The hissy fit to end all hissy fits

So it really seems to boil down to this: we don’t have our country back yet. We’re as stymied as we were under Bush.

We the people are quite clear about what we want. We wanted out of Iraq. That is slowly happening. We wanted a resolution to Afghanistan and al Qaeda. That’s a bit murkier.

Bu what is not murky is the fact that a strong majority of Americans are demanding significant healthcare insurance reform, and that’s just not happening.

What is happening is a virtually unprecedented avalanche of lies, distractions and very bad behavior, all of which is driving even worse behavior. Behavior like I’ve only seen twice before in my life: the angriest moments of the anti-Vietnam War movement, and the vehement refusal of the Deep South to accept desegregation.

Desegregate. The notion of integration was so repulsive to racist Americans that an obfuscating word had to be used instead. When I was young and racism was out in the open, racist beliefs were held as fiercely as the pro- and anti-abortion folks of today. Or should I say pro-choice and pro-life?

War. An ugly war in which more young American men died in a single week than have died in both the Iraq Wars and Afghanistan all told.

Last Name

First and Middle

Rank

Branch

City, Town or Country

ABRAMS

TIMOTHY C JR

PFC

Army

TUSCALOOSA

ABSTON

JAMES ESTUS JR

PFC

Army

COTTONDALE

ACTON

MARION FRANKLIN

PFC

Army

HUNTSVILLE

ADAMS

JAMES CONRAD

MAJ

Army

PHENIX CITY

ADAMS

SPENCER

SSG

Army

MOBILE

ADAMS

WALTER LEE

PFC

Army

MCINTOSH

ADAMSON

LARRY ONEAL

SP4

Army

FAIRFAX

ADDISON

O’NEAL

SP5

Army

WEST ENSLEY

ADKISON

CARL ELMUS

SP4

Army

GADSDEN

AKINS

ADRIAN ALAN

SP5

Army

CORDOVA

ALEXANDER

BOBBY RAY

CPL

Marine Corps

DECATUR

ALEXANDER

DAVID J JR

PFC

Army

ANNISTON

ALLEN

GRANVILLE JOEL JR

HM3

Navy

BIRMINGHAM

ALLEN

JOHNNY JR

SP4

Army

BIRMINGHAM

ALLEN

ROBERT WARREN

PFC

Marine Corps

BIRMINGHAM

ALLEN

WILLIAM TERRY

1LT

Army

ENTERPRISE

ALLUMS

ALLEN WAYNE

SP5

Army

ENTERPRISE

ALLUMS

FREDERICK LARRY

CPL

Army

EMPIRE

AMBROSE

EDWARD

SSG

Army

GOSPORT

ANDERSON

ROY JR

PVT

Army

BIRMINGHAM

ANDERSON

WILLIAM ALLISON

SP4

Army

MOUNT VERNON

ANDREWS

CLIFTON BISHOP

MAJ

Marine Corps

FULTON

ANDREWS

COLEY L

SGT

Army

MOBILE

ANDREWS

HOWARD RIVERS JR

CPT

Army

HUNTSVILLE

ARD

HENRY

PSG

Army

ROBERTSDALE

ARNOLD

HAROLD

PFC

Marine Corps

PRICHARD

Those are some of the casualities from the Vietnam War. Specifically, this is the first page of a list of every Alabaman to have died in the Vietnam War. There are 46 more pages. And there 49 more states with lists, and still more places who lost young people who fought on our side.

And we are having that kind of fight over what kind of rules we can impose on insurers? How can we possibly be having this big a fight over a bill that is not about war or taxes? Half the reason the bills we’re seeing suck is because reform has to be done without raising taxes. Has to? Says who?

Healthcare reform has to be done. On the let’s get something done side the only really strongly held beliefs are from the single payer folks. Other than that I don’t think people really care about the how so much as the get it done already. The uproar is manufactured and extremely partisan in the most uninformed sense. This is only a big deal to people who don’t want any change. We held that election and they lost.

Civil Rights was huge. Vietnam was, compared to Iraq, huge. So how did healthcare insurance get to be so huge? It didn’t.

Americans want change and without the lying liars shilling for big money, there wouldn’t be this big a flap. This is crony capitalism drawing a line in the sand and refusing to be moved. This is round one of the end of our second Gilded Age, and these robber barons will not go easily.

Nothing is sacred to them, least of all America. Not our health, our jobs, our communities, our environment, our beliefs, our very lives. It’s all about money. Caveat emptor, no refunds. Losers should die as inexpensively as possible.

Our traditional news media argues about who’s Lord Haw Haw and who’s Axis Sally (Malkin gets to be Tokyo Rose because, well, you know) but the important thing is to turn them all off. News distribution channels are starting up all the time, including some good aggregators for DIY types who like to pick their own news and some very creative alt-alt channels.

Whether “they” like it or not, the world is changing and a lot of what they’ve done needs to be undone. Tax codes untangled, laws unknotted, commerce in general realigned along more customer friendly lines.

The sooner we acknowledge what we’re really fighting about, the quicker we’ll get these matters resolved. Not once and for all, but for the meantime. Most Americans want to do things differently and the bitter enders can attempt to obstruct and be ignored, or they can work with the majority to make sure their views are heard.

Let’s stop arguing about how to pass things and instead focus on exactly what we should pass. We won so let’s stop fighting and start doing before Gore Vidal’s latest predictions come true.

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