irresponsible governance

Today the House voted to repeal the health care reform act. That was no surprise. The Republicans had promised to do just that. They voted unanimously. That was no surprise. Depending on how you spin it, either the Republican Party has done a much better job than the Democrats at working together OR they have completely destroyed any options of diversity of thought within their party. What also isn't a surprise but deeply saddens me is that they still have not offered any real solutions to the massive problems we are facing. It is irresponsible to go into office without a plan other than to dismantle what is there. It is irresponsible to claim to govern when all you have are plans to say, "no." Indeed, it is irresponsible to run for office when you have no positive vision or plan for solving the problems we face. It is even more irresponsible to use emotionally laden terms and perhaps even dishonest data, especially while not having a positive plan.

Now, we know that the Senate will not pass the repeal and even if they did, the president would veto the bill. So... if the legislators are doing this as some cynical theater and feel no need to propose real solutions then they are even more irresponsible and should be ashamed of themselves.

The problems are real. Death panels that work for insurance companies regularly denied coverage to needy people when they became too ill and threatened profitability. Families struggling to get by lost insurance coverage at the whims of bean counters. Many people lived without insurance coverage and so only had access to the most expensive and least effective kind of care - emergency care. Increasing medical costs balloon the deficit and cripple the economy. If all the Republicans can offer is, "no," then they are being irresponsible and should be held accountable for their cynical and destructive actions.