Publisher's notebook
We're off to see The Wizard
Publisher Bruce Trogdon
Health care was the subject of our Weekly Online Poll last week and it caused a spike in readers going to our website to vote. Obviously, this is a subject that is near and dear to just about everybody’s heart. Except the Republicans in Congress.
They don’t seem to have a heart.
Congressional Republicans are basically acting like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. “If I only had a heart.” Unfortunately, the Tin Man Republicans don’t seem to have ears, either. Well, maybe they have ears but theirs are apparently just tin ones. If they had real ones, they would be hearing their constituents better. In fairness, it is hard to hear very well when you spend most of your time sitting with your lobbyist friends and other politicians at Washington, D.C. supper clubs.
My advice to Republicans: get a hearing aid, Tin Men. Your constituents want this health care mess fixed. Period. They want decent health care for themselves and their families, and they don’t want to let other people just die in the streets either. According to last week’s Post poll, 53.3 percent of our readers said that they would be willing to pay some kind of higher taxes in exchange for some kind of national health care for all.
A recent survey from the Economist/YouGov found that a majority of Americans support “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.” Similarly, a poll from Morning Consult/Politico showed that a plurality of voters support “a single payer health care system, where all Americans would get their health insurance from one government plan.”
“Here we are, seven months into this year, and yet they’ve not passed this (repeal and replace) bill,” said Ohio’s own former House Speaker John Boehner last week. “Now, they’re never ... going to repeal and replace Obamacare. And the American people have gotten accustomed to it. Governors have gotten accustomed to this Medicaid expansion, and so trying to pull it back is really not going to work.”
It is easy to have the courage to speak the truth after you are out of office. But Boehner is right. The public, as usual, is way out in front of the politicians in knowing that our health care system is a mess and getting worse day by day. They allowed Obamacare to pass because it was already a mess before Obama. Obamacare made it worse and now it is dying, becoming an even bigger mess. Presidential and Congressional dithering from both parties has turned a bad mess into an impending disaster.
As you know, the Tin Man was not the only character living in the Land of Oz. One of his best buddies was the Scarecrow. “If I only had a brain.” Congressional Democrats seem to me to be the Scarecrow in our Washington Land of Oz. They do have a heart, or at least they claim to. If they had a brain they would know that health care costs a lot of money and you can’t just throw an unlimited amount at it without managing the costs.
Both are friends of the Cowardly Lion. “If I only had the nerve.” Basically, our leaders seem to be acting like cowardly lions. They aren’t brave enough to tell their people the truth about our health care problems. They only tell us what we want to hear.
Many of us started to think that maybe this whole mess could be fixed by the reputed Wizard of Oz who lives in the Emerald City (AKA Washington, D.C.). So Tin Man, Scarecrow and all of the Cowardly Lions headed off to see The Wizard. “Because, because, because, because, because ... because of the wonderful things he does.”
Just like in the real Land of Oz, the Wizard turned out to be just a loud talker with a big head. Kind of like Donald Trump. Hopefully, our boys remember to take a dog like Toto to pull back the curtains. This will show that the “Wizard” is just an old man who has just been projecting a fearsome image. Hopefully he isn’t really as bad as we thought, or the media portrays him to be. Hopefully, he admits to being just a “humbug” and helps Tin Man find a heart and Scarecrow find a brain. And gives leadership to all of the cowardly lions so they can become brave enough to tackle our problems in an honest manner.
Can this really happen? Can we then just tap our shoes three times and be back in our own bedrooms in the Midwest, sleeping soundly knowing that we have good health care? Hey, we can always dream.
This week’s Post online poll continues on our journey through the Health Care Forest. “The majority of Post readers say they would pay for some sort of national health care. Which of these options for coverage would you prefer?” Go to your local Post website to cast your vote.
They don’t seem to have a heart.
Congressional Republicans are basically acting like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz. “If I only had a heart.” Unfortunately, the Tin Man Republicans don’t seem to have ears, either. Well, maybe they have ears but theirs are apparently just tin ones. If they had real ones, they would be hearing their constituents better. In fairness, it is hard to hear very well when you spend most of your time sitting with your lobbyist friends and other politicians at Washington, D.C. supper clubs.
My advice to Republicans: get a hearing aid, Tin Men. Your constituents want this health care mess fixed. Period. They want decent health care for themselves and their families, and they don’t want to let other people just die in the streets either. According to last week’s Post poll, 53.3 percent of our readers said that they would be willing to pay some kind of higher taxes in exchange for some kind of national health care for all.
A recent survey from the Economist/YouGov found that a majority of Americans support “expanding Medicare to provide health insurance to every American.” Similarly, a poll from Morning Consult/Politico showed that a plurality of voters support “a single payer health care system, where all Americans would get their health insurance from one government plan.”
“Here we are, seven months into this year, and yet they’ve not passed this (repeal and replace) bill,” said Ohio’s own former House Speaker John Boehner last week. “Now, they’re never ... going to repeal and replace Obamacare. And the American people have gotten accustomed to it. Governors have gotten accustomed to this Medicaid expansion, and so trying to pull it back is really not going to work.”
It is easy to have the courage to speak the truth after you are out of office. But Boehner is right. The public, as usual, is way out in front of the politicians in knowing that our health care system is a mess and getting worse day by day. They allowed Obamacare to pass because it was already a mess before Obama. Obamacare made it worse and now it is dying, becoming an even bigger mess. Presidential and Congressional dithering from both parties has turned a bad mess into an impending disaster.
As you know, the Tin Man was not the only character living in the Land of Oz. One of his best buddies was the Scarecrow. “If I only had a brain.” Congressional Democrats seem to me to be the Scarecrow in our Washington Land of Oz. They do have a heart, or at least they claim to. If they had a brain they would know that health care costs a lot of money and you can’t just throw an unlimited amount at it without managing the costs.
Both are friends of the Cowardly Lion. “If I only had the nerve.” Basically, our leaders seem to be acting like cowardly lions. They aren’t brave enough to tell their people the truth about our health care problems. They only tell us what we want to hear.
Many of us started to think that maybe this whole mess could be fixed by the reputed Wizard of Oz who lives in the Emerald City (AKA Washington, D.C.). So Tin Man, Scarecrow and all of the Cowardly Lions headed off to see The Wizard. “Because, because, because, because, because ... because of the wonderful things he does.”
Just like in the real Land of Oz, the Wizard turned out to be just a loud talker with a big head. Kind of like Donald Trump. Hopefully, our boys remember to take a dog like Toto to pull back the curtains. This will show that the “Wizard” is just an old man who has just been projecting a fearsome image. Hopefully he isn’t really as bad as we thought, or the media portrays him to be. Hopefully, he admits to being just a “humbug” and helps Tin Man find a heart and Scarecrow find a brain. And gives leadership to all of the cowardly lions so they can become brave enough to tackle our problems in an honest manner.
Can this really happen? Can we then just tap our shoes three times and be back in our own bedrooms in the Midwest, sleeping soundly knowing that we have good health care? Hey, we can always dream.
This week’s Post online poll continues on our journey through the Health Care Forest. “The majority of Post readers say they would pay for some sort of national health care. Which of these options for coverage would you prefer?” Go to your local Post website to cast your vote.