I haven’t written anything about politics in quite a while. In part because I’ve been so busy. But also just because it feels hard at this moment to really say anything definitive.
If I saw myself as a firebrand progressive blogger, obviously I should be spending this time fulminating about the necessity for health care reform, and castigating the “moderate” elements of the Democratic Party, screaming about the apostasy of stupid Max Baucus, and complaining about the administration consistently getting out-spun by a bunch of idiots. I would be listing all the moral arguments about the need for expanding health care coverage, about the insanity of our current system which costs more than everyone else in the world while failing to meaningfully cover huge sectors of the population.
All of that is true, and maybe I ought to be writing more extensively on those issues. It’s just…we all know all of that. I’m presuming that no one reading this blog isn’t aware of this. And perhaps it’s an abrogation of my responsibility, but I just don’t see myself as someone who is out to write that sort of thing.
Maybe it’s a retreat into academia (okay, almost certainly that’s what it is), but I find it more interesting to analyze what’s going on then to try and write from the perspective of an activist. Obviously, the lines blur. And I’m perfectly okay with that. But it’s hard to motivate myself to sit here and write about all the insane ‘controversies’ that keep erupting about this stuff.
So I’ll just say this once:
We are the richest and most powerful nation in the world. There is no excuse, absolutely none, for ANY of our citizens (much less 40 million of them) to be without health insurance. If you get sick, you should get medical care. It shouldn’t cost you anything. The ‘rationing’ of care is absolutely inevitable, but the only alternative to having the government provide some minimum guidelines is letting the ‘free’ market completely fail to cover huge sectors of the public.
All of the ridiculous scare tactics, in my mind, are absolutely demolished by the clear and evident proof of successful health care in virtually every other industrialized country in the world. Want to save federal budgets for centuries AND offer approximately the same quality of care: adopt the British model. Want to offer some of the best coverage in the world at a decent price: how about France, or Canada? Want a reasonable case for what could happen if you want reform but aren’t willing to sacrifice the basic (insane) patchwork framework we’ve cobbled together: well, how about Switzerland?
These are all real countries with functioning health care systems.
I’ve got a few ideas rumbling around about the politics of this, and the details of all the little fights and minutia, but at its core, that’s really what’s at stake here. Talk about cost savings all you want, and fight the good fight telling the people freaking out about ‘death panels’ to get a grip. But just keep your eyes on the prize. The system is broken and needs to be fixed. If we don’t do it now, we may never get a better chance.
So get it done. Recognize that all the forces of the status quo will be mobilized against you. But if you succeed all of that will drift away like bits of flotsam and jetsam. If this happens, I have every confidence that almost every idiotic fight of the past few months will be forgotten about by the time 2012 rolls around. The only thing that will be remembered is that for the first time in a generation, a new administration was able to make a profound and significant difference in the lives of those who needed it most. People are scared of change, but legislators have an obligation to do what is best, not just what appears to be popular in one particular moment.