The moment of truth is approaching for the Democrats this year on health care reform. The seven-hour public spectacle of the Health Care Summit is now behind us and it demonstrated that the Republicans are in no mood to compromise. The Democrats must now go it alone. There appear to be two paths for the Democrats, each with a similar outcome. The first path is to get health reform legislation passed any way they can. They will then face the judgment of the voters for their actions in the November 2010 Congressional elections. The second path is to fail to get health reform legislation passed. They will then face the judgment of the voters for their in-action in the November 2010 Congressional elections.
Health Insurance Reform on the Bubble
Thursday’s public summit on Health Care Reform will be carried on C-SPAN and cable television. Anyone care to bet that the American people will end up the losers? The Democrats frittered away their chance to give the American people something that’s been missing from the social safety net for generations by playing politics as usual. And the Republicans seem to think there’s too much political gain in shutting down Obama to even consider the public good. Is anyone arguing that there doesn’t need to be an end to pre-existing conditions limits in health insurance policies, or that it’s OK for the health insurance companies to terminate coverage when people get sick? Or that small business, the engine of American jobs, does not need relief from skyrocketing premiums? Or that government programs like Medicare and Medicaid don’t need to find ways to save money where they can without degrading the quality of care? The problem seems pretty clear – unfortunately the solution seems to be headed for political oblivion. Is there still hope? A big maybe. And in the end we get the government we deserve.
Deficit Hawk Disinformation
Deficits have since the Great Depression been the only real tool the federal government has had in its arsenal to fight recessions, and especially serious declines such as during the Great Depression. So are federal deficits the problem today, or the solution? A look at the facts might surprise you.
Raising the Ante on Health Insurance Reform
At a recent Democratic National Committee fundraiser, President Obama raised the stakes for Democrats in Congress: “And it may be that … if Congress decides we’re not going to do it, even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not,” the president said. “And that’s how democracy works. There will be elections coming up, and they’ll be able to make a determination and register their concerns.”
Obama Turns Hard to the Center
The signs are unmistakable. Whether it be his decisions as Commander-In-Chief in Afghanistan, his recent proposals for a series of small business tax cuts to spur job growth, or calls for a spending freeze on discretionary federal spending – President Obama has taken a sure and steady step toward the center of the political spectrum. The Senate voted in favor of going back to the pay-go rules that were key to bringing the budget into balance during the Clinton administration. With pay-go rules in place, spending increases passed by the Congress will need to be offset by spending reductions or tax increases.
Supreme Court Opens A Can of Unintended Consequences
Common wisdom surrounding the recent supreme court decision striking down federal campaign limits on corporations and unions is that it was a win for conservatives and Republicans and another blow to liberals and the Democratic Party. The case harkens back to an earlier decision, Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, a supreme court decision in 1886 dealing with taxation of railroad properties by the State of California, in which the court found that corporations are entitled to the same protection as individuals under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Now the court has extended First Amendment rights to corporations and unions, including potentially, multinational corporations controlled by non-US citizens and foreign governments. How that all sorts out is likely to be chaotic. You can read the complex Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision yourself at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-205.pdf
Massachusetts Voters Do Dems A Favor
The voters in Massachusetts sent a message that is unmistakable – that people are hurting and way too angry to suffer a party that can’t govern. With 60 votes in the Senate, a strong majority in the House of Representatives, and a Democratic president, they had no excuse for the lack of performance – real or perceived. However, the lost Senate seat in Massachusetts could be the much needed wake-up call that, if heeded, provides Dems with the motivation they need to get busy and do what they need to if they are to salvage majority control of the Congress.
true politics
This blog is dedicated to the premise that truth is manifest in facts.
Webster’s Dictionary lists the following definitions for the word truth:
the state of being the case ; the body of real things, events, and facts ; often capitalized : a transcendent fundamental or spiritual reality; a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true; the body of true statements and propositions; the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality; fidelity to an original or to a standard
As defined then, truth may include that which is “true or accepted as true.” Herein lies the reason we must be careful in our understanding of what is true. Once upon a time people believed the world was flat; mankind for more than a millennium believed in mythical gods; and peoples throughout the ages have viewed themselves as “chosen” for greatness by their gods.
The United States of America was declared an independent nation with these words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
What makes this declaration true? It is a statement of belief, and while it is true that our founding fathers upheld it as true, it was an assertion of truth that was in conflict with the social order of that time. It was a “truth” that has not to this day been fully manifest in our social discourse. And yet, many of us view it as a guiding principle for our social relations – as a true statement of our founder’s intent.
What is disturbing today is that on all fronts across our political landscape, we find less and less truth being pursued. Instead we hear and read and mostly watch platitudes, hyperbole, and ideological propaganda that would have made the Soviet Communist Party blush.
This blog is dedicated to a logical and rational process of discerning the facts of our political discourse in America today. Let the dialog begin from the premise that what is accepted as truth in America today may not be true at all. The United States of America will surely have its place in human history, but there are no guarantees for the future. What we believe to be true, and the choices we make based upon those beliefs, will have consequences. We will only continue to lead, and prosper, if , as individuals and as a nation, we believe and choose wisely. What we believe to be true is then a matter greatly important to our survival.