Can It Really Happen?

For almost a year now, I have thought that the finish line was in sight. I was wrong. It has taken this long to get to the point where we are ready to vote on Healthcare Reform, and we are ready to pass that motherfucker.

Now, I've likened this thing to a shit sandwich in the past, and I've not really changed my mind on that. It's a really flawed bill, with its gift of additional members to the insurance industry, its lack of significant restraints on those same companies, and its utter lack of a public option.

But when Bernie Sanders, the only avowed Socialist in the Congress, says that he will support it, then I have to consider its merits, such as they are. And when Dennis Kucinich, that brave iconoclast, says that he too will vote in favor, then I have to reconsider my position. The fact that it will stick it up the ass of a bunch of recalcitrant Republicans only sweetens the deal.

The overriding fact is that it will allow some 21 million (depending on who you talk to) currently uninsured Americans to obtain coverage. For me, that trumps every other consideration.

And as Bernie says, as soon as we pass it, we immediately begin to improve it. Now, I personally feel that this is a generational thing, and that it will probably take another 20 years for further change, but who knows? Maybe a collection of concerned elected officials will continue to work for the good of the American people and we'll get to see some real reform. Note, for example, that Rep. Grayson is pushing for an amendment to open Medicare to all comers who want to pay to play. A good idea that deserves some attention.

And oh yeah, the OBM says that it WILL save $billions, almost a $1 trillion over the next 20 years.

So there you have it. By this weekend we may have the first impactful social legislation to pass in decades. My only question is: what crazy, damn-the-people-who desperately-need-help strategy in the eleventh hour will the Republican haters spring on us this time?