Well, it’s happened, the Healthcare Reform Bill is passed. It certainly isn’t anything I would have voted for if a member of Congress, but it’s going to be the law of the land. Now all we can do is hope for the best. On a personal basis what I hope for is that this knot I have in my stomach is a result of the usual human reaction to change, and not a harbinger of pain and discord that is to come.
I’ve been interested in politics since I was a teenager and it is not hyperbole to say that I’ve never seen an administration so determined to pass something against the will of the majority of the people who elected them.
Perhaps our grandparents felt the same way when Social Security was enacted and our parents when Medicare came to be, but I don’t recall ever hearing anyone from either of those generations being as opposed to those social changes as I’ve heard against the Healthcare Bill.
I have an overwhelming sense of sadness tonight, like something has been lost that will never be recovered. In an effort to dispel the gloom, I’m going to try to think about someone “out there†who has suffered because they didn’t have health insurance and be happy for them that they will now be covered.
I just wish we could have accomplished that goal in a more direct, straightforward manner that addressed their specific needs without creating this monster of a Bill that I fear is going to eat us alive.
Pamela, I know you have a vested interest in furthering women’s rights and recognition both here and abroad and I know that women’s health care has been a flashpoint of this health care debate. I would like your perspective on it – Both Senator Stupak and Representative Slaughter have said interesting things and I think you would be a useful filter of such information.
Nancy Pelosi will get that bronze statue of herself, tucked away in a corner of some San Francisco park.
Katie, thank you so much for posting. Now that your IP address has been approved, your future comments will post immediately. I regret it’s taken longer than usual to respond…it’s been one of those days.
Not sure how useful my “filter” is, especially since it’s been very hard to keep the scorecard straight. Apparently there was a last minute deal cut to strengthen the language in regard to federal funding of abortions.
I think my view is shared by many: I support a woman’s right to choose, although I do not support late term procedures except in life-threatening circumstances. I also do not believe federal tax dollars should be involved in funding abortion.
I would be interested in hearing your view, if your willing to share.
Looking,
I’m sure she will, but whether we like it or not, she will always be remembered as the Speaker who drove this Bill through the Congress against tremendous odds: One tough cookie who did something that many men could not have done.
Whether that statue is a revered monument or a resting place for pigeons will depend on how this all plays out over the next few years.
One tough cookie who did something that many men could not have done.
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I think liberal women have a singular inability to understand economics and Pelosi is among them.
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While many on the left will praise her, I think many will miss the story economic changes that will now slowly take place in America. While the tough cookie forced through a radical and very expensive social change, the baton has really been shifted to American business, which will determine the final success of this bill (s well as any of the other radical changes the Obama administration has)
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There is increasingly less incentive to invest in this country. People like Obama and Pelosi have not taken into account a $1 invested in China or India will go a lot further than a $1 invested in a mature and slower growing market like the United States. A 25 year old today will be facing a future of far heavier taxes while competing in a job market far more limited in scope. It won’t be easy being them.
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Pelosi’s ego dripping speech Sunday night sounded not like a woman prepared to deal with a changing and challanging future but more like one running a day care telling kids they should share their cookies.
Looking,
Okay, we’re going to blithely move past the sexist remark about “liberal women” and get to the part where you and I agree:
That would be about the long term economic impact of this Bill. Aside from your excellent points, there’s the issue of how far out all the numbers have to fall perfectly in to place, compounded by the fact that we’re depending on Congresses of the future to “do the right thing”.
And as for Pelosi’s speech; it was one of the most shallow, self-serving soliloquies I’ve ever heard. There was not an ounce of class or graciousness in it.
Well, I’m not so sure on my opinion on health care. I know that it’s a good thing for the person who cannot afford health care, but is in charge of making my meals, not to be afraid to go seek medical attention if they have a problem (I wouldn’t want them passing on any pathogens via my potato salad). And I know that my boyfriend, and many of my friends, who cannot afford health care but desperately need it will be better served by this new system. My father, a doctor with a local hospital system, is opposed to health care but understands that it’s outrageously expensive.
I just think that a society is judged not by its conquests, but how well it takes care of its weakest citizens and that health care is one step toward taking care of those citizens. I don’t know a ton about economics, but I do see that the nations with the highest standard of living in the world also have universal health care.
My focus in my studies is on the other end of health care – nutrition and prevention. My end goal is to return to Allentown and work with the urban population to end the food desert in the inner city and get all citizens to have access to healthy food.
I’d like to see where this health care passage takes us. Just being a naysayer isn’t productive, and I know we’re living in a permanently changed world. I’ll just ride the tide and see what I can do to make it all a better place.
Oh man, I am one of those feel-good liberals, aren’t I?