Hm. We seem to have drifted into a parade of obits here. So let’s have another — this one, for health-care reform, which apparently croaked last night with the election of dingbat Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate.
Political Animal’s Steve Benen seems particularly sour this morning, noting that a Senate seat once held by John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Henry Cabot Lodge and John Quincy Adams “is now filled by a dim-witted wingnut, and that’s a real shame — for Massachusetts, for the Senate, and for all of us.”
I can’t say I’m exactly jumping for joy, either. I’ve never been sold on the idea that this haphazardly stitched Frankenstein’s monster of a health-care bill is the final answer to a complex problem, but f’chrissakes something has to be done. Our premiums just shot up 34 percent, and I’ve spoken with others who report hikes of 40-plus percent. Anyone out there seeing their take-home pay increase by a similar or greater amount? Yeah, me neither. I recently had to make myself very unpopular with an editor just to get paid for work performed, so I’m not exactly counting on a fat raise anytime soon.
And I’m not expecting much out of the Senate, either. Not with Brown adding his wingtips to the Repuglican foot-dragging.
Mad Blog Media 
I’m a Tri-Care bitch … sucking on the teet of Uncle Sugar, as I have for my previous 44 years. I pay a pittance for some of the best coverage on the planet, and the crazy thing is, most of my fellow leeches feel free to call themselves “conservatives” even though Big Ugly Gubbermint is responsible for holding their hands and wiping their noses as they stumble through life. “Don’t let the government touch my Medicare!”
Had a VA appointment last week, and it only confirmed my suspicion: government run health care works. Nothing but good people working hard to take the best care of us that they can.
Army brat, who followed in daddy’s footsteps … so I know nothing about private medicine. Had my tonsils and appendix removed by Army doctors, then got 24 years of annual turn-your-head-and-cough treatment from folks in uniform, and now I get both Tri-Care and VA benefits. And if you ever hear me complain about any of it, shoot me. Yes, sometimes the administrivia is a bit byzantine, but it works and it’s affordable, and there’s no reason the program couldn’t work for everyone.
Here’s what I can’t figure out: Humana and the like are tripping over themselves to get a piece of the military and veteran’s medical coverage programs. Obviously there’s money to be made there. A quick google finds, yes there is:
And this particular demographic cannot be the cheapest to cover. Soldiers are notoriously accident prone, and have a tendency to run into things like bullets and shrapnel at very inconvenient hours. (And it turns out that sports-related injuries occur at twice the rate as their battlefield counterparts.) Soldiers are also well known for not taking the best of care of themselves, smoking and drinking too much, eating too much crap, and generally abusing their bodies. And with their relatively meager salaries, their kids grow up on Burger King and the like.
So we’re talking about a high demand audience here, a big time consumer of medical services of all sorts, and especially the pricey stuff.
And yet, health providers can’t get enough of this action. They all want a slice of Uncle Sugar’s pie, which means we’re either way over-paying for it, or it’s a growth industry, or a combination of the two with a few more like it thrown in. But no matter how you look at it, you have to conclude that it can work if you expand it beyond the current customer base.
I don’t know a lot about business, but I know that if an industry isn’t profitable, you won’t find a whole lot of folks fighting to get into it. And that’s what you have had with Tri-Care, Medicaid, Medicare, and the like for a long time, long before BHO came into the picture.
Someone please enlighten me here. I was only half-listening to NPR a while back when something was said about how the 60 vote “supermajority” needed to block a filibuster is a Senate “tradition” and that the requirement does not appear anywhere in the Constitution. Apparently ignoring this “tradition” is termed the “nuclear option” and would cause all sorts of outrage, mostly on Fox News. At the time I wasn’t too concerned because a) the wimps…I mean, Democrats, had 60 votes; and b) I thought the health care bill sucked. So did I hear correctly about this “supermajority” stuff? Is it all really just “tradition”. Because if ever there was a time to drop the nuclear option bomb, it seems like health care, with the well being of literally millions of people at stake, is the time to do it.
Another thought: If the “supermajority” is now a thing of the past, and if the “nuclear option” bomb can be dropped, can we all finally start treating Lieberman like the asshole he is?
There must be something I’m missing too. We’re headed toward the cliff, and from my vantage point as corporate wage slave it seems obvious from my increasing premiums and shrinking coverage. Yet the Republicans seem to want to drive straight over the edge as soon as possible. Why don’t they realize this and why don’t they realize that they’ll be in the car too when it goes over?
If I were a large corporation with enormous healthcare costs dragging on my profitability, I’d love to have healthcare restructured so I could have a greater amount of my profit either turned back to my shareholders or paid to me in enormous bonuses. So why Corporate America continues to back the party that’s trying to keep healthcare costs at the expense of Corporate America is very confusing. Seems like a circlejerk.
The Constitution allows each house of Congress to set its own rules. The filibuster is a loong tradition, not a requirement, in the Senate. The House long ago adopted rules limiting unfettered debate, but the Senate only went so far as to first allow a filibuster to be cut off with a 2/3 vote and more recently, a 3/5 vote to STFU.
http://www.usconstitution.net/constfaq_a7.html
“…So the filibuster has it constitutional origins in the ability of each house of Congress to set its own rules. It has its origins in the framers in that they saw the Senate as a place where extended debate and discussion would have a cooling effect on the actions of the more “heated” House. And it has its origins in the concept ingrained in our political system that the rights of the minority must be protected from the force of the majority…”
The “nuclear option” is possible by a change in the rules (which I think only requires a majority vote), but I think like the real thing, both sides are reticent to use nukes for fear that the shoe will some day be on the other foot. Repugs threatened but did not launch under Pres. Bush. I think the Dems are also wise to consider the consequences if they push the button, esp. since this election suggests the shoe can turn real fast.
Interesting article in the Atlantic by James Fallows on the total dysfunction of American governing institutions. Gotta agree. The U.S. and many state governments are to good governance the way an AIDs-infected streetwalker is to safe sex.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201001/american-decline
I have Medicare and VA access and bounce between the two occasionally, but it works, I go to the VA and they bill Medicare for the visit, interesting huh! Unfortunately, my young trophy wife is not so lucky; her insurance eats us out of house and home.
The Senate and House are a cluster-fuck feed by too much lobby money. I’m not sure we can every get it straightened out. Six years is a long time to keep any crook in charge of the hen house.
The dumbing down of America has worked too damn well! But, that is another slimy thread.
Jeff- I’ve been asking myself that exact same question, wondering if I’m missing something. Perhaps all those corporations have big portfolios of healthcare stock?
On balance, We the People get the government we deserve.
Young trophy wives are not about practicality, for gosh sakes. They, like Porsches and Ferraris, are for high performance activities and are known to have high maintenance costs.
That Atlantic story was an interesting read: “Yep, we’re fucked, but when have we not been? Quit leaning on the shovel and dig.”
I particularly liked Dick Lamm’s observation:
“I don’t think that America’s political system is equal to the tasks before us. It is interesting that in 1900 there were very few democracies and now there are a lot, but they’re nearly all parliamentary democracies. I’m not sure we picked the right form. Ours is great for distributing benefits but has become weak at facing problems. I know the power of American rejuvenation, but if I had to bet, it would be 60–40 that we’re in a cycle of decline.”
A local businessman I know is becoming convinced that the country has become ungovernable, and I’m not inclined to argue with him. But as Lenin famously asked, “What is to be done?” I don’t see a successful coup or revolution in our future; neither do I see much hope for any of that change we were all so excited about at this time last year.
Thoughts?
I don’t see any escape from gridlock in Washington. Its all about the fight, be damned if the ship is sinking underneath us.
My worry is that we will elect a candidate or party, who like Hitler in 1932, promises a way out of despair via scapegoating someone or other and we give him enough rope to hang us all. The rise of these politically savvy right wingers who are working closely with the tea party and media conservatives and business types reminds me of 1932 Weimar Germany. For those who think it couldn’t happen here, I have a nice bridge to sell you.
Have yet to go home and read the voting results from Mass, but I would wonder if the Dems simply didn’t turn out in force, leaving the elections to the Repubs. Dems who worked to elect Obama and now stay home are cutting off their noses to spite their faces. What’s worse, a struggling Obama with Dem majorities, or a House full of tea baggers this fall?
Unfortunately, my pessimism is getting the better of me. I think we are a long way from the bottom.
Here is a post mortem on the Mass election. Dems sat with their heads up their asses. Its hard to call something like that an ambush.
Khal, we share a common fear (and pessimism). Writers as different as Sinclair Lewis and Robert Heinlein have posited American dictatorships, and as mentally lazy as our fellow citizens have become, I think a whole bunch of ’em would welcome a strongman so they could focus what remains of their attention span on “American Idol.”
I also think such a development would require a massive catastrophe for a trigger, and the dingbats’ best shot may have been 9/11, with the crypto-fascist Daffy-Fudd cabal running the show and the Donks prostrate with their pants down in the name of national security. But maybe it wasn’t massive enough to set Joe Sixpack screeching for a Mussolini to make the trains run on time.
I don’t see anyone either charismatic or tough enough to be the American Hitler on the horizon, but that doesn’t mean that he (or she) isn’t out there, flying under my radar.
And yeah, that post-mortem is a fun read, no? Samey-same as the first Daffy-Fudd “election.” The Donks never should have allowed either contest to get that close. I guess when you have a Donkey dick, it’s easy to step on it. But you’d think a few stomps would drive the lesson home. These guys seem to like it.
I was going to say something, but better STFU.
“Well, well, well….look what we have here.”
What is it that you all want? Free healthcare, smart politicians AND good food?? Well, to paraphrase Mr. Bontrager: “Pick two.”
That being said…the issue here is that we, I mean you, get what you voted for. I just get to go along for the ride. And much like that stoopid mofo in the backseat yelling at every ho on the street corner: I’m enjoying every minute of it.
Listen up…the issue is not Donks vs. Repugs. It is you. Plain and simple. You get what you voted for. If you voted for Rep. Asshat because “he/she/it is better suited for the j-o-b” then complain away. However, if you voted for Rep. Screwjack because “he/she/it is the lesser of two evils” then please follow the example inllustrated in the graphic above. Please. Your depression is bumming my ride, man. And besides — Tuesday morning quarterbacking is silly.
The solution is simple: vote each time you get a chance for the person who is most qualified to do the job of governing the populace.
And “yes, big corporations have massive amounts invested in medical portfolios.”
And “yes, ‘Merica is turning into a cretin infested turb bath.”
And “yes, big guvment is what all guvment wants because it is the new GM.”
And “yes, it is not ‘like it was when I was a kid’ because you are older now.”
And “yes, we have beaten this horse to a pulp so please call the rendering company and take it to the glue factory.”
James: “The solution is simple: vote each time you get a chance for the person who is most qualified to do the job of governing the populace.”
How many such chances do we get? The “choice” is dialed down to Evil or Evil the Lesser long before we hit the voting booth. It’s not like we get a whole menu — just one from Column D or one from Column R. OK, there may be other “choices” — Libertarians, Tea-Baggers, Socialists and Know-Nothings — but those folks never get anything but comedy press. You want an R or a D, fella? Move along, move along, we got shit to sling here and you’re holdin’ up the line.
How many Americans have the stuff to work their party machinery, starting from the local level and working on up? How many even declare a party affiliation, register to vote and then turn up on Election Day? You want comments on a website, we got ’em, but God help you if you’re hunting decent candidates and volunteers to put ’em in office.
When offered a choice between a shit sandwich and a shit burrito from the same ol’ kitchen, a lot of folks say, “No thanks, not hungry.” Only the shit-eaters queue up. Surprise, surprise.
Sadly the Republicans are masters of getting folks (mostly stupid) to vote against their own self-interest, re -“keep your gummint hands off my Medicare” while being bankrolled by the folks who profit from their rule (Fox News, etc.)
I find it hilarious to watch person after person vote against their own self interest. Of course it causes me a lot of pain and suffering also. I have a friend who I’ve been riding with since I was 8 – he is a diehard cyclist and always has been. He votes straight down the Republican party line. He is very poor and until medicare often had no health insurance. This caused him to delay needed surgeries for years until he got on medicare. I once spent awhile arguing with him about a candidate in California (where we lived at the time). This guy believed that cyclist should be banned on any public roadway. He still voted for him because he was a Republican…
Democracies such as ours (vaguely a democracy) only work if people actually vote in their own self interest. Of course at times you have to wade through lots of misguiding crap to figure out what you own self interest is.
O’G, I agree with your last comment – you’ve hit it on the head. Sure, if we could all vote for someone we thought would actually make shit happen, we’d be in better shape. But we don’t have that option.
I am genuinely convinced that any and every politician who has a realistic chance at gaining office – at a level higher than, say, city council – is sold completely to the system. They talk and talk and talk, argue over nothings, think and speak about nothing important, and are generally useless and hypocritical fools. The thing is, I don’t think of myself as a pessimist at all – to me this seems a perfectly realistic, if unkindly-worded, representation of reality.
So if I, for example, wanted to take the reins and run for office, with an eye on working my way up the political ladder to some position of actual influence, one of two things would happen. 1. I would never, ever be elected, or 2. I would sell out, become a mouthpiece, and get elected. Since I’m not okay with the latter, the former will not happen.
What to do? That’s just it – after years of believing that we could fix our problems, I’m truly beginning to believe that we can’t. Plain and simple. I’m working on an essay right now detailing the logic behind this sea change in my head, although it’s more a cathartic device than anything. Once I finish it – assuming I do – perhaps I’ll post a link here so you fine folks can read it and tell me whether my logic makes sense or if I’m finally off my rocker.
Believe it was Collins in the Times who wrote how the 41 senators who can block any legislation whatsoever represent about 11% of the US population. Gots to love democracy in action.
Since we’re talking about the Constitutionality of the nuckular option … parties are extra-constitutional. The problem is, state voting rules have been determined by the parties, who saw it was in their own best interest to tilt the scale so far against an independent that it’s next to impossible. A good 30% of the country is independent, and somewhere around 1% of our elected officials are. And that’s at the federal level. If you include state reps, it’s around 0.001% independents.
My county here in CO is 50% independent, and 25% Dem and GOP. But not a single independent elected official, not even for dog catcher.
We could all start by refusing to use the terms liberal and conservative. They’re bullshit terms. The reddest of the red come from the states with the biggest federal hand-outs —— farm subsidy babies and that state up north that Ed Abbey called the Last Porkchop, Alaska. Liberalism and conservatism died out in the ’80s, replaced by a loosely affiliated group of special interests. Left and right and lib and con mean zilch. Just dog whistle terms used to placate those who can’t think for themselves.
O’Grady,
Do you really think that those of us who register in the third party are that far off? Logic says the more options you have, the more options you choose. But time and again voters register “like my papi did” ad infinitum without a clue as to what that means. Sort of like being forced to choose between Shitmano or Crampagnolo.
Sorry, but I don’t buy that logic because I don’t want to be an individual…like everyone else. I am going to vote each year (that is sort of how it is working out here in Kal-eee-four-nee-yah) for the person who I think is best qualified to represent me. That, my friend, is the basis of representative democracy. I just have to put up with the windbags that the rest of those who vote decide are “the best of two evils.”
Or as a few boys from O-HI-O once said: “What we have is Freedom of Choice/What we want is Freedom from Choice.”
C’mon, James, you’re not ordinarily this dim.
I tried to register as a Yippie for McGovern-Nixon. Alas, it wasn’t a “recognized political party,” according to the Bibleburg registrar. Since then I’ve voted Socialist Workers Party, been a member of the October League and its offshoot, the Communist Party Marxist-Leninist (like Obama, I palled around with terrorists), cast ballots for John Anderson, Ross Perot, Harry Browne and even a couple of Democrats (held my nose while doing so, but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do). I will confess to never having voted for a Republican of any sort, unless you count Anderson, who was a recovering Repub. Nevertheless, I forgave him his sins.
The bottom line is, you can party up with any old crowd and vote for whomever you please. Hell, you can vote for me, if you’re bored and/or drunk enough. You just can’t elect anyone. It’s like betting on Team RadioShack in the Super Bowl. Lance Armstrong might be one helluva QB, but his team doesn’t get to play.
It’s a fairly simple probably and statistics lesson, but one that’s hard to beat into folks skulls.
A two party system makes everything look simple on paper. All arguments have two sides, right? So, two parties, two sides … we all get our say.
But the problem is that the parties require a certain kind of candidate to win their nomination, and there’s no direct correlation between party nomination and general public approval. It’s like taking the best NBA team from the east, the best team from the west … and then putting them in kayaks and seeing who’s faster.
And that’s only half the problem. Elections are like evolution. If a mutation gives you a 0.000001% better chance of procreating and passing along your genes, in the long run it will pan out. Well, that oh-oh-oh-point-one percent advantage is that the two parties wrote the rules for elections, county by county and state by state, so no one else ever gets a voice.
Just take a quick look around the big blue orb we all hang out on. Check out our fellow democracies. Look at their congresses, their parliaments, and their funkadelics. You won’t find anyone else with only two parties, and you won’t find any other governing body where the composition is 49.999% Party A, 49.999% Party B, and that one lone whatever who lucked his way in gawd knows how.
Now compare constitutions. No significant differences in there, in terms of election rules and procedures. The only difference between us and them: our parties wrote the nuts and bolts election rules, and our voters think inertia is the greatest force in the universe.
Except all arguments don’t have two sides. Get ten different people with ten different religious beliefs in a room and you will have ten sides to an argument. Eventually some might coalesce into broad agreements, such as Christianity, Muslems, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, but that is still five. The world has never seen just two religions.
No reason to think that political questions should be any simpler than that. Its simply been a management tool by the pols (here and elsewhere) to keep power to themselves and stomp down the little guys the same way a few businesses stomp down on competition. Every once in a while one of the major parties self destructs, such as the Whigs or in Biz, Chrysler. I keep hoping both the present parties completely self-destruct (both mine and the other one) so maybe we can get some traction on problems again rather than listening to the same old bullshit.
That “two sides” part was supposed to be a bit ironic. Of course they don’t. Some only have one … the factually correct side. Some have a dozen. But the two party system has reinforced this idea of two sides to all issues.
Ever wonder why all politicians always say “bipartisan” instead of “non-partisan”? You’ll never heard a politician say “non-partisan.” I heard one almost say it once and he quickly corrected himself.
The Whigs only self-destructed because we didn’t have the political infrastructure in place that we have today. Political inertia is the most powerful force in the universe. once the two parties obtained irreversible momentum, it was game over. it’s going to take a major catastrophe to change the status quo. Even then, who freaking knows? The Dem and GOP faithful have forgiven their chosen leaders for all sorts of shortcomings. Clinton’s peccadilloes, Palin’s ignorance … once you’re in the game, you can get away with just about anything.