Why We Are Not Getting Real Health Reform: Financial and Political Capital

It’s rather fitting that I am writing a piece about health care while I am fighting a cold and unable to sleep at 2 in the morning. So, I apologize in advance if any of this is incoherent. The following is a product of my inability to sleep as well as the failure to breathe out of my nose. Fortunately for me, I am in the middle class and can afford to go to a public college that gives me decent health insurance for very limited costs. Regrettably, most of the country is not this well off.

According to a recent study Harvard University linked 45,000 deaths in the United States to inadequate health insurance (http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/harvard-medical-study-links-lack-of-insurance-to-45000-us-deaths-a-year/?scp=2&sq=harvard&st=cse). That’s roughly three September 11ths a year. I’m not too sure how anyone can read this study and not be outraged. It is an apparent indication that we need serious and pragmatic health care reform in this country, and very quickly. Instead of honest debate and legislation we have gotten the same political jabbering and lobbying that is at the core of all of our Country’s problems.

Now, what makes this debate even more frustrating is the combination of public and media controversy. We have seen people on the right going to town hall meetings, marching in D.C., opposed to any reforms put out by the Democratic Party. At the heart of all of this I do not see angry American’s fearful about “socialism,” rather, I see a bitter Republican Party, and Conservative movement trying very hard to get political vengeance. Let’s think back to the eight years prior to Barack Obama’s presidency. In the white house was George W. Bush, who was perhaps one of the most controversial and impugned presidents in United States history. He was slammed by the left at every opportunity, conceivably, most of all regarding the war in Iraq. From the start of that war, the left had used similar tactics that the right is currently using against the Democrats about health care (with smaller numbers indeed, but with the same, if not more media attention). In my opinion, Afghanistan is not “Obama’s war” right now. Although later Afghanistan might be his defining foreign affairs moment, it is health care that has taken national stage and will define the beginning of Obama’s presidency.

With that in mind, look at what the right is doing. Some on the far right have berated the President as a Nazi. Joe Wilson, a member of congress, has interrupted a major political speech on reform. Last but not least, right-wing media personalities such as Glenn Beck have gone as far to call Obama a racist. All of this leaves me rather skeptical when I see genuine conservatives out on the streets, many of which are clearly uneducated about politics, and history. For instance take a look at this YouTube video documenting the 9/12 rally in Washington:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y&feature=topvideos

People referring to the president as “socialist,” “communist and “fascist” interchangeably reveals my concern. Even in the 1960s Obama’s proposed reforms would not have been chastised by the right with such false proclamations such as “socialist.” What these protests led me to think was how closely they resemble some of the protesting against Bush regarding Iraq. I was certainly part of those protests, and truly believe in such a right, but I find the root of the current protests to be very disingenuous.

I believe that those who lead the right are bitter about the Bush years. Bush was so widely scrutinized that it truly hurt the Republican Party. This is what I mean by political capital. Therefore, in an attempt to counter attack, the right has chosen to do the same that the left did to Bush, this time it’s about health care reform. The problem here is that Bush’s invasion of Iraq was based on clear lies, sent American troops into harm’s way, and killed countless innocent civilians. Obama’s health care reform, although far from perfect, is an attempt to save lives.

The Republican politicians, and leaders (not necessarily the people doing the marching, I don’t want to completely chastise them), are bitter about losing the election and about the left tearing apart its previous leader. In the case, the media has taken on a huge role in this. Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’reilly, our good buddies, have thrown out disastrous lies about health reform. These include claims of death panels, socialism, destruction of Medicare, ect. In essence they have built a right wing army that hold up posters of Obama as Hitler, and call Obama a racist. This leaves the legitimate educated right who have real helpful concerns in the dust.

So why is this happening? Well, like I said before the right is bitter, but they also need to gain political capital. Unfortunately, the leaders of the right are TV and radio pundits looking for ratings, and people like Joe Wilson trying to get reelected. The right needs to be legitimate again, and this is how they are doing it: through hysteria, lies, and anti-intellectualism.

I do not believe that those on the ground actually protesting Obama are disingenuous. I believe they are misled patriots. They are misled by people seeking political capital in order to get reelected at a time when conservative ideology is not very popular in the United States. The Democrats are far from innocent in this debate. They had an opportunity to give us real reform proposals, but due to their own concern for political capital, and insurance lobbyists that fund campaigns they gave us limited reform proposals. I guess they did not count on the right garnering so much momentum, because now it seems like we are getting practically no reform. Personally, I wish to see a single-payer system, but the Democrats blew that one, so my hopes were for some step toward caring for every single American.

What breaks my heart about all of this is that intrinsically, health care should be about helping people. Instead, the debate has been run by corporate lobbyists, conservative celebrities seeking ratings, political capital, and left wing ineptitude. We are supposed to be the freest, most democratic, and wealthiest nation on earth, yet we allow nearly 45,000 to die each year because our politicians and corporatocracy have too much financial and political investment in our current system. Yet, there is hope. The left can fight back. The true left. Those who were always skeptical about Obama, those who pay attention, and those who desperately want real health care in this country must fight back