Friday, August 14, 2009

A few observations on politics

And then I will shut up again, really. This is neither an endorsement nor a criticism of Obamacare. I think I've mentioned before that I don't think our current health care system is tenable and a solely employer-based system is unrealistic when people change jobs so often, so I'm in favor of reform done well. Take that as you will.

1. "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" apparently only applies when you agree with the dissent.

2. Apparently there is such a thing as illegitimate, manufactured, Astroturfy dissent. I don't know what the difference is between real dissent and fake dissent, except I guess see #1 above. Also if the other side is illegitimate, you don't have to make an argument, and it's clear a lot of people would rather prove the other side wrong than prove themselves right, because proving yourself right involves so little kvetching at the other side, not to mention if your objective is to support your own argument there's no reason to insert the obligatory (old, lame, uncreative, un-demanding of actual thought) dig at Fox News and/or Rush, which by the way, there should be a Godwin's Law for.

3. Democrats control the White House, the House, and the Senate. So if they can't pass a health care plan, isn't it their own fault? In fact, isn't it convenient that these town hall meetings are distracting from the fact that they can't agree on a plan? Yes, I know getting a diverse party to agree on a huge reform plan is hard, but that's their JOB. If you are concerned that health care isn't going to pass, maybe instead of whining about how big evil mean conservatives are pooping all over the Democrats' plan, your time would be better spent writing your representatives and telling them to stop acting like babies and govern. You don't get to play the victim anymore when you're in charge. That's the rub when you win. I don't blame you for complaining from 2001 to 2009, and it's not like Republicans did any better with immigration reform, social security, etc. when they were in charge, but CHANGE would involve doing better, wouldn't it? I am bored by partisan chatter. Want my vote next time around? Lead.

3 comments:

Margaret said...

Ha ha. Love it!

And hey, I just noticed that occasionally your posts don't show up in my Google Reader. Like the Syracuse one and the wine one. Weird....

Juliet said...

That is weird! I'm just experimenting with Google Reader (one of my assignments for my first library science class was to subscribe to some RSS feeds), but I'm still in the habit of going to each blog individually. I am so three years ago.

Eric said...

I would also add: now that the national debt is nearly 12 TRILLION dollars, why are considering more legislation, of any kind:
a) that will increase it TRILLIONS more
b) that will federalize 17% of the GDP
c) and that you, dear representative, haven't even bothered to read?

There are better ways to reform; these are not among them.