Health Care and GOP Lies

Allow me to rant:

OK enough. Those of us who care about civil discourse are being drowned out by a torrent of diversion and outright lies propagated by Republicans who know better, but appear comfortable adding fuel to an already volatile mix.

I am referring to the myth being spread that Obama is trying to ram health care reform down the throats of the American public despite their manifest opposition.

Rubbish.

It is this kind of lying that dirties politics to the degree that then validates insane and anti-social acts like flying small planes into IRS buildings. It is downright irresponsible for ostensible grown ups to play to the extremist crowd the way that Mitch McConnell and his buddies are doing.

Let’s get the facts straight:

1. Health care reform has already been passed by both the House and the Senate. Both. By significant margins. In the Senate the reform passed with 60 votes. Even in our whacky world where the minority rules that 60 vote margin defeats the opposition. So reform is absolutely not being rammed down anyone’s throat. By the rules of play in place for decades it passed with stable and legitimate majorities.
2. The process known as reconciliation is not some new trick devised by the Democrats to subvert democracy. Nor is it reserved for legislation that has broad bi-partisan support. The Bush tax cuts were passed on the basis of reconciliation despite the fact that they garnered only 50 votes in the Senate. Dick Cheney had to cast the deciding vote. Health care passed on a 60 – 40 vote. Those tax cuts passed on a 50 – 50 vote broken by a tie breaker. It is arrant nonsense for Republicans to cry about reconciliation: their biggest legislative victory of the Bush era passed with far less approval.
3. It is equally absurd to claim that reconciliation should be reserved for only small items, or things that have marginal impact. The Bush tax cuts had a far larger impact on our budget than the health care reform bill has – by orders of magnitude. It is ridiculous and breathtakingly hypocritical to argue otherwise. The facts are in the books. Look it up.
4. No one, absolutely no one, has suggested using reconciliation for the entire package of reforms. First it is unnecessary to do so since the reforms have been passed anyway. Second the only items for which reconciliation is being proposed are separate amendments. The accusation that entire package is being put through reconciliation is simply wrong and a distortion of epic proportions. It is a lie.

In reality, rather than in the odd universe of Fox news, we have a bill that has passed the House and the Senate and that now has to be merged into one package. There is nothing underhanded or unusual about this process. There is nothing in the processto engender the ferocity and hatred that is being stirred up by the lies the GOP plasters over the media. There is nothing anti-American in it. Nor does it break with the constitution. The methods being advocated by the Democrats conform to normal procedure, and have been used many times in the recent past by the Republicans on more controversial legislation.

I understand that politics gets fraught at times like these. I understand that the GOP has fought against health care reform for decades and that government involvement in the health care process is an anathema to its core ideology. None of this gives the Republicans the right to whip up the extreme right wing voter base – a base that is already smarting at the election of a non-white president with progressive ideas. The last election was a very clear mandate for health care reform: it was one of the primary topics debated during the election, and the candidate advocating reform won that election with ease. The country voted on this issue. Enough.

The effect of both the obstructionist attitude within the Senate and the subsequent, and constant lying about the procedural approach being used to get the legislation through, simply serves to inflame an already aroused extremist sentiment.

As a nation we need to be able to pass legislation like this without automatically running to the very edges of disobedience. If the nation is that fragile, if the Tea Party types are that alienated from the rest of us, and if the mainstream of the GOP is now that far out to the right, then we have a problem that extends way beyond health care reform. We have a nation that is united in name only.

Wiser and saner heads need to prevail before one of the Tea Party folks fly a plane into something and does a whole lot more damage than the demented criminal in Texas.

McConnell and his confreres need to take responsibility for their inflammatory words. They know exactly what they are doing. The issue I believe they have is that have lost the ability to shape the right of center agenda. They are constantly having to play catch up with the leaders of the extremists who are not constrained by Senate rules. The volatility in our politics is dangerous. The economic circumstances we built for ourselves contributed to that situation. People are angry and fearful. Responsible leadership, and responsible citizenship, do not add to that brew of hatred and strife. Even if laws are passed we do not like, we obey the rule of law we do not press our followers to flout the law.

That way is not a road we want to follow.

This is not a game. The GOP is playing with fire when it lies, as it is now doing.

Democracies thrive only when the opposition is loyal. Right now the GOP is bordering on disloyal. It should think hard before continuing along that path.

So ends my rant.