The far right has no option but to turn up the heat and stop this legislation. They repeatedly say the legislation will be a disaster for Democrats in November, a political suicide. If that were true, why did the Republican leadership go ballistic, when they could simply take control of Congress in November and repeal the legislation? And, why are they so concerned about the political future of the Democrats? Could it be that they actually fear the reforms might work and endanger their recapturing the White House?
Based on the history of the way the far right operates, we can assume that fear also explains their insistence on starting the reforms all over again in incremental steps. However, individual pieces of our health-care system are interdependent, and a comprehensive systems approach is the only practical way to fix it. A decade's delay, to fix the system piecemeal, is unacceptable. Too many people are suffering from insufficient care or dying prematurely because of deficiencies in the present system.
The Simple Solution
The far-right Republican obsession with power and control of government leads to constant political warfare and takes precedence over advancing our country. Misrepresentation and distortion to arouse the public are their main tools. They are ruthless; they instill hatred and promote anti-government militia groups capable of domestic terrorism. Their leaders twist the facts, spread fear and then assume no responsibility for irresponsible behavior of their supporters. Threats of presidential assassination have increased threefold. Meanwhile, our country is becoming increasingly polarized and paralyzed.
The "Party of No" jumped ship on health-care reform because they couldn't have their way and feared eventual success. They have never accepted that a much larger party, called the American people, found that they had messed up badly for eight years and said we really don't want you to govern for a while, just participate. Instead of participating, however, the far right decided to fill the minds of people with all sorts of misinformation about what was going on in the new administration.
Many Republicans are shocked that the President dared to go ahead and enact the legislation without them. Let's face it -- the last thing the far right wanted was a successful bipartisan bill. Success would have meant that Obama's main theme of "one America" and changing the tone in Washington actually benefited the American people. His reelection would be assured.
Current Republican leaders are a far cry from those of the past. Republican moderates of earlier days contributed much to our country and are sorely missed today. They included such Senators as Arthur Vandenberg, Edward Brooke, Howard Baker, Charles Mathias and William Cohen. They advanced our country in many ways. Senator Vandenberg, for example, fought against Republican isolationism and supported our entry into WWII. After the war he participated in the development of the Marshall Plan, one of the most successful endeavors ever undertaken by this country. One business executive and a former moderate Republican put it this way:
"We are an 'endangered species.' My wing of the party has been swept into oblivion by the ultra right, which now controls the Republican agenda. This is not a battle between Republicans and Democrats; it is between the ultra right-wing element, who want to mold us in their image only, and those of us who want to preserve an open free nation."
We must somehow return to the long tradition of supporting
our duly-elected presidents. Probably the
first step is to convince political leaders to accept the principle that, when one Party is defeated, there is a real price to be paid and it must be done in the public interest. Minority leaders must be team players,
especially in times of national crisis. They should realize that they will have future opportunities to resume power, if they stay in touch with the American people.
Meanwhile, America must come first over Party. One way to encourage this kind of behavior is for voters to remove obstructionist members in Congress and
return to power only those minority parties with outstanding leaders and good ideas. Leave obstructionist's Parties in the minority until they reorder their priorities. There's nothing novel about this -- it's the way our political system is supposed to work -- but hasn't for two decades.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
