Joho the Blog » 7.5 hours later…

I agree with all your points, but especially the first and last. And I was surprised at all the comments about its being boring. I also agree with all Terry’s points, especially his last.

I don’t see much chance for real democracy in our country as long as both parties are pro-business all the time. Andrew Weiner’s proclamation on the floor of the House that the Republican Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the health insurance industry could also be applied to a surprisingly large number of Democrats, especially in the Senate. Glenn Greenwald points out how various Democrats are vehemently in favor of a progressive policy until they actually come close to having a chance to pass something. Then they become very centrist — see Sen. Rockefeller on the public option.

I’ve long noted how Republican politicians dupe well-meaning citizens to vote against their own economical self-interest. But I’ve just recently tumbled to the realization that Democrats are also guilty of a similar, though somewhat more subtle, deceptive pattern. It’s not so much that they are inept; they are basically insincere. See Sen. Dodd and Wall Street reforms.

We need a constitutional amendment to get big money and corporations out of elections. I don’t think we have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting it, but I really believe it’s the only real solution.

Still, I think Obama did a reasonable job of making it clear that the Republicans don’t think we can afford to extend coverage to more than 3 million (out of 50 million) uninsured. And, that they also don’t think we can afford to require that people with pre-existing conditions be given coverage.

The overall problem is that we’ve become conditioned to equating “having healthcare insurance” with “having healthcare.” 99% of the complexity of the bills and the negotiations is because we keep dancing away from the stark reality that profit-seeking and health-seeking are orthogonal objectives.