Monday, March 15, 2010

thoughts on the politics of the day

i was reading about the democratic house leadership's strategy to bring health insurance reform to a vote. i don't think many people understand parliamentary procedure. sometimes i like to read articles about politics on the internet all day and inevitably when i get to the comments, i read things like 

"A single member bypassing a vote by calling something 'deemed" passed without a vote is in violation of our Constitution and NOT indicative of a Representative Democracy.

first of all, the house will mold the senate bill to their liking and then a vote will be held on their "fixes", with every house member understanding that their vote on the house revisions is an implicit vote on the senate bill as well. there is a reason this strategy is called "deem and pass" and not just "pelosi sez".  voting twice,  once on the passage of the senate bill and then on the house's revisions would serve no purpose other than to give opponents of the bill greater opportunity to rant and rave and express the health insurance industry's qualms about reform. and bloviate, my god the bloviation!

second of all, for all the cries of fascist and dictator and traitor, you would think that these people were trying to include zyklon b in school lunches. the libertarians, always entertaining, but never ones to engage in reasonable discussion without introducing hyperbole and creepy threats, are screaming for revolution. offering to introduce house leadership to hell and make speaker pelosi "@#$@ her pants".  don't you realize that our democracy works in such a way that if you don't like the policies of the people who have been elected, you have the opportunity to vote them out of office? if they happen to be reelected, that is more or less an indication that your fellow americans disagree with you. 

armed revolution? limited government? no health care? from the sound of it, you might enjoy sunny somalia!

but then again, i cannot see the appeal of malls, suburbs, the black eyed peas, ed hardy, SUVs, mcdonalds, i think thomas kinkaide is a miserable artist, i think michael pollan and paul krugman are generally right, growing and raising your own food is a rewarding, healthy, economical and beneficial activity, bicycling is a fun and healthy means of transportation and money is not a measure of success. that said, i believe everyone should have the opportunity to succeed (however they define success) and the government can and should be a catalyst for that success. i guess i'm a fascist too.