What unfolds today...

It appears today that America is on the verge of the passage of the most sweeping piece of healthcare reform legislation ever. Not since FDR’s administration and the passage of Social Security or LBJ’s administration and the passage of Medicare has America seen such a historical piece of legislation go to the Hill. Whether you support this bill or oppose it, you can’t deny that the vote going on today is huge…as is the price tag of it.

Now, I have not read the bill. I don’t know it inside and out, and cannot speak to the minute details contained therein. The sad part that I’ve seen in recent weeks, though, is that the staunchest opposition and support of it have not and cannot either. The loudest voices hawking this bill and even more so in protest of it are unable to speak intelligently as to why, and subsequently of what they support and/or oppose with this legislation. The loudest liberals and even more loud “Tea Party” conservative protestors take their cues and become puppets of Fox News Channel and Glenn Beck and Bret Baier, MSNBC and Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann. They spew their vitriol and two or three talking points, yet know nothing of the intricacies of the plan. They scream “government takeover,” yet don’t know that the freedom to choose is still there. They cry it “will reduce the deficit,” but ignore the fact that is unlikely to happen.

Now, I again don’t know this plan to the letter. I do know that I am the child of two very good people that worked hard for decades but seldom could afford their own healthcare coverage living in fear of getting sick not from what the cost to their physical health, but rather to their financial health. They, along with 30 million others, would benefit greatly for the passage of this plan. For this reason alone, I see the most good from the healthcare reform plan. I know the fiscal cost is great, and I hate government spending that raises my taxes and lowers my paycheck more than the next. But, to know that our family members that may not be able to afford private health coverage will now be able to go to the doctor when they need it, without fear of being bankrupted makes me think the most powerful nation in the world may finally be catching up to its neighbors…