The health care debate
If this is too political for you, feel free to page down.
I don't get why passing a health care reform bill is so tough. The Dems only need a majority in both the House and Senate to pass a bill for Obama to sign. They only need the 60% majority to avoid a filibuster. So why can't Obama strike a deal with those in iffy seats to vote against a filibuster, then when it comes to the actual vote have up to 9 of the most nervous Senators vote how they want. Sneak in a bridge to nowhere here, save a base from the next BRAC there, with the same nine and soon you have your bill passed. The nervous ones can always say that it was important not to allow the impass to hold up all the important legislation like whatever pet project slips by. It's a bit unethical. But that's politics. Happens all the time.
So the Glenn Becks and Bill O'Reillys from Fakes News and all the idiot dittoheads simultaneously have strokes. They're the Vocal Minority who have delusions of being a majority simply because everyone they know all think like they do. (Well, think may not be quite the right word. Maybe I should just make a verb out of lemming. Yeah, that's it. They all lemming alike. Or maybe just lemm. They lemmed after Rush had another OxyContin-stoked hissy fit.) To paraphrase Lincoln: You can satisfy some of the people all of the time and you can satisfy all of the people some of the time, but you cannot satisfy all the people all of the time. How about we just satisfy a majority (and a significant majority according to most polls) of the people this time, and let those who will never be happy unless everything goes exactly their way hold their collective breaths and turn blue - after which they will discover that the system will even work for them?
I don't get why passing a health care reform bill is so tough. The Dems only need a majority in both the House and Senate to pass a bill for Obama to sign. They only need the 60% majority to avoid a filibuster. So why can't Obama strike a deal with those in iffy seats to vote against a filibuster, then when it comes to the actual vote have up to 9 of the most nervous Senators vote how they want. Sneak in a bridge to nowhere here, save a base from the next BRAC there, with the same nine and soon you have your bill passed. The nervous ones can always say that it was important not to allow the impass to hold up all the important legislation like whatever pet project slips by. It's a bit unethical. But that's politics. Happens all the time.
So the Glenn Becks and Bill O'Reillys from Fakes News and all the idiot dittoheads simultaneously have strokes. They're the Vocal Minority who have delusions of being a majority simply because everyone they know all think like they do. (Well, think may not be quite the right word. Maybe I should just make a verb out of lemming. Yeah, that's it. They all lemming alike. Or maybe just lemm. They lemmed after Rush had another OxyContin-stoked hissy fit.) To paraphrase Lincoln: You can satisfy some of the people all of the time and you can satisfy all of the people some of the time, but you cannot satisfy all the people all of the time. How about we just satisfy a majority (and a significant majority according to most polls) of the people this time, and let those who will never be happy unless everything goes exactly their way hold their collective breaths and turn blue - after which they will discover that the system will even work for them?