The health care bill passed last night, as I am sure we all know. The vote was 219-212. It is the first piece of major social reform legislation to pass without a single minority party vote. I find this morning that I have lost all interest in politics. I don't know if that will change, but this morning I am quite disillusioned and dysphoric.
Reality unfolds in real time, individual decisions where the course of a change in national character is only apparent when the rate of change is speeded up. This is the role of history, and why the little fashions and arguments that seem so important in our daily lives disappear from history books. Our world always looks flat to us on the ground. Even when we are in an airplane, the earth appears flat. We only can confirm it is round by getting some distance from it. So it is with historical events and trends.
Last night's vote can be seen as an extension of the social safeguards enacted by our government over the last 120 years, beginning with child labor laws, animal cruelty, and progressing through social security to medicare and medicaid. It seems to me that in this progression the social evil to be dealt with becomes smaller and smaller, and the governmental interference larger and larger. But this is only a part of what is so different about this bill.
This bill was passed despite the most passionate kind of citizen resistance, and without a single minority party vote. It was created with closed door deals to pharmaceutical companies and doctors, and only secured passage with the grossest kind of buy-offs to senators and congressmen- Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieux, Stupak.
In the manner of its passage and the size of the federal intervention it sanctions, this bill is, to my eyes, not an extension of social welfare legislation, but a watershed in American politics. American government is imposing something a majority of its citizens did not want, in the process assuming significant power over 17% of the economy.
It is worth remembering that Octavian did not rule Rome by taking the title 'imperator' (emperor). He ruled by saying he was restoring the Roman republic, and called himself 'princeps (first citizen). He then stood for consular election, as I recall, 10 straight times, adding the powers of Aedile and Tribune over that time. By the time he died, the Senate was meaningless except as a sop to the image of a republic. All power was concentrated in one man, paradoxically through the apparent use of republican offices.
Successful parasites work like this, quietly taking advantage of the mechanisms of the host to survive, and often ending up controlling or killing the host over time. Our government once represented us, with powers given to it selectively, a weak government by design, with most powers reserved to the states, and to individuals.
Last night we watched one party do terrible, manipulative things to pass a piece of legislation a majority did not want, adding powers to the government it may or may not have a constitutional right to have (requiring citizens to buy insurance).
Tell me how this is different from the tyranny our constitution feared. Tell me how the use of democratic, constitutional processes and institutions is any different from the 'restoration' of Augustus. I have no respect for this kind of government, or for its nominally democratic leaders. I have no further interest in its process, it being corrupt and manipulative.
The power I have is to vote, and that I shall do. I'm not thrilled with the Republican Party, but I will never vote for a democrat again. In passing this legislation in this way, they are exposed as tyrannical, self-absorbed know-it-alls, who feel entirely justified in imposing their values on everyone else, because it is 'good for us', and 'they know better'. Now we will see if the American experiment is over or not, in whether a government that behaves like this is thrown out. If it is, I have some hope for our process. If not, we deserve exactly the kind of government our weakness and dependency elect.
Ted
Reality unfolds in real time, individual decisions where the course of a change in national character is only apparent when the rate of change is speeded up. This is the role of history, and why the little fashions and arguments that seem so important in our daily lives disappear from history books. Our world always looks flat to us on the ground. Even when we are in an airplane, the earth appears flat. We only can confirm it is round by getting some distance from it. So it is with historical events and trends.
Last night's vote can be seen as an extension of the social safeguards enacted by our government over the last 120 years, beginning with child labor laws, animal cruelty, and progressing through social security to medicare and medicaid. It seems to me that in this progression the social evil to be dealt with becomes smaller and smaller, and the governmental interference larger and larger. But this is only a part of what is so different about this bill.
This bill was passed despite the most passionate kind of citizen resistance, and without a single minority party vote. It was created with closed door deals to pharmaceutical companies and doctors, and only secured passage with the grossest kind of buy-offs to senators and congressmen- Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieux, Stupak.
In the manner of its passage and the size of the federal intervention it sanctions, this bill is, to my eyes, not an extension of social welfare legislation, but a watershed in American politics. American government is imposing something a majority of its citizens did not want, in the process assuming significant power over 17% of the economy.
It is worth remembering that Octavian did not rule Rome by taking the title 'imperator' (emperor). He ruled by saying he was restoring the Roman republic, and called himself 'princeps (first citizen). He then stood for consular election, as I recall, 10 straight times, adding the powers of Aedile and Tribune over that time. By the time he died, the Senate was meaningless except as a sop to the image of a republic. All power was concentrated in one man, paradoxically through the apparent use of republican offices.
Successful parasites work like this, quietly taking advantage of the mechanisms of the host to survive, and often ending up controlling or killing the host over time. Our government once represented us, with powers given to it selectively, a weak government by design, with most powers reserved to the states, and to individuals.
Last night we watched one party do terrible, manipulative things to pass a piece of legislation a majority did not want, adding powers to the government it may or may not have a constitutional right to have (requiring citizens to buy insurance).
Tell me how this is different from the tyranny our constitution feared. Tell me how the use of democratic, constitutional processes and institutions is any different from the 'restoration' of Augustus. I have no respect for this kind of government, or for its nominally democratic leaders. I have no further interest in its process, it being corrupt and manipulative.
The power I have is to vote, and that I shall do. I'm not thrilled with the Republican Party, but I will never vote for a democrat again. In passing this legislation in this way, they are exposed as tyrannical, self-absorbed know-it-alls, who feel entirely justified in imposing their values on everyone else, because it is 'good for us', and 'they know better'. Now we will see if the American experiment is over or not, in whether a government that behaves like this is thrown out. If it is, I have some hope for our process. If not, we deserve exactly the kind of government our weakness and dependency elect.
Ted
Ted, we're kindred souls (I understand why Kim married you!). Today is the 235th anniversary of Patrick Henry's most famous speech. I posted the last paragraph of it to try to get people to read it in its entirety. If more people studied history, maybe this fiasco would not have happened. Yet, I still hope.
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