Health Care: Congress Never Saw A Problem It’s Didn’t Create

Our final contestant is a collaborative venture apparently designed to bring together two groups of individuals that either singularly or jointly will do everything in their power to do exactly the wrong thing at the worst time, all in the best interests of the people that they pledged to serve to the best of their ability. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Congress!

God made the idiot for practice; He then made Congress. (to borrow from Twain). This sentiment is a preamble to the results and consequences of the laws, policies and programs that Congress institutes in their well intentioned efforts to serve the public. While this opinion is not universally shared, it would be a rare instance where a majority of the population would not agree that “the Government can’t do anything right”. And on those rare instances when this is not true, the public is more likely than not to have suffered a serious case of massive stupidity.
Now why would it be? Most members of Congress are lawyers and so should be reasonable well educated. There is no reason that they would want to create laws and programs that are poorly thought out, or that are doomed from the start to become enormous wastes of tax dollars, or that either make the very problem that they were trying to address worse or create a newer and more disastrous problem. Their difficulty arises from the very manner in which they do their craft.

The impediments that Congress faces in attempting to apply their best effort to solving our society’s problems are many. Not the least among these are that the members of Congress would have to be:

• Knowledgeable and well informed regarding the subjects that Congress is working on
• Unbiased and selflessly directed toward addressing the public’s interests in the issue or problem, avoiding any influences that would interject corrupting aspects into their efforts
• Rational and reasonable individuals capable of collaboration and compromise with their counterparts with whom they may have opposing views and philosophical positions
• Willing to risk their position and the privileges of their office when they believe that the right decision required of them is likely to be at odds with that of their supports and constituents
• Able to put their responsibility to Country, Constitution and the Common Welfare before that of party, profit or politics

How many Congress-men/women would be able to truthfully say they do not have most of these obstacles?

Health Care Reform requires our members of Congress to act under the above principles. Whether Congress decides to act upon Health Care Reform or pass on it, each of them should be able say with their honor intact that when called upon they were the dutiful servants of the American public and did their best to fulfill their pledge and oath of office.