The Next Banana Republic
I’ve been around the proverbial block. As both a husband & father, as well as a manger of both people and processes in my career, I’ve learned that consistency matters. Families, relationships, businesses, and yes governments function best when people both know the rules and agree to live by the rules; that my friend is called civilization (emphasis on civil).
Look, I know there is a lot of passion on all sides of this Healthcare Reform debate that is currently gripping the nation. You know, if we really take the effort to step back from the rhetoric and hysteria, it’s clear that we all agree on the goals of healthcare reform. We all want to see those in need be able to get what they need. We all agree that we need reform that will address the real concerns people have with powerful, corporate health insurance companies. At the same time, we can all agree that we need to protect the insurance companies from people who are willing to game the system by not purchasing health insurance until they are really sick – after all, you and I will pay the price for that kind of irresponsibility.
Nope, the goals are not the issue. What is the issue though is how we achieve those goals and frankly, the American people have looked at the current legislation and the vast majority of us are saying that the ends do not justify the means. We don’t agree with the approach being taken by the Democrats to both achieve the goals (which I don’t believe the legislation will do) nor the means by which they are legislating. So, Sen. Reid, there is no need to trot out any more victims of tragic situations and tell us we are bad people if we don’t agree with your means of achieving laudable goals. Come on, let’s be real here, do you really think that disagreeing with your methods is equivalent to disagreeing with the goals of reform?
As a reader, you may not agree with my point of view. Nevertheless, I encourage you to stop for a moment and look at what is happening in Washington. Something is going wrong… very, very wrong. Ideology is on a collision course with the standards by which this nation’s legislative branch has conducted itself since its founding. We are seeing leadership in both the Executive and Legislative branches of our government take on a “win at any cost” method of governing. Is that really what we want from our government? Is this the “change” so many American’s voted for… seriously?
Take a look at Venezuela and how Hugo Chavez operates. He doesn’t like how the media treats him… he changes the rules. He doesn’t like the way the election is shaping up… he changes the rules. He doesn’t like the way businesses operate… he changes the rules. Can you imagine how both dangerous and frustrating that is for the people of Venezuela? Chavez is the living definition of a tyrant and his government is a tyrannical government. There is no liberty for the people of Venezuela. He talks like he is doing these things on behalf of the people… I don’t believe the people of Venezuela see it that way.
I’m willing to bet we all had an experience with a kid or two on the playground at school who had a win at all costs mentality. You know the kid I’m talking about, the one who would change the rules during the game because things were not going his way. Well, let’s scale that up a bit to our nation’s government. Right now, Pres. Obama, Sen. Reid, and Speaker Pelosi don’t like the way things are going for them with the healthcare reform legislation. So what are they plotting to do? The exact same thing Chavez or the playground bully would do. They are going to change the rules in the middle of the game.
The rules of governance for both the Senate and the House serve several purposes; two of which are to bring sanity to the process and prevent the ideology of the majority party from completely trampling the rights of the minority party. If Nancy Pelosi has her way, she will have the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives changed so that the House can pass the Senate’s version of healthcare reform without voting on the bill. That’s right, the same party that just one week ago demanded an up-or-down (simple majority) vote in the Senate on a conference committee bill that would not stand up to the Senates 60 vote rule is now willing to change the rules of the House so that it can pass legislation by simply declaring it as passed… without a vote!
Ideology has taken over common sense. Tell me, how is this any different than the way Chavez governs his nation? Do we want the steady hand of tradition, decorum, and established rules of governance at the helm of our Democratic Republic or do we want to trade in the 50 stars on our nations flag for 50 bananas and become a Banana Republic?
I have to say, every time I come to theconservativejournal.com you have another fascinating post to read. A friend of mine was telling me about this topic several weeks ago, so I think I’ll e-mail my friend the link here and see what they say.