A Slap In The Face of Democracy

I know that the Health Care Reform bill passed the Senate, but there are a few things that I have to say about how the bill got passed. First of all, in a democracy, no one person should ever be able to hold up the entire Congress over one problem. This was seen with Democratic Senator Ben Nelson and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman. Both of these senators were able to twist the rules of the Senate in their favor so that they could get the kind of reform they wanted, not the kind that their constituents voted in overwhelming majorities for in the 2008 mandate for change.


These senators were able to use the anti-democratic filibuster to hold millions of American families hostage, at the hands of the profiteering, greedy health insurance companies. The senate is already the less representative of the two chambers in the Congress, and the filibuster just makes the chamber even less democratic. Harry Reid needs to listen to the outcries coming from all over the country and change the senate rules to do away with the filibuster. The filibuster is not a constitutionally mandated rule, and can be done away with. It is ridiculous that a bill must be stripped down to nothing in order to gain not only a majority, but a super majority.



A Starter Home

Senator Tom Harkin from the state of Iowa recently spoke on the senate floor of the 'starter home' health care reform bill. He compared the bill to a starter home by saying that the bill was no mansion with all the bells and whistles that everyone wanted, but that it had a good foundation, and a roof of protection for the American people. I could not agree with this more. Although the bill is not perfect, such us the MIA Public Option, and Medicare buy-in. Harkin went on to say that the best thing about this starter home is that it has no mortgage. The health care bill is 100% paid for, even reducing the deficit. Also Harkin spoke of the room for additions and remodels that would come later for this starter home that would one day become that mansion on the hill that we are all dreaming of.