Metaphor for the 21st Century

The reason the debate now raging in Washington and across the country is so important is because it is about more than Health Care Reform. It is a test of whether this government will be able to govern this nation in the 21st Century or whether it has become clogged with partisan game playing, turf protection and corporate money like a person can become clogged with cholesterol. Congress has avoided its responsibilities for so long decades of tough decisions have backed up, and it is past time we confront them. We have Social Security, Education, Transportation, Outsourcing, Immigration, Energy, National Parks, Food, the Environment and reform of the political process itself to get to, and the clock is ticking. The global economy has caught up and threatens to move past us, while Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell jockey for position and try to prevent the other's party from getting any credit for anything. The general public still believes the purpose of Congress is to rationally seek solutions to public policy issues, but that is not how our representatives see their jobs. They see their purpose as getting into office and then staying there. The best interests of the country are not part of their decision making. The Health Care debate is peeling the top off this corrupt and ineffective system and revealing to all of us how unresponsive our representatives really are. It will, in the coming months, demonstrate whether they can rise above this and actually solve the problem, or whether they will fail once again.