May You Live in Interesting Times

By Ron Harris

Did you hear the gutsy Democrat on the Senate floor Saturday night, just before the solons passed a procedural necessity for bringing the healthcare bill to debate?

Quote: "I am a Democrat, but I do not like this bill that was crafted solely by our party behind closed doors, shutting out or ignoring all alternatives from the other side of the aisle. I do not like this bill and I will not vote for it, and I will not be intimidated, threatened or bribed -- like my Senate colleague from Louisiana, Sen. Landrieu -- and I will not ignore the concerns of my constituents merely to establish my party as 'historic' or honor the memory of Ted Kennedy. As we have it now, all 2,100 pages, this Senate bill is a sham and holds potential for so many shenanigans. I'm ashamed of it and I fear the consequences to our financial system and our citizens if this legislation isn't scuttled, here and now."

You're right, I fantasize and hyperbolize. You didn't hear that on the Senate floor, from anyone on the left or the center, although there had to be a few in that 60-vote majority who were thinking it. And if it had happened as I fantasized, can't you picture the amount of liberal Senators jumping to their feet on the Senate floor, screaming, "YOU LIE, YOU LIE!"

So the gloves are off and the battle now goes into high gear, but the bottom line on revamping our healthcare system is still a number of weeks, and lots of rhetoric and debate, away. You had best lock-and-load, seniors, CSAs, and Independents who believe this battle is not about attaining the liberals’ Utopian version of America, but a blatant power-grab by those who lust to remake America into Amerika. There likely will be another massive march on Washington, this time possibly resembling more the French Revolution than the Boston Tea Party.

There's a lot on the line in this battle. Any way you slice it, a final bill, or pieces of it, will assuredly land in the hands of the Supreme Court. In the meantime, unless the Supremes or a lower court judge slaps a restraining order on the entire legislation (whatever bill finally gets President Obama’s signature), nobody will get any benefits from our new healthcare system, but we’ll all be paying for it. Which, as various talking heads and columnists have noted, is “like making payments on a car that you can’t sit in or drive for four years.” All cars decrease in value once they’re out of the showroom or lot, and so shall this vehicle lose value and spark more consumer anger the minute it leaves the President’s desk.

Maybe, hopefully, some Senate Democrat possessing more courage than fear of re-election or of Harry Reid will say something akin to what I fictionalized above. But, I’m starting to lose all that “hope” the President preached so eloquently a year ago. I should have known he wasn’t talking to senior citizens, conservatives, or capitalists. It is quite clear that he and his followers in Congress are concerned about appeasing the left and the trial lawyers and a sliver of the AMA and BigPharm more than they care about the doing right thing for the nation. That attitude will damage our country irreparably, as it will the Democrat Party. Didn’t that party’s members learn anything from last year’s Republican rout, or are they blinded by the glitz and goodies in the spoils of their victory?

“May you live in interesting times,” say the Chinese. Those times are already here, and they are emphasized by the Four Horsemen -- anger, mistrust, frustration and incivility. Let us hope Prez B.O. eventually channels the insight, wisdom and decision-making prowess of Lincoln. Obama, and the rest of us, will need those qualities in the months to come.

BTW – Happy Thanksgiving. Savor it, for there likely will be an attempt by the White House and Congress to eliminate this holiday, bowing to the demands of PETA.

　

　

　

So the gloves are off and the battle now goes into high gear, but the bottom line on revamping our healthcare system is still a number of weeks, and lots of rhetoric and debate, away. You had best lock-and-load, seniors, CSAs, and Independents who believe this battle is not about attaining the liberals’ Utopian version of America, but a blatant power-grab by those who lust to remake America into Amerika. There likely will be another massive march on Washington, this time possibly resembling more the French Revolution than the Boston Tea Party.

There's a lot on the line in this battle. Any way you slice it, a final bill, or pieces of it, will assuredly land in the hands of the Supreme Court. In the meantime, unless the Supremes or a lower court judge slaps a restraining order on the entire legislation (whatever bill finally gets President Obama’s signature), nobody will get any benefits from our new healthcare system, but we’ll all be paying for it. Which, as various talking heads and columnists have noted, is “like making payments on a car that you can’t sit in or drive for four years.” All cars decrease in value once they’re out of the showroom or lot, and so shall this vehicle lose value and spark more consumer anger the minute it leaves the President’s desk.

Maybe, hopefully, some Senate Democrat possessing more courage than fear of re-election or of Harry Reid will say something akin to what I fictionalized above. But, I’m starting to lose all that “hope” the President preached so eloquently a year ago. I should have known he wasn’t talking to senior citizens, conservatives, or capitalists. It is quite clear that he and his followers in Congress are concerned about appeasing the left and the trial lawyers and a sliver of the AMA and BigPharm more than they care about the doing right thing for the nation. That attitude will damage our country irreparably, as it will the Democrat Party. Didn’t that party’s members learn anything from last year’s Republican rout, or are they blinded by the glitz and goodies in the spoils of their victory?

“May you live in interesting times,” say the Chinese. Those times are already here, and they are emphasized by the Four Horsemen -- anger, mistrust, frustration and incivility. Let us hope Prez B.O. eventually channels the insight, wisdom and decision-making prowess of Lincoln. Obama, and the rest of us, will need those qualities in the months to come.

BTW – Happy Thanksgiving. Savor it, for there likely will be an attempt by the White House and Congress to eliminate this holiday, bowing to the demands of PETA.