This morning the staff at Blogistan Polytechnic Institute didn't have to wait until the resident faculty emerged from the wine cellar library - where they spent the weekend drinking thinking on our motto of Magis vinum, magis verum ("More wine, more truth") - to find out what the resident faculty were planning. Their shouts of joy echoed across the BPI campus last night as the House passed the health care reform bill. All that remained to be discovered, as they made their way to the hot tub faculty lounge for their weekly game where the underwear goes flying planning conference, was what they would have to say about it.
In a word: History!
More below the fold....
First our usual thanks to last week's guest lecturers. Last Tuesday, Professor of Neuroholdemology Caractacus offered insights on Harold Ford, Liz Cheney, and his Aunt C. Last Wednesday, addisnana made her stunning debut at the BPI lectern with a look at what life might be like if The Government Has Drowned. Last Wednesday evening, JaxDem offered a poignant tribute to bamabikeguy, our beloved Krewmate who died last month. All were well worth reading.
We have three guest lecturers this week. Tomorrow, Professor Caractacus continues his Things We Learned This Week series with a look at reactions around the country to the passage of health care reform. On Wednesday, Professor of Juronursinfosystology FarWestGirl will offer some ideas on how to better package messages for Fred, our archetypal median voter. And in a special Thursday guest lecture, retired hospital administrator and Professor of Hamptolocopolism LI Mike will offer insights on how the new health care bill will affect hospitals and other providers.
Note: We currently have guest lecture openings on Wednesdays beginning April 7th. We also still need someone to post the Top of the Morning featurette on Wednesday mornings. If you would like to guest host Morning Feature, or post TotM on Wednesdays, please volunteer in the Tuna Can, below.
That leaves us with the resident faculty's plans for the week, and the history made last night. Historians often argue that we shouldn't try to assess events until 75 years after they happen. However hard we might try to step back and imagine how current events will be noted in history, we are cultural creatures and thus are inextricably bound up in the motives, trends, and impulses of our time. Consider that, even 35 years after the Vietnam War, any attempt to discuss it revives the political and cultural conflicts of the time. Thus historians say we must wait until all of the advocates have passed on - and until inside details emerge in documents - to begin to cast the chaotic flow of events into the clearer narratives we call history.
Yet there are events that the participants and witnesses recognize, even in the moment, will become part of that historical narrative. The signing of the Declaration of Independence. The Constitutional Convention and the ratification of the Constitution. The Civil War and the end of slavery. The Sherman Antitrust Act. The National Labor Relations Act. The Social Security Act. The Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. The Medicare Act.
Those who took part in and witnessed those events knew they were making history. They couldn't be certain how that history would play out, or how it would be discussed. But they knew those events would be discussed for generations to come.
Last night we watched such an event. Generations from now, the Health Care Act will stand as a landmark in U.S. legislative history alongside the others mentioned above. We can't be certain how all of its policies will play out, or how it will be discussed. But we can be certain that it will be discussed.
And each of us took part in it.
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Happy Monday!