As we slowly work our way through the Wen Tzu, one word that keeps coming up again and again is contrivance. From the root word, contrive, it means to plan with cleverness or ingenuity; to invent or fabricate; to plan with evil intent; scheme.
At some point in each of our lives, I'm willing to bet that each of us has schemed to get something we want. However, government -- particularly here in the United States -- has elevated contrivance to an art form! In situation after situation, our government has contrived to pass laws, policies, initiatives and legislation that provides little benefit to the majority of citizens and a lot of benefit to special interests.
For example, back in the 90s Congress passed a Telecommunications Act that supposedly would spur competition and bring down costs for consumers. Of course (wink, wink), it hasn't worked out as advertised. Telephone and cable costs have not come down; in fact, upon passage, they immediately went up and they have continued to go up ever since. Needless to say, this has represented a great boon for the telecommunications industry!
In the present tense, our congressional representatives have told us time and again that they are working hard to reform our health care system. However, as the bill moves closer and closer to passage, it's taking shape as another windfall for special interests, while doing very little to help the consumer.
At the outset of the debate, we were told that universal coverage could not be passed, so the fallback position was the so-called "Public Option". As the debate continued, we were told the "Public Option" is a barrier to passage, so the new fallback position favored the "Medicare Buy-In." Just this week, we are now being told that "Medicare Buy-In" needs to be scrapped too and will be replaced by a privately-run nonprofit. I won't be surprised in the least if this fallback of a fallback of a fallback of a fallback falls through too.
When you look closely at the hatchet job being done on health care and environmental legislation in conjunction with the trillions of dollars being spent on our military escapades and Wall Street bailouts, contrivance is the only word that does these efforts justice.
At some point in each of our lives, I'm willing to bet that each of us has schemed to get something we want. However, government -- particularly here in the United States -- has elevated contrivance to an art form! In situation after situation, our government has contrived to pass laws, policies, initiatives and legislation that provides little benefit to the majority of citizens and a lot of benefit to special interests.
For example, back in the 90s Congress passed a Telecommunications Act that supposedly would spur competition and bring down costs for consumers. Of course (wink, wink), it hasn't worked out as advertised. Telephone and cable costs have not come down; in fact, upon passage, they immediately went up and they have continued to go up ever since. Needless to say, this has represented a great boon for the telecommunications industry!
In the present tense, our congressional representatives have told us time and again that they are working hard to reform our health care system. However, as the bill moves closer and closer to passage, it's taking shape as another windfall for special interests, while doing very little to help the consumer.
At the outset of the debate, we were told that universal coverage could not be passed, so the fallback position was the so-called "Public Option". As the debate continued, we were told the "Public Option" is a barrier to passage, so the new fallback position favored the "Medicare Buy-In." Just this week, we are now being told that "Medicare Buy-In" needs to be scrapped too and will be replaced by a privately-run nonprofit. I won't be surprised in the least if this fallback of a fallback of a fallback of a fallback falls through too.
When you look closely at the hatchet job being done on health care and environmental legislation in conjunction with the trillions of dollars being spent on our military escapades and Wall Street bailouts, contrivance is the only word that does these efforts justice.
Amen, Brother! If all they're going to do is force me to buy insurance I already can't afford, from the blatant bandits we call the health insurance industry, I wish they'd just scrap the whole damned thing. Eventually the pain our system causes will spread far enough that our government will have to wake up and enter the _20th_ century and catch up with the other industrialized nations of the world. Single payer is the only answer
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