Sunday, March 21, 2010

Healthcare Reform Bill Passes

Well, I'll be damned. I didn't think they had the guts or the political craft to do it. All they had to do to accomplish it was to throw about half the traditional Democratic base under that bus mentioned below, but I have to give them credit for rising out of their stupak stupor and actually crafting a legislative victory.

So... why do I care? I'm no longer a party member, and the bill manifestly sucks eggs in some important ways. Well, here's why:
  • the collapse of the Democratic Party, however little I like the damned thing, could well lead forthwith to the collapse of the nation. And believe me: a legislative failure of that magnitude would lead to the collapse of an already shaky party. We... all of us.... still need the Democratic Party, and we need it in at least minimally operable condition for a while; 
  • this was almost certainly the last political opportunity of my lifetime to address healthcare reform at the federal level. In other words, a bad law can be tinkered into shape after its passage; a failed bill that did not become law has a snowball's chance in South Texas in July of being reintroduced in a reasonable time. How long has it been since Hillary's bill? See?

I may have more on this tomorrow, but I'm also addressing some medical problems of my own. Thanks for your patience.

3 comments:

  1. The only way to "fix" this bill, is replace it with an entirely new system.

    There are no "hooks" for improving the bill, as there were with Social Security and Medicare. This thing was written to prevent improvements.

    The political parties in the US are both irrelevant. They have become meaningless labels that tell you nothing about the contents.

    ReplyDelete
  2. dude! it was a republican bill! of course the democrats were going to be allowed to pass it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't like the bill worth a damn... read the lead-up posts below... but there certainly seems to be a lot of enforcement of liberal orthodoxy directed this way. If I am not even allowed to consider the possibility that some law is better than no law, why then the progressive/liberal wing is just another GOP-like entity: a Party of No. Fuck that shit. At a minimum, I am allowed to think through all the possibilities, even to come to some wrong conclusions on the way to an understanding. (chants) No more orthodoxy! No more orthodoxy! ...

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