By PATRICK ALCATRAZ
Editor-In-Chief
BROWNSVILLE, TX - We have our moments. Sometimes, we are a great country. One such moment came yesterday, in Washington, D.C. of all places. Health Care, that often whipped two-word phrase that bamboozled insular Republicans for the past 18 months, arrived as if a baby fighting like crazy to get through the birth canal.
At last, citizens of this great land have the same shot at dependable health care that members of Congress have had for many, many years. Yet, already, the GOP is flashing forth its rallying cry for the November elections: Repeal and Replace the legislation pushed forth by President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress. Not since similar battles were waged by Republicans against Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid has the country seen one of its political parties go bonkers. At the height of the closing during last night's vote, one Republican - Randy Neugebauer, representing a district that includes Abilene and Lubbock - was heard to yell "Baby Killer!" as Congressman Bart Stupak, a staunch anti-abortion Democrat, sided with the president's plan to bring health care reform.
Why is it that everytime we seek to help the overall citizenry - many children and elderly in this case - we as a country seem to want to say we're not interested. It is easier to approve billions of foreign for, say, Israel than it is to pass legislation that helps Americans. It is easier for Republicans to wage war - how many billions spent on Iraq? - than to help Americans. One can only wonder what exactly it is that Republicans want.
The charge from the GOP faithful is that all of this is Socialism. Well, we do have a society, and why shouldn't government help its own people in a time of need? The vote in the House of Representatives yesterday was 219-to-212 in favor of the health legislation. No Republican voted for the measure, not one.
The Texas delegations had all but one Democrat (out of 12) voting in favor of the legislation. The lone dissenter was Chet Edwards, who serves an ultra-conservative Waco area district. South Texans Henry Cuellar, Ruben Hinojosa and Solomon Ortiz voted for the measure. All 20 Texas Republicans voted against the bill.
Yes, it will cost money. What doesn't? But this is not about building a Bridge to Nowhere or funneling Pork projects to influential politicians (you listening, Republican Trent Lott?) or funding Boeing for yet more unneeded airline tankers or paying some questionable Afghan pol to help us whip Al-Qaeda in the mountains of that country. Yes, funds should be dispensed for all that, but not at the complete expense of helping the citizenry whenever possible.
Our roads are cracking, bridges are tumbling, Wall Street has gone rogue, the Postal Service and Amtrak are pathetic...and still we play politics. There are some proposals that help the whole, which is something that for some reason so annoys Republicans. When a party opts to oppose everything, it threatens to make itself irrelevant.
We are a fractured country with huge problems that only begin with unemployment, corruption and a war whose conclusion is anybody's guess. The Democrats are labeling Health Care reform as a huge victory.
Why are there no shouts of joy in the streets? A ragged section of the national tapestry has been repaired. The crazy side of this is that such opposition surfaced against Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, and, now, the question many Americans would not want to answer is this: Where would we be without Social Security or Medicare/Medicaid? The technology advances made during the past 25 years have been astonishing, but the essence of American Life is as soiled as it's never been. Yes, there always have been social problems, but what nation can fly proud when it full-well knows that many of its people are living in poverty, starving, have no jobs and cannot even see a doctor when sick.
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Government is not the answer to everything, and we are not advocating Socialism, yet we cannot help but think that the government we fund ought to look inward every now and then, look inward and want to help its people...
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5 comments:
"At last, citizens of this great land have the same shot at dependable health care that members of Congress have had for many, many years"
Puhleese..Patrick. This wasn't exactly civil rights legislation. It wasn't even on anyone's radar until the administration made it a priority. The one's most affected will be the middle class who will recive it and pay for it. The truth is that the Bush administrations vast expansion of Medicare will have had a more significant impact.
That is if, and this is a very big if, it passes Constitutional muster.
Give Obama one thing though; he is definately a big picture dude.
You're right, it wasn't on the radar during the 8 years we had George W. Bush. Clinton tried in the early 1990s, but then he had Newt to battle, and we all know Newt. It will prove to be major legislation because it speaks to a great social need - universal medical care. In that vein, the cards have been stacked against the citizenry for too many decades. Every "western" country has this, so it must be worth something. As for "Constitutional Muster," well, that's the last refuge of the Republican Party, although only when convenient. Many GOPers act as if this is going to all be "free" for affected Americans. It isn't, but they brand it as such by way of their absurd Socialism charges. It's America taking care of Americans, and when was the last time the country looked to help its own? We have our differences with the president, but, if we're going to be honest, he's the "compassionate" politician Dubya only faked...- Editor
I don't know how to say this, but we need Univeral Health Care, I don't know how else or plain to say it.
You can disaree with me all you want, but that my good friends is the way it is. Universal care for everyone, rich or poor, black or white, brown or yellow.
It is Universal, well have to go back to work to help Rick Perry pay for a $9.900.00 a month rent on a trendy neigborhood in Austin.
Oh boy, if thats what the Republicans call being conservative, I wonder what they call a liberal.
Right-on, Patrick. Where were the constitutionalists when the Supreme Court gave George W. Bush the 2000 election? Bush bankrupted the country!
Conscience says we need to to help the citizenry when the citizenry is in need. In the case of a national problem, such as this, when the insurance companies are not sympathetic to the citizens, the only recourse is the federal government. That does not make it socialism; it makes it the right thing to do for your people. Look, Republicans would not like it if the sons and daughters of Democrats refused to fight their stupid wars anymore, wouldn't they? But the kids go do the dirty work, some come back in boxes defending EVERYONE in this country. We owe so much to those people... and it is time the country helped EVERYONE find medical care...- Editor
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