Health Care is Born ---Will it Survive?

It's a done deal! Health Care is now, as proclaimed by President Obama, "the law of the land!" The Health Care bill passed on Sunday, amid and in spite of heavy critcism of the way it was passed. President Obama said, in so many words,that it wasn't the process that mattered, just the resulting vote. Actually, the process may turn out to be exactly what mattered to a lot of us. Watching and waiting from the sidelines, as many of the House members changed their vote from no to yes, based on special favors, bribery and threats of no future support from their own party members, it was hard to believe a bill of this magnitude was being played like a game. It felt unsavory, and smacked of bully-ism. One had the feeling the House voted not out of principle or in accordance with their constituency, but out of manipulation. Unfortunately, the passage of this bill seemed more a political victory than a victory for the country, which remains not at all convinced this is the right bill at the right time. There are already plans underway for several states to launch law suits against the federal government for forcing their people to pay for a product they may not wish to buy---insurance.

But the Democrats are the ruling party, with a man at the helm who seems at times more like a ruler than a president of the people, and a Speaker of the House who plays very hard ball and thinks nothing of bending the rules till it hurts. The problem with bending is that it can cause breakage. Is that what happened here? Is it legal for the federal government to force this law on the states and force their people to purchase insurance? Unlike automobile insurance, which is conditional upon owning and driving a car, this law demands purchase of insurance just for being a citizen of the country. It is not a tax ;it is a forced mandate to buy something for yourself whether you choose to or not--or pay a fine, levied by the government. Some will choose to pay the fine. It will be interesting to see what the courts decide on this one. I wouldn't bet on the states winning over the courts. Even if they do, proponents of the Health Care bill may try to close the loophole by simply demanding an insurance tax, rather than a required purchase---another questionable tactic, but given the imbalance of power, it may work.

It is sad that in this time of terrorism and economic crisis, we cannot pull together as a people for a country we all love. As a certain junior senator once stated in a speech arguing for the Democrats' right to filibuster against the Republicans in 2005, "What I worry would be that you have two chambers, the House and the Senate, but that you simply have majoritarian absolute power on either side. And that's just not what the founders intended." Those were President Obama's words. He was right. Too bad he didn't live the words. Was the bill that got passed on Sunday really a done deal or a deal breaker? It was brokered, negotiated to the max, and slammed shut; not honestly voted through on principle or conscience ,and certainly not a vote by the people, but instead, by the Democrat party. At least filibustering, not allowed, due to the "reconciliation" protocal, would have allowed a little more debate and a much larger sense of thoughtfulness and cooperation from both sides---as intended by the founders of our country. Have we become so divided, so polarized, so unwilling to work together, that the United States of America is no longer so??