For years, Americans have been exposed to the rankest form of ideological debate. Vitriol, invective, ad hominem attacks. <\/p>\n
Unfortunately, most of the wrangling has involved “culture war” issues that don’t affect most of our lives. <\/p>\n
But healthcare is a bread-and-butter issue. It’s a massive chunk of our economy and an intimate part of all our experiences. <\/p>\n
And over the last year, we’ve watched how government in a democracy actually gets done.<\/p>\n
Ideologues on both sides have their vision of how this should all work: Put simply, their ideas should prevail.<\/p>\n
There is a strong current of lazy utopianism out there, both within the tea party movement on the right and the MoveOn.org crowd on the left. <\/p>\n
What we’ve seen in Washington has been the nitty-gritty, feet-of-clay reality of debate, compromise and incremental reform.<\/p>\n
Are special interests wading in with both fists? Sure. Are outsized personalities (Joe Liberman, Howard Dean) throwing their weight around? Absolutely.<\/p>\n
It’s disappointing to people who want clean revolutions and upheavals that lead to perfect solutions. <\/p>\n
And especially disappointing to people who don’t read enough history to know that in a free society big change comes incrementally. <\/p>\n
Bottom line? Health care reform has stymied our society for the better part of a century. <\/p>\n
To borrow a phrase, this beat-up, battered version of healthcare reform now beign debated is the product of the worst form of government imaginable.<\/p>\n
Except for all the others that we’ve tried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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