Harold's Left:

I have spent the last hour reading the Senate health care bill. Admittedly, it's dry and pretty tough to read. However, I am fairly excited that we are at the cusp of one of the greatest legislative achievements in American history.

How conservatives can live with themselves, and call themselves patriots, when we live in the richest country in the history of the world, and have over 10% of population without access to adequate health insurance coverage is simply stunning. How they can just stand by and let Western Europe and Japan just outperform our system in front of the entire world is appalling. How they can continue to be content with an overpriced and outdated system is ridiculous. Once again, as has been true throughout the arc of history, it will be up to progressives to move us forward as a nation to a more modern health care system that will cover 94% of Americans and reduce the budget over the next 20 years. Instead of talking about what's in the bill, which I am happy to say scales back the Stupak Amendment and keeps a public option, I want to focus on some of the hypocrisies the are present in conservative resistance to health care reform.

The first thing conservatives say in response to health care reform is that it is "too expensive". Isn't it funny how conservatives, who are the self proclaimed "fiscally responsible" among us, find no issue in paying 800 billion dollars for an uneeded war in Iraq, but are hesitant to give a healthy life to the citizens of this country? They stumped for us to spend billions and billions of dollars to "liberate the Iraqi people", hardly a necessary evil. It just goes to show that conservatives are not concerned about spending money for the actual things that help Americans the most like health care, but are more concerned with big, dumb, policies that make them look 'tough'. The thing is; it doesn't look tough, it just ends up looking dumb. Bill O'Reilly has claimed that raising the tax level on the highest bracket amounts to something that "Fidel Castro" would do, just highlights this preoccupation with stupidity and fear rather than fact. Taxes on the rich are currently the lowest they have been in over 50 years at 35%. In the 50's and 60's, when the U.S. saw perhaps it's greatest gains economically, the highest tax bracket was taxed at a rate of nearly 90%, in the 70's it was over 60% and even under Reagan it was over 50%. So Bill, if raising it to a level that is still under 50% equates to Castro, then what do you have to say about America over the last 50 years? See the graph below:



















The second issue that conservatives have been apparently clueless about is that as a group that is supposedly obsessed with preserving "life", they seem to be at odds with it in their opposition to health care reform. Every year, nearly 45000 Americans die because of lack of adequate health care insurance. This happens when a part-time worker without insurance options has a lump in their breast, but cannot go to the doctor because they don't have insurance to quickly deal with their problem. This happens when a hard working blue-collar worker with diabetes is laid off of their job, losing their insurance coverage, and lacks any way to get insurance because of a preexisting condition. How conservative opposition to fixing these problems amounts to their supposed obsession with 'life' is unabashedly hypocritical.

The last issue (or non-issue to be exact) that conservatives are railing about is that health care reform is not a power entrusted to the government under the Constitution, and that subsequently Congress does not have the power to impose it. Hey conservatives... good luck proving this one. Many conservatives have tried to argue that in the powers given to the Congress, things like health care reform are not there. Progressives have cited the "general welfare clause" as perhaps the legal justification to do this. However, seeing that the General Welfare Clause has essentially been interpreted out of the Constitution, as it hasn't been used since Social Security in the 1930's, this clause is not even needed to justify congressional authority for health care reform. The "Commerce Clause" is what would be applicable here, as it has been used for everything from Medicare to Civil Rights Legislation. Given all of this, legally conservatives seem to be standing on a toothpick that already has a crack in it, and I suspect they will get nowhere in trying to prove this bill unconstitutional.

This bill is nearly one step closer to becoming law. If it is passed, it will be the seed that will grow into a robust form of health care insurance reform that will revolutionize the way that Americans receive health care. Here's what needs to happen:

- First the Senate needs to vote to bring the bill to debate (60 votes)
- Then several amendments will be voted on to change the bill in small ways
- Next Reid with file for cloture to end debate (This is the vote Lieberman is threatening to filibuster) (60 votes)
- Then an up-or-down vote on the bill itself (50 votes + 1)
- A committee will come together to merge the House and Senate bill into one
- The final bill, which cannot be amended with go to the House (218 votes) and the Senate (50 votes + 1)
- Finally it will be signed into law by the President



If passed, this will instantly define Barack Obama as one of our greatest presidents, if only for the accomplishment of passing the most important piece of domestic policy legislation in a generation, and maybe in over a century. What will happen with this bill is the same thing that has happened with every major piece of legislation that sees the most virulent conservative resistance; 25 years from now people will love it, and conservatives will eventually be forced to get on board with it, possibly even protecting it (ie. Medicare). We should be thrilled as progressives that we have once again shown the power of American democracy, and have a leader in Barack Obama who has put principle over politics (at least in some key ways) by stating that he is willing to "stake his presidency on health care reform". The fear-mongers will always be against progress. They will always be sitting in the backseat of the car with their tin-foil hats on while progressives continue to drive America forward.

Score another one for the home team. Great Job Harry Reid.

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