On health care debate, it's not Dems vs Reps, but D.C. vs the American People [View All]

"It would be nice if something made sense for a change." -- Alice, from Alice in Wonderland.

Perhaps we live in an alternative universe.

One in which two thirds of Americans want the government to guarantee healthcare for everyone, while the policy makers in Washington labor to craft a reform plan that caters first to the threats and demands of the insurance industry and the minority voices on Capitol Hill.

One in which the Senate Finance Committee plays congenial host to the insurance industry, the drug companies, and right wing think tanks and it's chairman Max Baucus can proclaim all options are on the table while slamming the door on the nurses and doctors and arresting them when they speak out. Why? For advocating the most comprehensive, cost effective reform of all, a single payer/Medicare for all approach.

One in which single payer is considered off the table inside the rarified airs of Congress, but when President Obama ventures into a town hall meeting with regular folks, the first question he is asked is:

"Why have they taken single-payer off the plate?" asked one woman in the audience to great applause. "And why is Senator Baucus on the Finance Committee discussing health care when he has received so much money from the pharmaceutical companies? Isn't it a conflict of interest?"

And one in which Drew Altman, CEO of the Kaiser Family Foundation can ponder today about how baffling it is that the "experts" -- presumably people like him who was given a seat at the table by Baucus -- sees the world so differently than the vast majority of Americans struggling to survive a cruel, inefficient, and inhumane healthcare system:

"Experts believe the health care system is full of unnecessary care and troubling variations in care, ... The public has a very different world view: People think that underservice is a bigger problem than overservice. They want relief from the problems they are having now paying for health care and health insurance in very tough economic times...And many are worried that they will not be able to afford their health insurance in the future or may lose it altogether."

The "experts" say the problem is too much "unnecessary" care. The public thinks too many people are being denied care they need.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/5/19/733331/-Chasm-grows-between-Washington-and-everyone-else-on-healthcare

The jig is up, is ain't a debate between Democrats and Republicans, this battle is going between us and the seat of the government.