Over the past few weeks, heated argument has stirred up over the health care issue with the public option becoming the prominent object of debate. The public option is not an overhaul of the system, but rather a separate insurance entity to be created to compete with the already established health insurance companies. At the same time, politicians and pundits are declaring that this is the thing that the country needs, that this single movement will act as a cure-all for all our health care concerns.
If you’re looking for reasons proposed by congressmen, you’ll likely discover long speeches that become trivial when it’s apparent that the hard decisions have already been made. If you’re looking for reasons proposed by pundits, you’ll likely find the kind of information and misinformation that creates the party divide. These are my own talking points or, better put, the ramblings of a political cynic.
The goal of all the debate is to fix our broken health care system, but I don’t have much faith in the new options backers. The U.S. Government has a history of creating and running programs that run into problems. The postal service, year after year, cannot generate positive revenue, despite rising stamp prices. Welfare is bloated and heckled every time it gets on stage. Our social security system has low self-esteem and cuts itself just to see if it’s still there.
It seems unlikely that the new health care system would actually work, considering the past and present. Party dynamics have blundered to such a point that facts are no longer debated, but rather political ideals delivered in passionate prose. When Joe Wilson stands up, interrupts and accuses the President mid-speech, it becomes apparent that the congressmen are more like feuding children than trustworthy representatives. Neither party seeks any solace outside their own faction lines, a destructive behavior that’s hardly news.
So the real question I would ask is whether a bunch of self-righteous and divided congressmen that shy away from the careful examination of issues can develop a system that works. Looking at the recent record of decisions made by congress shows it to be an impossibility. Since the millennium arrived our congress has produced more flops than Michael Bay. There were tax cuts that were poorly made, approved of and replaced by worse versions. Two wars were started, both with a rare bipartisanship that saw approval from both the Republicans and the Democrats. The point is that a public option would be a good idea, but the currently elected congress wouldn’t be able to do it right.