The Worst Reasons

If you are a parent then your child must have desperately wanted something impractical. It didn't matter how you explained things, your child still wanted it. If you asked why your child wanted it you probably got the answer, "I just want it." or "The other kids have it." When my daughter was very young this could lead to a red-faced crying fit.

The Democrats are like this about health care. They've been wanting it so long that they don't remember why, they just want it. You can hear this in the different cases they have made. "All the other countries have it," is high on the list. In fact, that and variations on "fairness" pretty much make up the list. All of the talk about reducing costs or "bending the curve" are disingenuous since the current legislation is guaranteed to drive costs up instead of down.

This is also why the Democrats are so confused at the growing resistance to health care reform. They assumed that the entire country has been stewing over the issue since it failed under the Clintons.

Now the Democrats are adding a new reason - it should be passed as a memorial to Ted Kennedy. This is the worst of the reasons since it asks principled Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats to pass something that will affect the entire country against their better judgment as a memorial. Go ahead and name a building after him but don't reshape a big portion of the nation's economy as a memorial to one man. No one was that important and sentiment should not determine the shape of the US economy.