Health Care or whats wrong with the president?

While I'm a registered independent, when it comes to healthcare I'm Democrat Blue all the way. And i feel I need to weigh in at this point, if only to keep score, so that the 3 people who read this infrequent mouthpiece can throw their support where its needed, if they should choose to do so.

In the middle of august in the first year of the Obama administration, the democrats at this point are trying to walk back the public option, the republicans and freedomworks (led my former majority leader dick army) are equating insurance reform with "tyranny" and it looks as if the liberal democrats are the only ones trying to salvage this bill from the watery grave of compromise which is looking more and more like its going to do nothing but keep the status quo that kills 20,000 Americans every year.

Maybe its paranoia, but if the Republicans win this one are the insurance companies going to be drunk with power and inflate prices on a regular basis? More so than they’ve been doing?

Lets start from the beginning here. This started off with the stimulus fight. Not the bill, the fight. The president took from that bill that he shouldn't lead with compromise, he should let the Senators put things like tax cuts in so they can take credit for something, give them a bargaining chip, and find the bill at compromise later. But he took the wrong lesson from that.

For all the president admires the legacy of Reagan, he should have taken this one lesson from the gipper, and every haggle you've ever been in on; Highball 'em. Its not hard to see how you could walk back a single-payer system to a public option and be where we should be both morally and governmentally (meaning not too much gov. intervention). Instead he took from the stimulus debate that he should do nothing but request a bill and let them hash it out in Congress. Ever the good sport that Obama is.

But as we know at this point, he's been getting hammered for not having specifics. Another argument for the idea that presidents should go for broke. In 1981 then President Reagan demanded a 30% tax cut down the line. He ended up getting 25%. See how that works? If he'd gone in asking for a compromise of 15%, he'd had been lucky to get 5% and he'd have ruined any chance to revive the economy. But at this point its spilt milk.

The President at the time of my writing this has 3 options at this point.

1. Let the bill fail and purge from congress the representatives that should have listened harder to their constituencies. This is a gamble but if he looks at the numbers and sees a punishing result for the blue dogs who can't get the job done, it may not be a bad solution. They're only benefit at this point has been to give the Democrats a majority, but not let them pass any meaningful legislation. You can bank hard on an economic resurgence and in a year from now and ride it to a new, less resistant democratic base.

2. Get something watered down. This is what the republicans want. It will ruin the administration. Its not worth mentioning what it might do since the list carries on and on but lets just say the people won't benefit from this one and therefore, neither will either political party.

3. Reconciliation. Not even sure its legal. Will most likely be worse than 2.

Obama says he's walked back from the public option (according to Chuck Todd) because even those who supported it didn't know what it was and if the phrase of "public option" was hanging things up, we can remove it. But the Public Option is something that we need because for those who can't afford to eat and buy their medication.

In 1910 Churchill said we should judge a country by the way it treats its Prisoners. He should know, he was POW during the Boers War. It was an argument then, about how a society should treat its most vulnerable and underprivileged sect. Modern American Prisoners have a better healthcare system than more of the working poor, and in many cases better living conditions. Today our most vulnerable people are the families that work 3 or 4 jobs amongst two parents and are struggling to feed people, and praying that no one gets so sick they need real care.

Its been nearly 80 years since the first proposed health care system was left out of the Social Security bill, and at countless times along the way presidents from both sides of the aisle have attempted to get something done. The forces against us can often be ourselves, and senators and congressmen have long been just as guilty as private insurers. But the concerns today aren't all out of line or ridiculous; will this fund abortions? Are illegal aliens covered? What is all this "end of life counseling" about?

The republicans are suggesting a mandate, similar to what Nixon proposed, and almost exactly like what we've got here in MA, but the costs keep rising. Its braking the bank and if it isn't stopped a mandate will only serve to punish the poor or make them choose between Healthcare and food. (same problem only reversed because of government interference)

There have been concerns that the protesters at rallies aren't really protesting healthcare for any real reason. Concerns that the government will overthrow the country via healthcare. That Obama is taking gun rights, and that he's not a native born citizen. But the concern I can't shake was a free 8-day clinic in Inglewood California where doctors came to give free care to teh first 18,000 people that showed up. Depending on our political prism you’re either looking to see how many people worked full time, or how many were homeless. I guess one would show the difference between need and want but what I noticed was this:

from the larger article "...Over the eight days, dentists extracted 2,200 teeth, completed almost 5,500 fillings and performed nearly 2,000 cleanings. Nearly 1,800 pairs of eyeglasses were made and 400 women received mammograms." (http://www.dailybreeze.com/lifeandculture/ci_13151844)

Cleanings, Fillings, Glasses, and Mammograms. This wasn't even major work being done, this wasn't million dollar care being given out. People lined up and waited 8 days just to get things that are about as basic as going for a regular check-up. And while the idea that medical care can cost as much as a 1st time mortgage and can strike from no where is concerning, whats more concerning is that when the representatives from all over the country come together the debate is this...

Is making sure people can get cleanings and mammograms a tyrannical government takeover?

Really? Everyone interviewed was a working world stiff who just wanted preventative maintenance. Lets talk about that just quickly. If everyone knew what they could do to prevent major medical problems, wouldn't we be a lot better off? At least at that point couldn't we say you had your chance? In the end 60% of this country (roughly) has private insurance. Lets just leave that fact as it is. I can't say what % of the country is on Government care (every senior is for example) so lets just say America isn't 40% uninsured. But if its 10% or 15% if we could pass legislation so those folks had a shot...would that really take down the greatest republic the world has produced to date?

American's have always espoused the virtues of freedom and liberty. America's about options, and when we look to other nations where class systems still exist, or that a good amount of the population has no chance other than the States to go to college, I'm always reminded that for all our flaws we're still the last best hope - not for the well to do euros - but for the third worlders who want a better place for their families. I can tell you I walk about 4 different languages a day here on my way to the bus and they didn't come here because of our blinding arrogance. America is still a place where so much can be yours if you really want it. Sometimes we're chastised for how hard you have to work, but you can be assured that if you only have one goal in life, you can get it here. People are given fame and money unfairly sometimes, but that never stops you from yours. The idea that nothing is impossible on our shoes, no matter how minute, superficial, or sentimental is still something most of us believe.

The dream of preventative care, that someone who knows what their talking about can say "you need to be careful of X" or "try eating more of Y", and that everyone has the opportunity to just know that the ticking time bomb of a heart attack isn't around the corner orphaning children, burdening your family. Is that really the right we want to start denying? We've got our differences but we need to understand that this has been ruined every time politics was introduced. The time has come for Americans to stand up for one another, for the voiceless fools working too many jobs to have time to speak, and say that - no, we don't want free government handouts - but these people should have a choice, and if the private market is abandoning them in the interest of profits then the government should make sure that its citizenry is looked after.

I'll finish my tirade with a line from the most Liberal of Lions, Ted Kennedy and his all too famous closing at the DNC in 1980.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."