A Political Note

I tread lightly in matters of politics and religion, but of late, I am of the belief that the passage of Health Care Reform is about neither. There’s a cruelty, hatefulness, immorality and complete abandonment of basic civility that is disturbing.

Might we conclude it is the death of “Hail fellow well met?”

 

A bit of hilarity from Maureen Dowd:

“The Democrats were walking around in a state of shock.

Holy cow, they were saying to themselves. We’re not total wimps! We don’t have to sit around and let ourselves be slapped silly by Republican bullies and Tea Party scaremongers. We can actually get something done if we suck it up and find a way to pull together.

One minute they were legislative losers, squabbling and scrambling for the off-ramps. The next they were history-makers, sharing chest bumps and goose bumps at the White House. How had the lofty president and the wily speaker suddenly steered them off Jimmy Carter Highway and onto F.D.R. Drive?”

And a bit of practical somberness from one thoughtful reader out of Boston:

“It’s good to read something positive about all that has happened, but I am not sure it is time to celebrate just yet. Something is very wrong.

All pretense of civility has been lost. Conservatives are escalating their offensive strategy, at first taking their cues from the rabble, and now egging them on and leading the attacks. They have allied themselves with an army of the ignorant and the stupid, and are probably as surprised as anyone at how easy it is to get them to work against their own self interests.

Conservatives cannot stand the position they are in. Once schoolyard bullies, they are now reporting to a nerd, and a nerd of color at that. They have no skill at building or creating, so they use their only real talents, which are to obstruct, taunt, undermine, and destroy.

Boehner’s frothing anger at the passage of the health care bill is a case in point. The anger did not come from his deep desire to help the poor and the sick, but from his fury that insurance companies had been reigned in, even slightly.

Conservatives want to turn this country into something else. I don’t know what, because I can’t fathom their feverish desires. I only know there won’t be any place in it for me.

I think I’ll wait a bit before I open the Champagne.”