Why the health care vote wasn’t true representation

Most you may or may not be aware that the House of Representatives voted on 3/21/10 to muscle a bill through on health care reform.  This bill is,  as President Obama put it, historic.  Historic in that this bill has shown how truly mis representative and misaligned our legislative system really is.

I have posted a few different short posts touching on this topic.  The most recent was called “How much is a ‘YES’ vote worth?” and  “What is the purpose of a representative?“.  Additionally George posted a well worded article on his blog, where he witnessed first hand the back end dealing and special interest influence that is robbing all of us of true representation.

This health care bill is intended to help the 30 million “uninsured” Americans.  I use the quotes around uninsured since in reality none of us are uninsured.  Do you really think that if you go into any emergency room that you will be denied care?  We all have coverage, the true question becomes who pays for it.

Do we all realize that 30 million represents 10% of our population? Why wouldn’t we simply put together legislation that addresses that specific group rather than increase costs for us all?  I am personally in favor of health care coverage for all Americans, as long as it is a system built on personal accountability and everyone pays into it.  I am tired of the “free rides” people continue to get from my tax dollars (that by the way continues to increase each year due to more “free rides” being issued).

All of us have a choice to make our stand on how we feel about this issue.  In 2010 nearly all the House of Representatives and Senate seats are up for re-election.  If you are as fed up as me about not getting true representation in Washington then lets #cleanhouse2010 and send a strong message that enough is enough.

Perhaps a good start would be term limits on all representatives.

What is the purpose of a representative?

I was watching one of the national news shows this morning and the “White House correspondent” made a statement that took me off guard.  He was discussing the President’s health care plan and the number of votes needed to get it passed.  In the commentator’s words the issue was:

Most democrats are worried about how they will vote for the health care bill and still be able to get elected in the fall.

How unbelievably absurd is that?  Isn’t the purpose of the representative in either Congress or the Senate to represent his/her people?  If the representative carries out their primary role (to represent) then would they really need to worry about getting elected in the Fall?   Common sense would say no, but alas it doesn’t seem that common sense or pure representation play a roll in this health care debate.

It seems that term limits might be a step in the right direction.