The Wretched Few

He not busy being born is busy dying. And thanks to the reptilian rogues who comprise our Congress, my sense of cynicism is born anew. To paraphrase the Army lawyer who finally publicly and verbally bitch-slapped Senator Joseph McCarthy, "I never truly gauged the depth of your cruelty and recklessness...at long last, sir, have you NO shame?"

I'm not surprised that the health care debate is failing. I'm not surprised that the super-majority is worthless when the Democrats are "in charge". I'm not surprised that the Democrats couldn't get laid in a monkey whorehouse with a bag full of bananas. I knew all those things. And I knew that the Republicans were every bit as venal as the Democrats were lame.

But what I never accurately gauged was the extent to which both parties in Congress would collude to guarantee that the American people would not have access to the quality of care that the members of Congress themselves enjoy. Make no mistake; the vultures abound in both parties and the practical effects of their actions are that they are fundamentally allied with each other.

After all, when health care reform fails, the Democrats will blame the Republicans and gloss over the fact that the Democrats were in a position to pass reform without a single Republican vote; know this: it is the Democrats who will kill health care. The republicans just serve as a useful foil for pre-emptive excuses.

So the Democrats control the Senate, and they are preparing to come to the American people and tell them with a straight face, "we couldn't get the votes", assuming the people will forget that the senators ARE the votes. If there is no public option, it will be because the Democrats chose not to pursue it. Period.

So the Democrats are investing their energy now not into how to pass what the public demands, but into how to blame the minority party for the failure of the majority party to pass any meaningful legislation.

We know the Republican position on health care. It was beautifully (in the sense that a mushroom cloud is "beautiful") articulated by a leading Republican congressman at a recent town hall meeting. A woman in the audience rose to ask her congressman what she should do after losing her health "insurance" after she was diagnosed with cancer.

Firstly we should stipulate that this is the only country in the world where the above circumstance would ever occur. That being said, the congressman's answer was illuminating (in the sense that a mushroom cloud is "illuminating"). First, this woman should turn to charity. Then, she should turn to.....Medicaid! So, first beg, then go red.

Let's think about this: this is a congressman's "plan" on how his own constituents should deal with serious illness. First, the person should beg. Okay. Secondly, the person should pursue government-run health care (after they are already deathly ill). The ingenious aspect to this suggestion, of course, is that one does not qualify for Medicaid until they are dirt poor.

So actually, there are 3 steps to the Republican plan. Step 1: beg. Step 2: lose all your assets trying to pay out of pocket for medical bills. Step 3: after you have lost your car, your house, your retirement fund, and all other savings and assets, file for Medicaid (if you're still alive).

That's their "plan" for how to deal with something that happens to hundreds of citizens every day. In shorthand, their plan reads thusly: "go fuck yourself". Actually, "give all the assets you've saved for your entire life to hospitals and doctors....and then go fuck yourself."

One might ask why the Congress deems it unseemly to offer the American people the health care if gives itself. Yes, the Congress has awarded itself government-secured health care, which provides for any conceivable level of care. Each Congressperson pays about $600 per year for this blanket coverage. And let me put it this way: when a Senator gets cancer, he doesn't lose his insurance.

What can we say about people who would deny every single one of us the very things they grant themselves with our tax dollars? What can we say about lawmakers who refuse to make it illegal to take away a person's "insurance" when they get sick? What can we say about people who think it's okay for a person to lose every single thing they have earned and saved over a lifetime as the just punishment for the sin of getting sick?

I'd call them vultures, but that would be an insult. To vultures. The few, the wretched, the Congress.