Brad, over at The Crossed Pond, writes a really good (READ: rather moderate) post on the current healthcare debate, and addresses some of the singularly unplesant aspects of the current system of debating such policies. Some of that which he writes may be read to address the recent roundtable cluster between this blog, #1 Dino's and Ambulance Driver.
NOTE: This is a very long post, but if you make it all the way through I'd really like to hear your comments.
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2 minutes ago
6 Comments:
Ok, I just spent the last hour reading the posts and going to all the other blogs and reading all the comments too. My thought is this is too big an issue to be jammed into a 1400 page bill that nobody has read and voted on in 3 days. Most of the people who are shouting at town hall meetings are probably not plants but people like me have tried to contact my congress people and have either not heard from them or in the case of one I received a boilerplate reply that had to do with the cap and trade bill. You know they could at least respond to the issue I was questioning. People are scared of the unknown and they aren't getting any answers from their representatives. My problem with the bill is there are too many open ended language issues that are going to be left to the interpretation of the bureaucrats. Case in point HIPPA. A well intentioned idea on the part of Congress that was badly interpreted and ended up making things worse. How bad? the last time I was at the hospital they wouldn't tell me how my 18 year old was doing in the ER because of HIPPA rules. I wish everyone would take deep breath, relax, and lets talk about the problems. We don't need to throw out the whole system but it does need to be reformed. I am sure others will think I am naive or something like that but I am tired of the crap from both sides and wish the people we send to Washington would remember they work for us.
Chip, We can agree that the proposed bill is ungainly and jammed with "stuff", but to allege that nobody has read it is foolhardy. All of the various proposed bills contain much with which I can find fault. While I do believe that our healthcare system needs overhaul, and I feel each and every citizen should have some achievable, reasonable access to healthcare, I do not think our government needs to be running the healthcare system. Regulate it ... yes. Run it ... no.
It is regrettable that you received unsatisfactory results from you contact with your representatives. Were I you I would make another stab at it, this time being rather resentful of your previous experience. As for myself, I've had no such experience. On the many occasions when I have reached out to my representatives, I've gotten clear results with each contact.
No, I do not think the town hall vandals are all plants, although some of them may be just that. Mostly they are just sheep following vague direction from some source of "authority". Regardless of who they are, or the reason for their behavior, they are unjustly disrupting the meetings.
We seem to agree on much, and I shouldn't have said "nobody read" I should have said many didn't read. My main issue is that bills are written to loosely. There needs to be clear cut directives or they will be interpreted in ways not intended. As far as the disruptions, I agree that it is unjust, just as it was unjust when Moveon.org and code pink did during the Bush years. For the democrats to call it Un-American now though is wrong. You can't have it both ways.
Chip, the only correction I would add is this. Not all Republicans are doing the vandalism to the town hall meetings, and not all Democrats participated in Code Pink shenanigans. Therefore there are Democrats and Republicans who can legitimately point fingers at the perpetrators on the other side.
Right now there are Dems calling foul on the town hall vandals. and they have every right to do so. People go to those meetings in an effort to participate in the process. It is unjust that they be denied that right by childish right wingers acting out.
In other words, if we desire to condemn misbehavior, we should condemn those who are misbehaving, and not an entire political party. If you will look back at my missives you will find that I have never condemned the Republican party; only right wing dirty tricksters.
Agreed, now if only the party leaders and the talking heads would follow that same course. Its great to discuss with you. I came to your site from AD, although I don't always agree with you I enjoy your work.
Very cool.
Regardless of outcome, a good, reasoned debate is always worthwhile. Certainly I don't expect to find agreement with all or even most of my stands, but I do hope that I can raise certain points that from time to time are worthy of consideration.
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