Emotion...or Power

A friend asked me today if the current health care debate was the most emotional issue since the civil rights debate of the 1960s.

I told him this debate has nothing to do with emotion; it has everything to do with power. For the people, it is an emotional issue. For the country's elected leaders, it is ONLY about power.

For the Republicans, it is about their very existence. If they lose their all out battle to defeat ANY health care reform, they believe viscerally that the people will like what the government gives them (just as they like Medicare today, "don't you mess with my Medicare"), and they believe the people will not be inclined to replace Dems with Repubs at that point. That means Rs lose power big time and will likely be relegated to minority status for a long, long time.

They are rolling the dice on this one. If they can defeat Obama, they know they have a chance to regain control of the Congress and soon thereafter, the White House. If they lose this fight, they lose whatever small amount of power they have left....and must be content to be the powerless naysayers in the corner for a long time. That is why the battle is so bloody, and why the Rs are attempting to make it the most emotional you have ever seen ("don't want no death panel telling me when I can die," "don't want my country to become another Russia," "don't want no socialized medicine in America.")

The right wing is fomenting much of the irrational comment AND behavior. The racists and the crazies are coming out of the woodwork. This is going to be a tough fall.

I don't know if the Dems in Congress have the spine to stick with what is right for America. Nearly everyone agrees we need to rein in private insurance companies and get premiums under control; we need to accept all applicants for healthcare regardless of pre-existing conditions; we need to guarantee a minimum package of benefits for everyone. Frankly, I can find no one on Capitol Hill who disagrees on two basic elements of reform: the need to reform of health insurance markets, and the need to expand healthcare coverage, with federal subsidies for some. Even Repubs recognize consensus can be reached in these areas...........BUT, right now, they are fighting all -- I repeat -- ALL efforts at reform, because they fear risking the lost of that true mother's milk of politics -- POWER.