I’m slowly but surely losing faith in humanity for a lot of reasons. I take that back. I’m not losing faith in humanity. I’m just losing faith in the American body politic. But then I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, we’ve been content to let the powers that be run over us for quite some time now.
This week’s hit on the body politic Faith-O-Meter has to do with the health care reform legislation that is supposedly moving through debate. First, there isn’t any real debate. Ask your representative if they’ve read the proposed legislation. There’s just bull shit on both sides, lots of money being wasted making the bull shit palatable, and even more money being wasted on stuffing the pockets of Democrats and Republicans alike. Now the battle isn’t about the real issues of health care. As I’ve said before it is about who wins. Bottom line. You and I lose.
I’ve got real problems with the legislation as I’ve read it. But I’ve got larger problems with the fact the system we now have puts every Robber Baron in the history of the world to shame. The Mafia would love to have stumbled on to the system we have now that enriches Insurance Company execs and shareholders at the expense of the sick or injured. You know this. I know this. Our supposed leaders know this. But it doesn’t matter if you’re responsible for changing the problem. The only thing that matters is who wins.
The arguments on both sides are tired and filled with code words that mean absolutely nothing. That’s easier than stating the truth of course, but it is also extremely disappointing. Quite honestly, unless the Obama administration develops some balls and changes its message, they are already losers in my opinion. And the more than tired argument about socialized health care on the other side is about as limp as Mark Sanford’s man toy was when he found out he got caught with his zipper down.
Do I think we can afford the price of this at the moment? I don’t know. I don’t think anyone knows and that’s one of the many dirty little secrets about this whole thing. I do believe that we can’t afford the current system continuing. Yeah, we are going to need to borrow to pay for it. I’m not happy about that. But then I’m not happy about how we needed to borrow to pay for the Iraq war, the supposed bailout, the stimulus, etc… either.
OK, so I’m beefing and bitching here and not offering anything constructive. So here goes. I’d like to hear some one make this argument.
Health industry execs, Insurance execs and their shareholders who are fighting this tooth and nail, bribed politicians, (I’m looking at you Max Baucus), and those trying to flim flam this into a defeat for reform won’t be around when the spiraling costs of health care begin to reap diminishing returns because no one can afford their products anymore. They will have cashed out and will be enjoying the dough they made when the propaganda panderers were in full swing. Will they care? No. They’ll be too busy celebrating with their friends from AIG and Wall St who got theirs in the last year.
Today’s players on all sides are playing with your future. But then, hey, I’m back to that losing faith in the body politic point again. Most folks don’t care enough to know the facts (admittedly as obscure as they are) or to let those who pretend they do, know that they are on to them. But then that’s the way the folks in control of the debate like it.
