Don't Be Evil

So, [sorta] Health Care Reform actually really passed.

A year of dithering, noise, misrepresentation, back-room dealing, and Deity knows what else, and now the US health care system can now resemble .. the second most expensive system in the world, the Swiss one. Woo hoo!

I have a lot of disappointments from the past year, mostly regarding how non-progressive is the new legislation, and how all efforts to introduce any form of single-payer system were cut off at the knees (and from the top).

However, I reserve the highest contempt for the Republican Party, which relied on bad faith, constant outright lying, and fake "grass-roots" campaigns to derail even the slightest reduction in profits for their benefactors AKA the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

If you needed any convincing on the absolute evil of the GOP, this past year should seal the deal. These people do not represent their constituents, they care nothing about truth, and most shamefully they do not care about their own country. They just don't. They look straight into the camera and lie, shamelessly. And they collect their lobbying checks and perks while selling their constituents short and their country down the drain.

The GOP's despicable behavior is matched only by their genius at somehow getting people to vote and make noise against their own interests. Medicare-for-all would save the country lots of money and keep countless people from having to go bankrupt if/when they get sick, but none of that seems to matter if you wave the boogeyman of Socialism in the face of Joe Sixpack.

(There's plenty of evil on the other side of the aisle, and I'm not just talking about those Blue Dogs that almost derailed HCR. I'm talking about Dems who mouth the words of reform, but when it comes down to backing their words, golly gee they just can't muster the votes. Oh, and thank you for the kind donation, WellPoint.)

The GOP has shown its true face, and it deserves to sink without a trace. Perhaps someday there will be an actual fiscally conservative party (that doesn't operate on crony capitalism) in its place. I don't hold much hope on that account, and the Libertarians .. sorry, been there, done that (yah, I actually voted for Ron Paul for President in 1988).

Until then, all we have are the Dems and their apparent ability to snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory. These are the folk who are going to re-regulate banking and finance in the US? And actually do something about global warming and US energy self-sufficiency?

Well, maybe. At least Hope didn't die tonight.