The spiral……..

And its not going in the direction that it should.

I’m tired. Tired of being angry. Really tired at being angry at people who ought to know better-but won’t bother. Tired of hearing their anger. Tired of being called a socialist or a communist. Tired of being called worse names than that. Tired of hearing people shout and print tired old lies that have been prove wrong again and again. Tired of correcting those lies in a civil fashion-doing my best to repress my anger-only to realize it is all for naught.

All because I happen to believe in the idea of reforming and fixing health care in this country.

I spent a lot of time reading the reaction to the vote last night. I finally got tired of reading stupidity, and trying to comment to correct that stupidity-that I came back and stuffed myself with a huge piece of apple pie and ice cream.

And if I wasn’t out of beer-I might actually just proceed to tie one on.

Except of course, all that would do is fuel my anger again.

You see, like the fat-boy Limbaugh, I too think the country may be hanging by a thread. And its got idiots like him, climbing up the pole to cut that thread.

Last night was not the end of the world. However you would never know that by reading most of the commentaries today.  This may be a victory-but this victory has come at a cost. Clive Crook explains it:

The superlatives are justified. The passage of comprehensive health care reform is this country’s most momentous social reform since the creation of Medicare more than 40 years ago. And in my view the new law is at least that long overdue. It beggars belief that a nation as rich as the United States could have tolerated for years a health care system which every other advanced economy would reject out of hand, one which left tens of millions without health insurance, and under which serious illness could very well mean financial ruin. The new law finally confronts the problem, and takes bold steps towards fixing it.

Sunday’s vote is also a political triumph. Scott Brown’s unexpected win in Massachusetts–a Republican in a liberal state, running against this bill–stunned the Democrats and caused many to think the effort was dead. Barack Obama bravely chose not to back down. Without that commitment, the bill would have failed. The same goes for Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi: they did not deviate. In parliamentary terms, the Democrats made the whole venture more dramatic than it needed to be. It is absurd that getting the Senate bill through the House should have been such a struggle. But the main thing is that they succeeded. It is a success that eluded all their predecessors. They are entitled to celebrate. They have their places in history.

People struggle to understand how extending health insurance to 32 million Americans, at a cost of a trillion dollars over ten years, can be a deficit-reducing measure. If cuts in Medicare will pay for half of that outlay, as the plan intends, they struggle to see how the quality of Medicare’s services can be maintained–let alone improved, as Pelosi said again in her speech on Sunday. The CBO notwithstanding, the public is right not to believe these claims.

Whether you agree with that or not, the law the Democrats just passed is unpopular. It is a far-reaching, transformative measure that in the end will affect almost everyone; it is opposed by most of the country; and it is now law. I would never have believed this possible in the United States.

 

The biggest difference between Crook and myself is that he still believes the case can be made. I don’t-the simple truth is that 50% of Americans can’t be bothered to listen. To anything. But their own noise. The simple truth is that Americans have decided to be angry at their fellow Americans. And like Frank Gorshin on the black and white episode of Star Trek, the war will go on and on and on.

By the end of this year one of two things will have happened. The Republicans will have won enough seats to repeal the legislation or the court challenges will be well underway.

The Supreme Court may or may not do the right thing-I used to think they would. Now seeing Justice Roberts exposed as the idealoge he is-I’d say the chances are 50/50.

If the bill is repealed because the Republicans win enough votes in November Obama will veto it. Either way the anger will grow.

I knew I was in trouble when I saw the tea baggers at the Capitol last night. The only emotion I felt towards them was violent rage-the irrational rage they were spouting. The idea of machine gunning all them down was starting to look pretty good.  And I realized that was wrong-and that I had to calm down.

But all I can see at this point is that that spiral of irrationality will go on and on. It will get worse and worse as the years progress.

And the things that need fixing will just get worse.

You cannot convince me that all 219 Congressmen were all criminal conspirators who just lie awake at night wanting to bring Karl Marx to America. I believe that most of them believe it was the right thing to do. I also believe that some of their Republican counterparts might have been persuaded to vote the other way-were it not for how polarized the party has become.

And its just going to go on and on and on. Americans are proving themselves to be as crazy as people say they are.

And they can have it. None for me.