Political Comment

The health care battle goes on, with the Senate seeming to have finally secured the votes necessary to get their proposal on the table. I know there are a lot of folks out there who are disappointed in this version, for not doing enough or doing too much. But the nature (and arguably the genius) of our legislative system-- and this has been true going back to the Constitutional Convention-- is to progress through compromise. One could argue that this particular issue is pressing enough to push for more, but there's no reason why this can't unfold in steps. Compare this to the Civil Rights Act of 1957: a drop in the bucket compared to what came down the pike seven years later, but probably a necessary step to keep us on the right course. I hope it doesn't take seven years to fix the rest of what's wrong with health care (just as I wish it hadn't taken seven years back then), but that's part of the price we pay to maintain our concept of democracy. If anyone doubts that this watered down bill is worth supporting, I'd suggest taking a look at the chart found in this article. There appears to be much of value here, and maybe enough to provide some momentum for even more significant change moving forward.