\”So what do you think about the election?\”
\”So What do you think about Obamacare?\”
\”What do you think about this healthcare situation?\”
I get these questions throughout my day. My patients are mostly suburban and white, so their view is overall on the conservative side. Yet I have found that few see the results of the election as a hopeful sign for healthcare. I don\’t either.
Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I am a \”flaming moderate\” when it comes to politics. I don\’t have much faith in anyone who identifies too strongly with one party of the other. I am really angry with congress and their lack of gonads to work on really coming up with solutions. Interestingly, my patients, regardless of their political leaning, agree with much of what I say. Here are the things they all seem to agree with:
1. Congressional politics is hurting us – Members of congress (both sides are equally guilty) are more focused on what is good for their party than what is good for those who they represent. If a democrat is elected to this district, I expect him/her to represent all of the people in that district, not just the democrats (the same is obviously true for republicans). This doesn\’t mean they must lose all of their ideology, but ideology should be a means, not an end. The reason to hold an ideology is to come to solutions to problems with that ideology as a vehicle. The goal is to help the people you represent through your ideology, not bang them over the head with it.
2. There are many villains in this story – I like to rail against congress (it\’s a hobby), but the president is to blame, as are past presidents who allowed the situation to get this bad. Obama inherited a bad situation, he didn\’t create it. Many of the bad things happening were set in motion during the Bush administration (or earlier). Now, Obama\’s leadership style of letting congress shape healthcare reform has created lots of problems. Then there is the system that lets money influence policy (which has been evolving over a long period of time). Lobbyists for those with money leverage the compulsion of politicians to be re-elected and get what they want by well-placed \”contributions.\”
3. We can\’t afford to wait – The past two years has proven that even with a very large majority, a party can\’t get things done without cooperating with the other party. In two years we may get a different president, but is there anyone out there that thinks our government will work any better? If the republicans gain power, the democrats will unite and block anything they try to accomplish. Simply putting a different captain at the helm of a sinking ship won\’t change the final outcome. Healthcare is a mess, and that mess is getting worse, not better. Gridlock is unacceptable.
4. Our situation is scary – Our government doesn\’t work any more. The system we have thrives on debate, influence peddling, and party politics. It has survived over 200 years that way. The thing that scares me and most of my patients is the lack of any willingness to work together. If they were in a room with one exit, the democrats and republicans wouldn\’t agree on how to get out of it. Politics of party is so acute, inflamed by the ideologues on one side vilifying the ideologues on the other, that it seems impossible to get anything significant done. One commenter on my last post suggested that we are seeing the death-throes of our government. If our way of solving problems is screaming and pointing fingers, I begin to agree with that.
What to do about all of this? Do we form a third party? (I would suggest llamacrat as the name of the party). Do we write congresspersons? Do we get pitchforks and torches and march on Washington DC? Do we whine a lot in blog posts, hoping someone else will do stuff?
I don\’t really know. I do think that congress should be scared, not empowered. The people voted for change in the past 3 elections, which means there is overall dissatisfaction with all involved. Another 2 years of do-nothingness will prove only that our country is in danger. The mandate of this election is a \”mad as hell\” mandate.
I beg with any politician crazy enough to read what I write: please don\’t put re-election or party politics ahead of the people you represent. The election was not a game with winners and losers, it was a statement by the American public that you guys are screwing things up. Govern us. Lead us. Take care of us. Fix our problems.
If you don\’t, the llamacrats will be breathing down your necks.
It’s obvious to me that we no longer have a democracy. The wealthy control for their own self interest.
I actually don’t think this is new. The only real difference is that there are no smoke-filled rooms and closed-doors. The deals are made out in the open, and the public forum has had both good and bad effects. The good side is the exposure of corruption and participation by more in the debate. The bad side is the partisans are watching much closer and forcing politicians to toe the party line.
Well said. Let’s hope the Democrats, Republicans AND Tea Party get it. Republicans shouldn’t assume we’re any happier with them than we are with the Democrats, and the Tea Party shouldn’t assume they don’t need to have some kind of knowledge base to be elected. The ignorance of some of these people was stunning and I think reflected by the fact they didn’t win.
I like the sound of Llamacrats. If we can have Blue Dog Democrats, why not Llamacrats? Sign me up!
Count me as another “moderate.” I was frustrated with our choices for our state, that I voted for the Libertarian candidate… I’m jaded, and anymore it seem like “the lesser of two evils.”
But THANK goodness the medical marijauna dispensary measure did NOT pass again ( now you may have an idea as to where I live). 😉 Trying to regulate that would have been an even bigger nightmare for law enforcement personnel.
Today’s Health Train Express Blog details the ‘accounting’ of PACA (or lack thereof) by Jane Orient. Very interesting read.
Let’s start with these guys!40 SPECIALLY TRAINED
ECUADORIAN MOUNTAIN LLAMAS
6 VENEZUELAN RED LLAMAS
142 MEXICAN WHOOPING LLAMAS
14 NORTH CHILEAN GUANACOS
(CLOSELY RELATED TO THE LLAMA)
REG LLAMA OF BRIXTON
76000 BATTERY LLAMAS
FROM “LLAMA-FRESH” FARMS LTD. NEAR PARAGUAY
Really, I’m not as shallow as I may appear! I became a liberal activist thanks to Bush and his administration’s “antics.” Before that I was, like you, a flaming moderate. But I feel that I was forced into this position, forced to choose the lesser of two evils. And damned if I dont feel like I’ve been pushed even MORE to the left because I don’t think the mess we’re in can all be laid at the politicians’ feet anymore–not this electoral cycle anyway. I feel very strongly that this election especially was a stark and scary example of how corporate money, enabled by a corporate friendly supreme court (anyone here read about the Koch brothers’ ties to the Tea Party and Justices Thomas and Scalia’s ties to the Koch Brothers?) created the corrupt framework for massive elecotoral manipulation that led to what will now be an even more stubborn and divisive congress.
Throw in some lovely Peruvian alpacas for good measure. 😉 At least their fiber is nice and soft…
What about term limits? That would eliminate the ‘professional politician’ and elected officials would go back to their ‘real’ jobs after their terms were up.
Not many people know anything about the Koch Brothers (or care), but they do know or sense that our country is/was headed in the wrong direction. Simple as that! Not voter manupulation (I guess this is the old “right wing conspiracy” stuff again) or any of the other excuses I have heard for the election results.
I would think if people knew, they’d care. These guys, and people like them, are influencing the people in this country who decide the laws that affect–this country. Or maybe they’re getting people elected (usng their billions of $$ for evil and not good) who then appoint SCOTUS’s, who are easily manipulated by said billionaires. Llamacracy indeed.
Like the idea of Llamacrat party. . .Like “Frenzied47” below I am so mad as hell at both – read that – ALL parties that I pretty much threw my vote away – voted Independent or Liberterian down the line on all but 2 offices. I don’t consider myself part of the Tea Party. When folks ask me whether I’m Dem or Repub I always answer, and have done so for several elections now, I’m an American! What a mess we are in and how in the world can we just start all over again – I have no idea. I’ve said for years now that term limits should be imposed and strictly enforced on all who serve in office. To hell with career politicians. Let them make their living like the rest of us and return to the farm, the school, the printing office, the docks, the clinic, etc. once their term is over. And, not only that, let them have the same health care as the rest of us peons. The days of the rich(corporations and politicians) running the country should be over soon. What we need are genuine leaders. I have HAD it. This election was a bust.
I know this post is getting old, but have not had time to check back recently. What about the big bad rich guys on your side……George Soros comes to mind. Katelflinn, you and I are both victems. BTW what is a SCOTUS?
SCOTUS = Supreme Court of the United States. Sorry but I just found this blog. I knew the answer, so I replied, even this late.