When the Democrats stormed back to power beginning in 2006, progressives crowed about a victory by the “reality-based” community.<\/p>\n
They promised an era of good governance, transparency, and common sense that would wash away the worst excesses of the Bush era.<\/p>\n
Their first grand effort is the healthcare reform package, now circling the drain following the election of Sen. Scott Brown (R-Massachusetts) this week.<\/p>\n
His upset victory puts the legislation in dire political peril. <\/p>\n
But there’s also a growing amount of evidence that it’s just not a very good effort at solving a big problem.<\/p>\n
It’s too expensive, too bureaucratic, and too many of the benefits are deferred for too long.<\/p>\n
Unlike many critics, I think there’s a reasonable argument to be made that the worst aspects of the bill emerged as a result not of partisanship, but misguided conciliation.<\/p>\n
If you want to reform a massive chunk of our economy — much of it subsidized by taxpayers — you need a vision, a plan, a coherent set of guiding principles.<\/p>\n
Instead, the White House left it to the sausage factory of Congress to sort out. <\/p>\n
Not a wretched idea, given the fate of the Clinton health effort, but it just didn’t work. <\/p>\n
Lawmakers got lost in the deal-making and the fine-print. <\/p>\n
Democrats deserve a ton of blame for this dead-end, but so do Republicans, who have taken to simply denying that the healthcare industry is in crisis.<\/p>\n
They’re wrong. <\/p>\n
The cost of the current system is spiraling out of control and so far the private sector hasn’t come up with real solutions, leaving tens of millions of Americans unprotected.<\/p>\n
But Democrats own this. The next logical step is for them to admit defeat, regroup and begin again.<\/p>\n
Democratic leaders should go back and negotiate in good faith with moderates in their own party to determine how far reform legislation can go this year. <\/p>\n
Then they should unify and tell that story to the American people.<\/p>\n
I’m guessing that broad consensus can be reached eliminating the worst insurance industry excesses, allowing governments to negotiate prescription drug prices more aggressively, and expanding coverage to the uninsured significantly. <\/p>\n
Democrats should also include good conservative ideas, including reasonable tort reform and interstate competition for insurance companies.<\/p>\n
Frankly, I think it’s a mistake to begin the process by courting Republicans.<\/p>\n
Develop a good bill, using bipartisan ideas, then win over the American people. Do that and reasonable members of the GOP will join the process.<\/p>\n
But the first step is developing a coherent, workable bill.<\/p>\n
If this is, indeed, a reality-based moment for American government, the Democrats should prove that now by scrapping this mess and starting fresh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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