Thoughts on health care legislation

I feel the need to state my thoughts on today's historic health care legislation, so that some day, when I am old, I can look back and remember what I was thinking!

I can't really be bothered to write something more academic and analytical about the bill, so I'll just share my basic thoughts based on what I know.

First off, just to be above board, I believe in a large social safety net. I am not defensive or shy about this. One might even call me a socialist, and that's fine. I believe government has a critical role to play in making sure that people in the minority (in any way), people who are oppressed (in any way) and people who have less power than others are protected and valued. I believe this is a fundamental core of what it means to be an American. We need nationalized health care to make sure this happens, but I'm not sure that's valued for enough Americans to make it happen.

The "controversy" over this bill has very little to do with its contents. I would love to see a world where everyone got together and decided what would be most cost effective and healthy for our society, and set up a plan based on that, but that isn't possible right now. Currently, we have a polarized society where we have lost our ability to hear different ideas and learn from each other. I find this truly tragic (recommend the book: The Big Sort for more on this). People's quasi-religious (and actually religious) ideas on the left and right make compromise nearly impossible, and true learning and research difficult as well. This takes us in a scary direction. We need to talk to people and LISTEN to people who think differently. We cannot afford the arrogance of knowing we are right. Even when we are right.

This bill is a result of people smashing together parts of different ideas that can be passed and tolerated, not what is best for our country. I do, however, believe that this is a tiny step in the right direction and gives me hope that perhaps we can go farther in the future.

I'm not comfortable with requiring people to buy health insurance without providing a public option (removing the profit motive and helping to bring cost down).

As I said, I believe in a social safety net. A big one. My personal opinion is that it is impossible to interact with anyone who is different from you and not believe in a large social safety net. I don't think a person who has truly opened their eyes to the world can believe that if you just work hard enough, good things happen. If you believe in God, God smiles on you and makes life easy. These things just are not true. There is a lot of luck and privilege involved, and this is very hard to admit. I know just how hard it is. Working hard is important, but it isn't enough. Community must help as well.

However, the benefit to recognizing that there is inequity in society is that you can actually pull your head out of the sand and do something! I'd like to see us have the balls to tackle insurance companies and everyone else who needlessly profits from our ridiculous system. I am NOT suggesting that we take money away from doctors, that's just ridiculous. They go to school forever, have a stressful and often thankless job and are highly committed to their fellow humans.

I look at Western Europe (Europe! Oh no! How unpatriotic!) and see a society that does not tolerate people not having health care or education, period. They are willing to pay higher taxes to make this happen. This is an oversimplification, but the point is that here in the US we are much more individualistic. I don't like this about our culture, it doesn't fit me, but there it is.

A word about Europe. I know about Europe. I lived there two years and have spent a lot of time there. There are many things I love about it and about the culture (that's another story). THIS DOES NOT MAKE ME UNPATRIOTIC. Wow, does it ever piss me off when someone thinks that because there are things I don't like about my culture that I want to change my citizenship. That is just ridiculous. Questioning government and culture is at the very heart of what it means to be an American, and there are so, so many things I love about the US. I could no more change my citizenship than I could stop being a woman. Theoretically possible, but absolutely not going to happen.

Anyway, I'm glad we've done something. It's not enough, but it's a good start. We need to keep working on this, and keep working towards social justice in every arena. We have a long way to go, but in our country, we can do it.