Publisher's notebook
Time to turn the page
Publisher Bruce Trogdon

"Turn, Turn, Turn (To Everything There Is a Season)." That was my advice to myself for our Weekly Poll, which has been stuck lately on our own version of "As the World (of Donald Trump) Turns."

That sage advice was actually written by Pete Seeger in the late 1950s. Which, unfortunately, is my era. The Birds, of course, are the ones that really made it famous back in 1965. Actually, they actually got some of their lyrics from the book of Ecclesiastes (3:1-8) in the Bible. But I digress.

Our Weekly Online Poll is now turning with the season since spring has arrived. And what does spring mean? Baseball! This week's question is will the Cleveland Indians win the 2017 World Series? Go to our website and vote, help us turn the page.

Well, you know me, policy wonk that I am. I haven't totally turned the page, not yet. Not until I give the same advice to President Trump that I gave myself. To everything - turn, turn, turn. There is a season - turn, turn, turn. And a time to every purpose under heaven.

That includes health care. Don't turn away from fixing it. You are right. Obamacare is broken, and has been from day one. It was a terrible piece of legislation passed without a single Republican vote.

Just like yours (or Paul Ryan's) would have been. A terrible piece of legislation passed without a single Democratic vote. Health care is too important to all Americans to treat it so cavalierly (c'mon you know what I mean, not Cleveland Cavalierly).

Turn away from the shameless partisan politics on both sides. This is a time to cast away stones. A time to gather stones together.

Turn to the American people. Get real. Get sensible. Like you have to be as a businessman. The fact is that our health care system is broken because the politicians on both sides are not looking out for the American people. They just like to have the partisan issue to get votes from their hard core constituents. And money. From constituents and lobbyists.

Donald, you said you were above that. So do what your instincts tell you. Face the facts. The day is coming when we will have a dual health care system. It is. Republicans need to face facts.

We aren't a country that will let people die in the streets, and we don't want to be. I think you know that, you talked about it during the campaign. One way or the other, we are paying for the uninsured already. Mostly in ridiculously high premiums for working middle-class Americans.

Stop listening to the politicians. The time is now for the dreaded "single payer." I am talking about a reformed Medicaid that pushes costs down. One that is available to all Americans.

You can make Republicans fall in line by doing what has to be done to make paying for such universal Medicaid feasible. Things like making able-bodied people work to be eligible. In our Online Poll last week, 72.5 percent of our readers agreed with that.

People then would have the option of buying premium high level plans. These would be provided by private health insurance companies on the free market, for those willing and able to pay for it.

Let the Democrats whine that it is not "fair." Like it's not fair that your neighbor has a bigger house. This is America. Go work your butt off and pay for your own better plan if you want to.

Make the politicians in both parties vote. Go to the wall (not the Mexican wall) to force the partisan politicians of both parties to vote against it. At their own peril.

It is a time to kill (Obamacare). It is a time to heal (America).

It will be a time to weep for all the politicians who stand in your way of doing what is right for the health of all Americans. It will then be a time to laugh at all your naysayers in the media.

I swear it's not too late.