Town Hall Meetings Over Health Care Reform Peddled By Politicians And Lobbyists Reveals A Far Deeper Crisis - The Confidence Game Is Over
Senator Arlen Specter remarked a few days ago that people disrupting town hall meetings are not necessarily representative of America. He believes the issue is more than health care. That there is a mood in America of anger with so many people unemployed. It all boils over.
Ya think?
Well, to the good Senator's remarks, what is representative of America? Are you representative of America? Is a Congress with the lowest approval rating in history representative of America? Is the $3 billion dollars Wall Street lobbyists have pumped into politicians pockets in the last ten years representative of America? I know one thing. We have three hundred million people with every particular view imaginable in this country and as long as they aren't breaking any laws, who's to say what is "representative"? There is no "representative of America". Maybe we should all be like Senator Specter and bob our heads up and down when politicians speak.
The reality is there are only citizens expressing their opinions or concerns. When we get into witch hunting and mob frenzy stirred by twisted lies that government storm troopers are going to come and tell grandma that it's time to die, that isn't part of public discourse and debate but then I'm not really sure how that is any different than what politicians embrace in their seamy relationships with lobbyists. No two people are likely to agree on every single detail of any topic but it is quite obvious Senator Specter is out of touch with reality as are most politicians. And that is his biggest problem. It is Washington's biggest problem. The ruckus in these town hall meetings has a deeper meaning - American people don't generally trust anything going on in Washington. And why should they? If government doesn't work for the betterment of society, what particular reason should anyone now trust a politician on any issue including health care reform?
In my estimation, the fact that members of Congress feel as though they are being accosted by constituents on the health care debate is really a reflection of the fact that Congress has forgotten that is is accountable to the sovereign. And they aren't used to being challenged by their bosses. There may be a small group of radicals telling constituents that we are going to have health care death squads but I don't see any large scale efforts of such insanity gaining traction. The mainstream media wants us all to believe everyone expressing dissent is an idiot. The reality is politicians are getting exactly what they deserve. That is a reprimand from management for their profligacy and utter incompetence in managing our affairs.
This short clip is a prime example of the incompetence surrounding health care reform. A constituent asks a simple question to Arlen Specter and Kathleen Sebelius and gets what I would classify as ridiculous and, frankly, boneheaded answers that simply reinforce valid concerns. A citizen asks how a Congress that really doesn't understand health care can be trusted to make the right decisions on such an important issue. I think that's a pretty fair question given Sebelius wouldn't want me performing brain surgery on her should she need it. And I don't want her telling me how health care should be reformed because she doesn't know any more about health care than I know about brain surgery. Sebelius answers that she has never been part of Congress. And what's your point? Then she goes on to say that she has never seen people work so hard. (Congress) That's great but what does that have to do with the question? Sebelius is a politician not a health care expert. I'm sure the people in the Soviet Politburo worked hard as well. (I'm just making a point. I'm not comparing the Congress to the Politburo. It's obvious this Congress is worse.) Then Specter remarks that there are 1,000 page bills that have to be acted on very quickly. This idiotic remark simply proves concerns about Washington are accurate. Politicians have their own little club with its ridiculous rules that have no relevance to doing what's right but instead doing whatever is expedient to a broken process. Does any politician really think anyone in America cares of Congress has a 1,000 page bill and a short time to read it? Then it's obvious every 1,000 page bill should be vetoed because if the process is too short to understand it, then Congress is doing nothing more than passing bad legislation. But then we knew that. That's how they have destroyed our economy and our banking system. Fix the process so you can actually have an intelligent review of the bills instead of passing legislation you can't even read or understand. Either that or resign.
Unqualified subject matter experts, ie politicians, under the influence of money-toting corporate lobbyists should not be leading any effort to overhaul our health care system. If politicians are serious about reform, then have a logical apolitical process. We have a dozen major health care plans around the world to benchmark. Where is the benchmarking? Incredibly there isn't any. That is completely unacceptable. A few years ago Taiwan benchmarked global health care systems and the deemed the U.S. system not even worth of consideration because it was so bad. I saw the interview with a Taiwan official and he literally laughed when asked why they didn't look at America's health care system. And now the same parties influencing the existing system are deciding on a new system? Why not turn the process over to a special committee of nonpartisan subject matter experts as we highlighted before. This is not a methodical process managed by experts. This is a process dictated by monied interests. That nearly guarantees us any plan will either be bad, awful or terrible.
To label anyone who dissents as a troublemaker is really an attempt at marginalizing dissent. Hooting and howling at politicians as we see in this session is not lacking it manners. It is letting our elected representatives experience our displeasure and that we do not trust their generally vacuous remarks. Has anyone ever seen British parliament operate? There's plenty of hooting and howling.
The people of this country generally want health care reform. The polls show it is clearly so. But, when it is being decided by cronyism and corruption, the American people are surely going to have a reaction based on lack of trust or suspicion. As they should. As they do.
Government has proven for a long time it is not to be trusted. Should government reform itself and actually prove it desires to do what it in the best interests of the people, then confidence in government will return. The bond of trust is broken. The confidence game is over. The sooner politicians realize this, the quicker we can get down to business of restoring trust through actionable change across a wide multitude of government policy. A good start would be to repeal corporate personhood, ban associated corporate lobbying and mandate publicly funded elections not controlled by any particular party and monied lobbyists. Of course, there is another potential outcome as well. That many of these life-long politicians won't have a job in the future. I can find nothing more American than that.
Ya think?
Well, to the good Senator's remarks, what is representative of America? Are you representative of America? Is a Congress with the lowest approval rating in history representative of America? Is the $3 billion dollars Wall Street lobbyists have pumped into politicians pockets in the last ten years representative of America? I know one thing. We have three hundred million people with every particular view imaginable in this country and as long as they aren't breaking any laws, who's to say what is "representative"? There is no "representative of America". Maybe we should all be like Senator Specter and bob our heads up and down when politicians speak.
The reality is there are only citizens expressing their opinions or concerns. When we get into witch hunting and mob frenzy stirred by twisted lies that government storm troopers are going to come and tell grandma that it's time to die, that isn't part of public discourse and debate but then I'm not really sure how that is any different than what politicians embrace in their seamy relationships with lobbyists. No two people are likely to agree on every single detail of any topic but it is quite obvious Senator Specter is out of touch with reality as are most politicians. And that is his biggest problem. It is Washington's biggest problem. The ruckus in these town hall meetings has a deeper meaning - American people don't generally trust anything going on in Washington. And why should they? If government doesn't work for the betterment of society, what particular reason should anyone now trust a politician on any issue including health care reform?
In my estimation, the fact that members of Congress feel as though they are being accosted by constituents on the health care debate is really a reflection of the fact that Congress has forgotten that is is accountable to the sovereign. And they aren't used to being challenged by their bosses. There may be a small group of radicals telling constituents that we are going to have health care death squads but I don't see any large scale efforts of such insanity gaining traction. The mainstream media wants us all to believe everyone expressing dissent is an idiot. The reality is politicians are getting exactly what they deserve. That is a reprimand from management for their profligacy and utter incompetence in managing our affairs.
This short clip is a prime example of the incompetence surrounding health care reform. A constituent asks a simple question to Arlen Specter and Kathleen Sebelius and gets what I would classify as ridiculous and, frankly, boneheaded answers that simply reinforce valid concerns. A citizen asks how a Congress that really doesn't understand health care can be trusted to make the right decisions on such an important issue. I think that's a pretty fair question given Sebelius wouldn't want me performing brain surgery on her should she need it. And I don't want her telling me how health care should be reformed because she doesn't know any more about health care than I know about brain surgery. Sebelius answers that she has never been part of Congress. And what's your point? Then she goes on to say that she has never seen people work so hard. (Congress) That's great but what does that have to do with the question? Sebelius is a politician not a health care expert. I'm sure the people in the Soviet Politburo worked hard as well. (I'm just making a point. I'm not comparing the Congress to the Politburo. It's obvious this Congress is worse.) Then Specter remarks that there are 1,000 page bills that have to be acted on very quickly. This idiotic remark simply proves concerns about Washington are accurate. Politicians have their own little club with its ridiculous rules that have no relevance to doing what's right but instead doing whatever is expedient to a broken process. Does any politician really think anyone in America cares of Congress has a 1,000 page bill and a short time to read it? Then it's obvious every 1,000 page bill should be vetoed because if the process is too short to understand it, then Congress is doing nothing more than passing bad legislation. But then we knew that. That's how they have destroyed our economy and our banking system. Fix the process so you can actually have an intelligent review of the bills instead of passing legislation you can't even read or understand. Either that or resign.
Unqualified subject matter experts, ie politicians, under the influence of money-toting corporate lobbyists should not be leading any effort to overhaul our health care system. If politicians are serious about reform, then have a logical apolitical process. We have a dozen major health care plans around the world to benchmark. Where is the benchmarking? Incredibly there isn't any. That is completely unacceptable. A few years ago Taiwan benchmarked global health care systems and the deemed the U.S. system not even worth of consideration because it was so bad. I saw the interview with a Taiwan official and he literally laughed when asked why they didn't look at America's health care system. And now the same parties influencing the existing system are deciding on a new system? Why not turn the process over to a special committee of nonpartisan subject matter experts as we highlighted before. This is not a methodical process managed by experts. This is a process dictated by monied interests. That nearly guarantees us any plan will either be bad, awful or terrible.
To label anyone who dissents as a troublemaker is really an attempt at marginalizing dissent. Hooting and howling at politicians as we see in this session is not lacking it manners. It is letting our elected representatives experience our displeasure and that we do not trust their generally vacuous remarks. Has anyone ever seen British parliament operate? There's plenty of hooting and howling.
The people of this country generally want health care reform. The polls show it is clearly so. But, when it is being decided by cronyism and corruption, the American people are surely going to have a reaction based on lack of trust or suspicion. As they should. As they do.
Government has proven for a long time it is not to be trusted. Should government reform itself and actually prove it desires to do what it in the best interests of the people, then confidence in government will return. The bond of trust is broken. The confidence game is over. The sooner politicians realize this, the quicker we can get down to business of restoring trust through actionable change across a wide multitude of government policy. A good start would be to repeal corporate personhood, ban associated corporate lobbying and mandate publicly funded elections not controlled by any particular party and monied lobbyists. Of course, there is another potential outcome as well. That many of these life-long politicians won't have a job in the future. I can find nothing more American than that.
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