The one thing I keep hearing ad infinitum, is the idea that we can pass this HC bill, and fix it later. That's the most widely used justification for passing this bill. It's actually said so often that I started to believe it. That is, until I investigated how exactly that's worked out for us in the past.
I have deliberately excluded examination of original Medicare and Social Security bills, because quite simply, our government was different then. Corporate money had not yet infected the process to the degree it has in recent times. Therefore any comparison to those bills and the subsequent "fixes" are unfounded and immaterial - completely unlike ANY process we have today.
Most recently, I am reminded of that little financial crisis we had, oh in the last 18 months......Remember that bailout? We were told that we needed to act then, or else we lose the opportunity. We can always "go back and fix it later". Hmmmm. I guess it depends on what side of a ZERO balance bank statement you sit on, but that didn't do much good now, did it?
No fixes have come. No oversight. No nothing.
Then I recall the Patriot Act. That bill that we progressives universally hate, insulted by its utterly un-American construct. The Democrats who voted for its inception and subsequent renewal all argued that we needed it to secure our country, and we can go back and fix it. Since then, where have we gotten with those "fixes"?
No fixes have come. No oversight. No nothing.
Then I take a look at our favorite way to dislike Bill Clinton - NAFTA. This is the real sticker for me..... this is where we should have parted ways with the Democratic party. This was the stake in the heart of labor, and working families. In fact, it was the stake in the heart of virtually EVERY PROGRESSIVE CAUSE.
When the NAFTA debate came to a close under Clinton, and moves were made to secure it in legislation, the one loudest justification was, "We have the votes now, we need to push it through. We can go back and fix it later. It's not what we wanted in terms of environmental or job regulations, and there's some bad in it, but we can revisit it and fix it!".
Those fixes came alright..... they came in the form of expanded trader agreements, and broken promises. For fuck's sake, Obama and Hillary even campaigned on NAFTA REFORM IN 2008, 15 YEARS AFTER THE FACT.
No fixes have come. No oversight. No nothing.
Boy, I'm already tired...... but there's more........ much more.
McCain-Feingold : No fixes have come. No oversight. No nothing.
Medicare Part D : No fixes have come. No oversight. No nothing.
No Child Left Behind : No fixes have come. No oversight. No nothing.
The Military Commissions Act : No fixes have come. No oversight. No nothing.
The Clean Air Act : Few fixes have come. Several loopholes have been widened.
It seems to me, based on a historical perspective - in the context of the way our government now operates - that future fixes to this bill are a pipedream, and utter nonsense. We all know in our hearts that our government won't fix this bill. The bill itself is the result of a broken promise - why should we have faith that they will do the right thing?
At the same time, I am seeing that the PUSH to pass this bill is based far more on the fear of seat losses and Obama's second term, than any real confidence in legislation.
I think liberals are typically scared that if "something" doesn't pass, Obama will be a lame duck without a second term, and we lose the majority. All other public proclamations are theatre. This is really all about political security - otherwise there would be no reason to stop debating. If it really were about saving lives and helping people now, it would go into immediate effect upon passage. But I suppose there is some crafty excuse for that, right?
If you're a regular here, you'd think that we need to pass this bill because "some immediate good is better than no good", or that "we need to pass it now because another chance may not come for 10 years".
Well, I submit that those are simply baseless claims - simply because number one : the bill does very little immediate good, and whatever good is contained within it are not subject to immediate enactment. Four years from now, we see it.
Yeah, the clock is ticking eh?........... can we please stop with that argument? It's just not the real reason for this sudden deathgrip on pushing it through.
Then there's the idea that if we let this slip by, we will never revisit it for at least 10 years...... if that's the case, then why should we believe that it will be fixed? Oh of course..... "it's easier to fix something that already exists, than to submit something into thin air".
I find that argument so abrasively ignorant. The Iraq War was submitted into thin air. The Patriot Act, Afghanistan, the Bailout, etc........ yes, they all were in response to a genuine crisis. So is healthcare a genuine crisis. Therefore, that argument holds no water.
Health care and INSURANCE is a genuine crisis that deserves a measured and stout response, not a patchwork of good and bad.......... it's as if were building on a badly decrepit foundation. Eventually, the house will simply fall, no matter how many rusty nails we throw at it.
The real reason we have such vitriol about passing this badly compromised legislation is to paint some appearance of progress, so that Obama doesn't lose the appearance of having some efficacy. This is not a noble effort on the part of Congressional Dems, or for that matter, on the part of the liberal apologists who claim that we need to pass this now. It's all really about short term political gain, and that is sad.
What's even worse is that we progressives, by and large, are threatening to continue in the great tradition of excuse making and apologizing for bad policy, written by bad politicians, that once promised to represent and be one of us. We dig our own graves, and this is the perfect example. We refuse to acknowledge the LONG TERM effects of such myopic reasoning that we continue to embrace. That reasoning has led us to exactly where this country is now.
I keep hearing "but, we don't have the votes". All that means to me is that there are too many people bought and paid for.......therefore we choose to ignore the real problem and continue reinforcing the paradigm because we only think in two and four year increments and are too afraid to do something as radical as vote for someone else...... how revolutionary.
It's like coming home to find a big puddle of piss and shit on the floor, and giving your dog a nice juicy biscuit, and saying "oh, good boy. I know you didn't mean it....... Honey, we should think about training the dog one of these days".