Whaddyamean?

Affordable Health Care Act upheld by the Supreme Court.  Too bad it wasn’t unanimous but not much is these days. We can take comfort knowing that at least one hurdle has been overcome in this nasty fight. Thanks to Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts for moving beyond bitter partisan politics.

The Affordable Health Care Act is not Obamacare. That is a derisive title pasted on the issue by republicans, tea baggers and conservatives. They claim the act is dangerous to American health care and the nation’s constitutional framework of governance. Well, evidently not!

Health care is everyone’s business. When the law was written in a tumultuous clangor of bitter dispute, nearly 50 million countrymen were without health care insurance. In this day and age that is nearly the same as no medical care at all except emergency attention. And that comes with high cost to both the medical staff and clinics/hospitals that care for the patient. If the patient has no insurance and no money, the health care system eats it. Last I checked, that’s you and me. We all pay the bill in one way or another for those who cannot pay, or will not pay.

No politician or political party had answers to the problem. No president had been able to lead the congress through the thicket of ideological war to find a solution. But address the issue we did; through leadership of President Obama. And high political cost. To himself and to his party.  Someone had to do this. It was on his watch, so the President worked out the details as best could be. Compromise after compromise was made. Wheedling behind closed congressional doors. Warring factions were coddled and wooed. Finally a truce was made and the act moved forward to a successful vote. No one was happy then or now. But the act is law and working toward full implementation. It gets better phase after phase. No major negatives have been encountered so far.

And yet the act will need to be tweaked over the coming years to smooth out wrinkles and improve health care delivery and related finance. Hopefully without bankrupting anyone along the way: the federal government, state governments, insurers, taxpayers or patients. That’s the goal. So many people working toward that goal in good faith. Because it is what we all need.

Now. Ideology. Politics. Discord. Noise. Bitterness.

We have all that. When the Supreme Court decision was announced the airwaves were filled instantly with noise. Mostly partisan posturing. There were many reports that some politicians recorded TV ‘interviews’ and statements covering two or three possible scenarios depending on the court’s decision; anticipating a negative statement regardless of the decision. How manipulative of the public. How distrusting of the public.

The President represents each of us, and for our benefit. He does not have the luxury of working for only one group of Americans; his job description covers all contingencies in governing the entire nation. The needs of many have to be balanced across the board. It is the only way the whole can function.

Demanding the impossible from him while standing in the way of progress is an embarrassment to ‘we the people’. It is not a slap to the President. It is a self administered wound suffered by us all.

Funny thing. Thursday, June 28 witnessed a cacophony of sound by ~ politicians. Not citizens. Politicians. And of course news organizations covered the sound and fury. They actually added to the noise. They did not help anyone understand the issues. They just pointed out what one camp said, what another camp retorted to that statement, and so on. Noise begetting noise.

The job of the media is to state what is being said and done. The facts please. Then the media’s job is to sift through the facts for the meanings and conflicting meanings of the matter. Their job is to elucidate, not obfuscate. The latter has been their trademark for the past 15 years or so; probably longer.

If the media doesn’t understand what’s going on, then they owe it to the nation not to add to the problem. They are supposed to add to the understanding. It would be helpful if they actually enlisted the help of people who know the specific issues and ask their help to find solutions to the problems at hand. Blue ribbon panels. Research teams. Think tank operations. Do we see this happening? No.

Oh sure; there are such organizations in existence or forming, but they are mostly ideologically funded groups. The Heritage Foundation is an example.  The Heartland Institute is another example. Organizations formed specifically to press a point of view with strong partisan motives. And the public is left to discern the truth. And the media doesn’t help. And the politicians continue to obfuscate. Because it is in their interest to do this.

But it is not in the public’s interest. No. We are the ones left to pick up the pieces and live with the mess until our ‘leaders who do not lead’ either get out of the way or are outsmarted by their opposition. Like the Affordable Care Act.

Who’s the leader now, folks? You or me? Romney or Obama? Looks like the latter to me.

Now can’t we just get along? And get the work of the nation accomplished? Would that be asking too much? Really!?

June 29, 2012