RIP: Health Care Reform

I am grieving tonight, because something near and dear to my heart is terminally ill. The Republican just elected in Massachusetts vowed to be the Senate's 41st vote to kill my loved one, and I'm sure he will succeed. It will be an ugly death, and I will not want to watch. There is one treatment that could save that life. The US House of Representatives could vote to accept the Senate's version of the bill, but they will not have the courage to do this - because it might kill them (or their careers). Courage is a medicine in very short supply in the Capitol Building. The inhabitants are mostly concerned with protecting themselves, and they do not seem to care that more citizens of this country are dying every day because they do not act.

Some of my friends try to comfort me. "Don't worry, dear. That treatment was really terrible, and we're going to come back and treat your friend the right way." But they don't know my friend like I do. When the treatment fails, my friend goes into a coma that lasts for decades. Truman tried to do it and failed. Thirty years later, even Nixon tried and failed. More than twenty years later, Clinton tried and failed. And now almost twenty years later, Obama tried. He came very close, but he also failed. I doubt I'll be around in twenty years to see the next attempt, especially without my friend to help me.

There are a lot of people to blame for the death. I'll start with the Republicans. They could have negotiated in good faith with the President and the Democrats, but they decided instead that the health care of Americans was not important. Much more important was destroying Obama. No Republican voted for my friend to live. (When the Republicans controlled Congress, there were always Democrats who voted with them.) But I also blame the Democrats. Some of them were so concerned with "winning" some issue that they were willing to let my friend die. Some of them sold out for money, not for themselves, but for their states. I give credit to Pelosi and Reid for doing what had to be done despite the incredible abuse they endured - especially Reid, because he probably killed his career in the process.

But most of all, I blame the American people. They say we get the representation we deserve. So my friend will die, and Americans will continue to die in greater and greater numbers. Eventually, when enough people have no health insurance, the American voters will wake up and demand a change - but by then it will be too late.