A common misconception is that if you have a great idea for a law, Congress would vote based on whether they think it's a good idea. It is sad that this is never the case.
A "vote" is a very precious commodity, and Congressmen treat it as such to be purchased, lent, borrowed, or any other type of transaction you can imagine. If you want someone to vote for a bill, it doesn't matter how good it is. The only thing that matters is what the Congressman (and his constituents) will get back in return. The Healthcare Reform Bill had it in spades.
The Healthcare Reform Bill, which was decent when it was originally conceived, had so many concessions added in order for people to vote for it that it ended up a shadow of it's original form. It's a clear case of greed ruining a good thing. Once all of the concessions were added, no one liked what it had become. With the Republicans all voting "no" based on the party line (regardless if they thought it was good) to make Obama fail, it forced the situation of Democrats needing to buy votes. This isn't new, this is standard practice. The Republican plan worked, because they now have a healthcare bill with faults that they can point to and blame the Democrats. Any intelligent person will see that it's not a Republican/Democrat issue, it's whole damn system. Everyone is at fault.
I blame the Republicans for putting their party agenda ahead of the good of the nation.
I blame the Democrats for allowing the corporations to dictate how the bill was written.
I blame the corporations for threatening to run a slander campaign against the bill.
I blame lobbyists for their existence (they are worse than lawyers).
I blame our entire government for letting itself be run by corporations.
I don't see it getting better anytime soon. We're stuck with this system of buying and selling votes. I wish I could go back to 8th grade. Everything I knew about our government was on the U.S. Constitution test, politicians like our founding fathers had the good of the whole nation as their primary goal, and the government wasn't owned by big business.
-AM
