No Reason to Celebrate

Now that the House has passed health reform legislation, we have something to be more concerned about than the legislation itself. We know it was a bad bill! In listening to the debate in the House, many members criticized the legislation indicating that it was flawed, but said that they were going to vote for it anyway. The thinking that passing a bad bill is better than passing nothing at all is difficult to comprehend. This type of philosophy is even less valid when the entire House of Representatives had the opportunity to make the bill better before passage. During the House debate, many members of the minority party urged the other party to join with them in making the legislation better, but were ignored. I heard no one express opposition to health care reform.

The concern we now have is more serious than the flawed legislation. We have a polarized Congress that has lost the ability to produce quality work because of thier inability to cooperate with one another. Also of great concern is that Congress is ignoring the will of the citizens. It was made clear through many different sources that most Americans desired health care reform, but not the legislation that was passed by the House. I would venture to say that most Americans today feel that they are not represented, and that their voice does not matter. It was completely possible to return to the table and re-create a health bill that most Americans and Congress could support, but that did not happen. Congress gets a failing grade on this one. Therefore, no one, including the President, has a reason to celebrate victory! Failure to provide the best possible for the citizens of this country does not deserve any pats on the back!

The North Carolina State Grange is an advocate for transparency, fair play, and ethical behavior. If all members of Congress and the President had observed each of these important concepts, there is no doubt that that we would be celebrating the passage of a much better health bill than we now have.