WHY HEALTHCARE

Today the proponents of fearfulness are pretending they're for direct democracy where healthcare is concerned: "How dare the Democrats ignore the polls and defy the will of the people?" But you'll recall that Obama campaigned and won on a pledge to make healthcare happen. The proponents of fearfulness are in fact not for direct democracy at all, but only against representative democracy that works.

Nobody seriously denies that we must have a healthcare system that is no longer haphazard. Without one, 32 million of us won't qualify for health insurance and most of us can be bled dry by an insurance industry that's out for itself alone. And during its 10-year control of the Congress, the Republicult did nothing about the situation.

Then why must we have such an imperfect bill, generated under such far-from-ideal conditions? Because there has to be a beginning. What has been done can be modified as much as necessary. And a better bill, passed under optimal conditions, was never possible. That anything was is all but miraculous.

Without something breaking the logjam formed by special interest lobbying and gutless members of Congress, we would have been stuck with nothing at all for no-telling how many more years.

Right-anarchists say this is a government takeover of the health industry, which it is not. Left-anarchists say this winks at the insurance industry; yes, it was necessary to neutralize that industry's opposition to some extent or the bill could not have been enacted. Again, amendment is the prescription.

Remember Harry and Louise from those anti-healthcare ads under Clinton? This time the scare tactics weren't enough. "Liberal" no longer stirs fear in most Americans, now that we've been through 8 years of the opposite of liberal under Dubya. And similarly, "socialist" has lost its magic because those who scream bloody murder about it are not trusted. The latter are by now not only a minority but a stunningly irrational one that seems hellbent on self-destruction.

The Republicult is promising to repeal this bill. Let it keep up that talk, because nothing so dramatizes its own negativity and its contempt for the well-being of the generality of us. I can only say again that we must get ourselves a new, moderate, representative opposition party. This crowd must never rule us again.

As for how healthcare will be affordable: look for the economy to grow thanks to further immigration. That has been how we've made it happen - that and Great Society-type measures that lift the poor out of poverty and into participation in the economy. Call that "socialism" if you like, but it's the sole alternative to the real socialism that none of us wants.