It may come as a surprise, but the healthcare debate is not about healthcare. And it never was. The debate is little more than the last throes of a dying party wedded to a version of America that is going the way of the dinosaur. The majority of people who oppose healthcare reform are elderly whites, mostly in the Southern and Western states. They are watching the country they have known all their lives change into a more multicultural and tolerant America, and their generation no longer calls the shots.
Charges of socialism, fascism, and government takeover are nothing more than proxies for an intense fear of change and the end of an era in which white males dominated American life. As Paul Krugman has noted, it doesn’t really matter what Obama or the Democrats say or propose about healthcare reform; the enraged minority of birthers, teabaggers, and fringe rightwing loonies will strenuously oppose it. They are not opposed to particular policies, but to the new ruling class and the new generation of Americans. It’s a generation that increasingly doesn’t look like them, talk like them, or share many of their values.
This is why progressives have been understandably distressed that Obama and the Democrats have been watering down healthcare legislation in order to placate a group that is not amenable to reason. There is literally nothing short of scrapping any meaningful healthcare reform that will garner more than one or two Republican votes. At a time when one party has gone off the deep end, bipartisanship is a fool’s errand.
And like a rabid animal, cornered and weak, the GOP knows all too well what is at stake. If comprehensive healthcare reform passes, it is the end of the modern Republican Party. If even a tiny fraction of the nearly 50 million people who are currently uninsured are happy with their new coverage and decide to vote Democratic, or the more than 200 million who are currently insured realize the protections they have just been granted by Democratic legislation, the GOP could be in the political wilderness for a generation. No wonder Republicans are throwing everything they have into trying to prevent reform; no wonder they’re getting more desperate by the moment.
These reactionary forces must be defeated because healthcare reform is so crucial.
Two people close to me are suffering under a system that crushes tens of thousands of Americans every year. One friend was required to get a tooth implant to prevent his jawbone from deteriorating. His insurance wouldn’t cover it because implants are considered cosmetic, even for an infected molar. He is now broke. Another friend is suffering from serious headaches and had to have an MRI. She now has a “preexisting condition” and can’t get coverage, so she will be forced to spend thousands she doesn’t have just to try to get some relief from an illness that is literally incapacitating her.
These are the stakes. On one side are the forces of the status quo, with all their misguided rage and intolerance; on the other are hard-working Americans who simply want a system that gives them the security of knowing that their health issues and medical expenses won’t put them in the poor house.
Now is the time for Obama and the Democrats to get the job done.
Jason Scorse