A Perfect Health Care Reform Bill???

Congress will never achieve the perfect bill in seeking to enact true health care reform for the benefit of all Americans. But that will be OK.

Indeed, that will be just fine.

When the 1787 Constitutional Convention was in its last day, and still there remained deep divides among the delegates Benjamin Franklin penned these words and, too weak to actually deliver the speech, asked fellow Pennsylvanian James Wilson to deliver his words. Here are selected lines from his speech:

"Mr. President –

I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them: For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise. ..

It is therefore that the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others. Most men indeed as well as most sects, think themselves in possession of all truth, and that wherever others differ from them it is so far error.

...I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us…

…I doubt, too, whether any other Convention we can obtain, may be able to make a better Constitution. For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect production be expected?

…It, therefore, astonishes me, Sir, to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our councils are confounded like those of the Builders of Babel; and that our States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another's throats.

Thus I consent, Sir, to this Constitution because I expect no better, and because I am not sure, that it is not the best…"

It is my hope that at least one representative in Congress will rise this fall to repeat Mr. Franklin’s words for the benefit of all his colleagues…and that each will bear Mr. Franklin’s words in mind as he casts a vote in favor of health care reform.

What Would You Do?

Journalist Judy Woodruff was on the radio this morning talking about the nation’s current economic crisis. She summarized the economic challenges we face and concluded with a question: “If any member of Congress is listening: what would you do? I don’t think anyone has a good and clear answer to that question.”

One could almost see her throwing up her hands in despair, an emotion shared by millions of Americans.

In my view, no one has yet been able to articulate a clear vision of government actions that should be taken to address the complex integrated nature of the entire economy. Mortgage foreclosures, investment firms failing, insurance companies struggling, banks facing insolvency, the entire auto industry on the brink of bankruptcy – and all demand immediate attention.

Ben Franklin noted the natural aversion of man to anticipate and solve problems before they rise to crisis proportions. In his autobiography, he wrote of developing an early plan to unite the colonies and coordinate their resources to provide for their common defense. He was anticipating war with France and tried to advance this idea before a congress of commissioners from each of the colonies meeting in Albany, New York in 1754. (As usual, old Ben was ahead of his time.)

Ultimately, the Franklin plan was judged too bold for the time and rejected on both sides of the Atlantic. Franklin writes in his memoirs that perhaps the later “bloody contest” with England could have been avoided if the congress had the vision to adopt his plan. “But such mistakes are not new: history is full of the errors of states and princes,” he wrote. “Look round the habitable world: how few know their own good, or knowing it, pursue.”

In other words, those who govern are frequently too busy handling the problems of the moment to engage their intellect in a visionary exercise that might anticipate a more urgent problem advancing on the horizon. Franklin wrote, “The best public measures are therefore seldom adopted from previous wisdom, but forced by the occasion.”

And so, that’s where we are today:” forced by the occasion” of economic crisis to develop the “best public measure” to address it. President Roosevelt would understand. When FDR was elected in 1932, America was on the precipice of disaster and the state of the union was not good. Fourteen million Americans were out of work when FDR launched his New Deal. If you think the Bush administration and the current Congress have already overstepped in attempting to save the aforementioned industries, consider just some of the steps Roosevelt took in his first 100 days in office:

Emergency Banking Act, giving the President broad powers over all banking transactions.

Economy Act, reducing the salaries of federal employees and payments to veterans.

Reforestation Relief Act, establishing the Civilian Conservation Corps which eventually provided work to 250,000 young men.

Federal Emergency Relief Act, providing grants to states for relief projects.

Tennessee Valley Authority established, providing for construction of dams and power plants in the Tennessee Valley.

Federal Securities Act, providing for the government to register and approve all issues of stocks and bonds.

National Employment System Act, creating a US Employment Service to cooperate with the states in providing employment services.

Homeowners Refinancing Act, providing mortgage money and other aid to homeowners.

National Industrial Recovery Act established the Public Works Administration, providing funds for a major public works program.

Farm Credit Act helped farmers get mortgages at low interest rates.

Banking Act of 1933 sets up the FDIC which was empowered to insure individual bank deposits.

And all that was done in the first 100 days of the new Roosevelt administration. And oh yes, FDR also took America off the gold standard during that time. The net effect was to devalue the dollar and stimulate the economy. The stock market began to recover.

Today, President-elect Barack Obama announced his team of economic advisers and they include Tim Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury and Lawrence Summers, Chair of the National Economic Council. America has been crying for leadership. Now it begins. It appears we don't have to wait until January 20th for the leadership we seek.

So, to Judy Woodruff and anyone else looking for a clear answer, I would say this: If the past is prologue, buckle up and get ready for bold steps and visionary leadership.

It's about time.

Ben Frankllin would be proud of Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md)

I don’t know Wayne Gilchrest, the moderate Republican member of Congress, defeated for re-election in a primary earlier this year, but old Ben would be proud of the way he tried to represent his constituents, and Ben would endorse the comments of Gilchrest as reported in Marc Fisher’s Washington Post column today. I have excerpted Gilchrest’s remarks from the column:

“The Republican Party has become more narrow, more self-serving, more centered around ‘I want, I want, I want.’ I’ve had it with my colleagues who don’t understand the issues, who not only don’t read the Financial Times, they have never heard of the Financial Times. We’re in this bad place as a country because of the evangelicals, the neo cons, the nasty, bitter and mean…very clever ideological groups that use money, technology, fear and bigotry to lead people around. Voting according to your knowledge and experience – that’s out the window. Competence and prudence? Forget it.”

He also had a few choice words for the American citizen:

“We’ve become a country that sits down in front of the boob tube and listens to people shouting about freedom, but now people equate freedom not with the acquisition of knowledge but with comfort. ‘Give me my flat-screen TV, the gas-guzzling car, the goods made in China.’ The whole concept of freedom has become the idea of comfort, with a complete lack of responsibility.”

What about his party’s standard bearer, John McCain? Gilchrest had this to say:

“John McCain just recites memorized pieces of information in a narrow way, whereas Barack Obama is constantly evaluating information, using his judgment. One guy just recites what’s in front of him, and the other has initiative and reason and prudence and wisdom.”

OK….no wonder the ideological purists of his party are happy to see him go. He tells the truth, and that is not something the right wing ideologues can truck. No sireee!

Now you know why Ben Franklin’s quote is the inspiration for this blog. He said, “You have a republic…if you can keep it.” Ben knew that if our representatives reach the point where they set aside their own intellect, their own judgment and simply be guided by public opinion, we would be in danger of losing the republic. Writing to “The Electors at Bristol” in 1790, Sir Edmund Burke eloquently expressed this sentiment when he wrote, “Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays rather than serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

American needs a lot more like Rep. Wayne Gilchrest!