i’m coming back to politics after a long absence, slowly, one sunday paper and podcast at a time, trying to piece together what i’ve missed since i soured on civics. the process is touch and go, two steps forward and several in reverse, like testing a once-wounded limb or taking a tentative sip of a hot drink. i’m sure i’ll be a bit jaded from now on, but it’s possible to be jaded and informed, and i find a well-reasoned opinion does a lot to temper my cynicism. when i take the time to work out what i believe about something, i find i believe in something.
but this is one of those things that feels… mixed. don’t get me wrong—i share the joy in the success of this bill. while not a perfect piece of legislation, it is an essential one. but i look at these counts and i’m astounded. not ONE republican voted in favor? the democrats were mixed in their reactions to the bill—i know everyone’s really angry with them for being divided and not backing the president, but, to me, a myriad of opinions within a political party is healthy, necessary, generative of dissension and, therefore, discussion. this bill didn’t pass because the democrats felt they HAD to vote for it to keep their seats (although i’m sure there was plenty of hemming and hawing to that effect). it passed because enough representatives believed it was right to support it. and anybody who watched schoolhouse rock knows that’s really all you’re supposed to need.
the creepy borg-like unity of the republican party is untenable to me. it leaves me with a sick feeling. i could be wrong about the details—i hope you’ll take me to task if you know the details—but it seems to me the two republican dissenters were so cowed by the pressure of their party that they preferred to abstain than to vote “Yea”—they elected to silence their voices and the voices of their constituents rather than gamble their political position and risk angering the GOP machine. i’m know this concept is old news but i hope when the celebration over health insurance reform settles down, the challenges of fighting this money-and-power hivemind become clear—not with a frantic feeling of fear, but in a way that makes us angry, determined, galvanized.
