Political Comments

Today Obama signed the health care reform bill, and already the Republican'ts are whining about being forced to buy insurance. It's not like car insurance, they cry, because you don't have to buy/drive a car. But it's exactly like car insurance, except that it's body insurance. And we all have one. Moreover, it is a federal issue, because the Feds mandate that any ER in the country you walk into with an emergency has to treat you. If you can't pay, all the rest of us do, in our bills, our premiums, and ultimately our taxes. Even if you think you are young and healthy (I remember those days), you may still get sick or injured.

Then there's the crowd who think it's significant that their state passed a law exempting them from having to follow the provisions in this bill. Didn't we fight a war about that, oh, about 150 years ago?

I just wish that the radical libertarians who think as a matter of principle that the government shouldn't force them to pay their share would also agree as a matter of principle to give up claiming their share. No more roads, no fire protection or police, no inspections for food and drugs, no courts... and no emergency care. No insurance? Wear a "Do Not Transport" bracelet so when the ambulance gets there, they know to just leave you on the side of the road. Oh yeah, no garbage pick-up too, when your body starts to rot. Make your family come do it on their own, and ask them to dig a hole deep enough so the dogs don't dig you up for a meal!

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All the honest political/legal experts say the lawsuits to declare the healthcare reform bill unconstitutional are frivolous. They have no legal legs. Does this mean, if I live in a state where
my AG is backing this, that I can sue my state for wasting my tax dollars on a frivolous lawsuit?

Oh, what fun!

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We all know people who have gotten to the point where they wear a mantle of martyrdom. Oh the burdens they are forced to carry! The troubles they've seen! The folks who are out to make them miserable! Some get to the point where the perceived persecution becomes their identity. Without it they are nothing and nobody. They manage to provide themselves with constant enemies in a variety of ways.

I have to wonder if that happens to countries as well. I am thinking specifically of Israel, just having announced a new round of "settlement" building. It formed out of the devastation of the Holocaust, a refuge for those relative few left alive. It has had to fight to maintain its existence throughout so many years that I wonder if that struggle itself has in fact become who and what Israel is. Would it even exist without enemies on every side? And is that why it seems to continually provoke its neighbors?

Years ago my son asked me to explain what the constant failure to achieve peace was all about. I detailed for him many events in their history, summing up as follows. When it started, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians were wrong enough for either side to justifiably be demonized. But by now, neither are there any angels fighting on either side.