10 years:

One argument: We can’t afford it – healthcare reform will cost “a trillion” dollars and lead to massive national debt.  Do I really need to elaborate to point out the hypocrisy of this one?  Where were their complaints about the national debt when they were passing tax cuts for the top 1% of this nation totalling over 2 TRILLION dollars with no mention of a way to pay for it?  Or, the championing of two ill conceived wars which have already cost this country over one TRILLION dollars and that has been paid for with 100% BORROWED FUNDS.  Where were their complaints about that?  Or where were their complaints about the Medicare “part D” program they themselves rammed through congress which added almost 400 BILLION to the debt and prevented senior citizens from having the ability to negotiate as a group for lower drug costs?  Why weren’t they complaining as George W Bush and Dick Cheney were saying “Ronald Reagan proved deficits don’t matter” as they DOUBLED the national debt in their eight years in the White House?  Were they saying nothing simply because Bush/Cheney were republicans?  Or did this concern over the national debt just strike them as important once President Obama took office?  And, of course, you won’t hear republican number one accepting the REAL RESPONSIBILITY for the present debt crisis as something they brought on by their over DEREGULATION during the years from Reagan to Bush II.

Here’s another one of their arguments from last evening: “This is a total government takeover of the health care system.”  Do these people live in their own absurd universe or something?  Now, I have to add here that what I’ve been proposing since day one is exactly what they’re complaining about here – well, sort of.  And, that would be the opportunity for ALL AMERICANS to be able to buy into a “government run health care system” if they would choose to do so.  The reason I’m unhappy with the democrats is because they had an easy solution to this health care problem and chose to take an ill conceived route that hopefully will someday end up in the correct place.  All the democrats had to do was to allow all Americans the opportunity to buy into Medicare – with a few modifications which would allow more favorable payments to doctors and hospitals.  That was it.  Anyone wanting to keep or buy private health insurance would still have that option.  And, based on the republicans CONSTANT rant that anything the government does is MUCH MORE INEFFECTIVE than the private sector, there shouldn’t have been much concern by the private companies that the government could effectively compete with them.  Of course, that wasn’t the case and the insurance lobby and the pharmaceutical lobby “invested” over a BILLION dollars to make sure there was no “government takeover of the healthcare system.”

In fact, what we’re ending up with from this “historic” bill is a plan that FORCES another 32+ million “customers” into the health insurance providers who’ve been supposedly fighting this bill all along.  You, as I did and am, might wonder why the insurance companies would fight against 32 MILLION new customers?  Well, I believe the answer to that question is that they weren’t fighting against it.  I’m guessing these companies got pretty much what they wanted out of this legislation.  They are still in tact, they’re waiting for a BUNCH of new customers who will be subsidized by the taxpayers, and I’m guessing there will be no sudden depletion of their bottom lines.  In fact, I believe the total risk here is on the government’s side.  I’m as certain as I can be that the insurance “board rooms” are already busy figuring out how they can “get around” anything in this legislation they don’t like.  The bottom line with this bill – contrary to what the republicans are HYPOCRITICALLY saying – is that it STRENGTHENS the “FOR PROFIT” healthcare system that is creating a huge DRAIN on our economy.  I’m hoping and praying that President Obama is correct that the bill will bring down costs and provide insurance for another 30+ million uninsured Americans.  But, what this bill AINT is government run health care (although the government is going to be right out there getting blamed for whatever “ills” show up as the legislation is implemented)

Still another argument against the legislation by republicans last night: “The American people are solidly against healthcare reform.”  I heard this one OVER AND OVER last night from almost every republican who spoke.  All I could think of as I listened to them was “here we go again” with another propoganda campaign designed to say something over and over again until people start thinking it must be true.  EVERY POLL I’ve seen on health care would suggest that if people are not solidly behind this legislation it is because it doesn’t go far enough.  When this process started almost 75% of Americans wanted a “robust public option.”  The general public understood that to be what I proposed many times and earlier in this post – something like a medicare buyin option for ALL Americans.  In fact, early on in this debate, about 56% of ALL RESPONDENTS wanted a single payer healthcare system!  So, as usual, the republicans are LYING again!  You know – when their lips are moving – THEY’RE LYING!  Now, it’s true that there are a few recent polls which can be manipulated in a way that would appear to suggest that there is not a strong majority in favor of healthcare reform – but, those figures ALWAYS represent the monstrosity of a bill the Senate ended up passing – which is technically what is law as I’m writing this post – waiting for the house “reconciliation” modifications to be acted on in the senate.  No matter what the democrats end up with it’s not going to be what the people wanted, and it’s CERTAINLY not going to be “healthcare for all” as they’re touting it.  The democrats aren’t being genuine here either, but their exaggerations PALE in the face of the republican “Lie machine.”

Finally, probably the most absurd argument:  “This is a soviet style reform, a communistic form of health care.”  This is the republicans attempting to appeal to the most ignorant and biased among us.  Now, I personally HATE this tactic – which is translated into the so-called “tea party” movement and ends up morphing into racist and homophobic attacks on members of congress who are supporting the bill.  This is the tactic espoused by the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Michael Savage, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, John McCain, and seemingly ALL of today’s despicable republican party.  All I can say is it angered me to watch video of John Lewis and one of his Black colleagues being showered with racial epithets as he walked to the capital to cast his vote for this legislation.  This is a man who was almost beaten to death in the first Selma to Montgomery “March” almost 45 years ago to the day as he fought for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King – both TRUE AMERICAN HEROS – and these “tea baggers” are throwing “N bombs” at him because he’s in favor of national healthcare reform – probably reform which will benefit some of them.  Barney Frank received a rash of homophobic slurs, and they even blasted a Texas Congressman of Mexican decent with hispanic slurs.  Really, all of this tells me all I need to know about the “validity” of their “communist” claim – I had just hoped we had matured past this kind of CRAP in America!  Obviously, I was wrong.

This healthcare legislation, as far as I’m concerned, is MAJORLY flawed.  I’m not all together confident it’s going to work in the manner the democrats are anticipating.  For one thing, I believe there is still WAY TOO MUCH trust being given to the very insurance companies which are supposedly being “reformed.”  There is no “government run healthcare option” as part of the bill – which I understood President Obama to be “promising” as he ran for President.  Also, he promised there would be no “mandate” – if you remember – well, if I remember – that was a Hillary Clinton proposal.  And, the thought that I will be taxed on my health benefits which are used to pay for the insurance I purchase – which costs me an additional $600 per month above what my employer provides (I include my wife) simply makes me feel my health care costs will be rising instead of going down.  Hopefully, as I say about much of what Obama “accomplishes,” I hope I’m wrong.   But, getting back to the republicans – THERE ARE CLEAR LINES being drawn here.  The republican arguments MAKE NO SENSE!  The republicans made a conscious decision to oppose health care reform – not because it wasn’t in the interest of the American people – but, because they want President Obama to FAIL at all costs.  They would have us ALL FAIL in order to make sure that America is not led by a President of color.  I believe the one tradition republicans still hold true to is they want a “White Anglo Saxon Protestant” in the White House.  And, they’re willing to do or say ANYTHING in an attempt to make sure violation of that “principle” never happens again!