Why Can't Government Get Anything Done?

The choice between doing something and doing nothing is too often answered by doing nothing. Except for the rush to war which Democrats participated in much too willingly, the eight years of the Bush administration essentially had the Democrats focusing on stopping everything the Bush administration wanted to do. Now it is the Republican party's turn to be the party of 'no'. I think the best example of the desire to do nothing can be seen in the Judiciary Committee's treatment of the nomination of Judge Sotomayor to be on the Supreme Court. Once the hearings were completed the decision was made to have a vote the following Tuesday. The vote was delayed for one week. Why? Because it could be. Procedurally, Republicans had the right to delay the vote for one week - so they did. Why would anyone want to do something today, when they could do it next week? So goes Washington.

Another problem is that it is so much easier to kill legislation than to pass it. As soon as any bill is laid upon the table it is open to criticism. It is easy to take pot shots at any new plan that is delineated. This is why health care reform as an idea is always more popular than any particular bill. It is also why Republicans don't want to put out a detailed bill of their own which would give Democrats something to attack. Using words like Socialism, government takeover, loss of your current coverage are terrific talking points that everyone can get behind. It doesn't matter if they represent truth, they get people worked up and often succeed in killing whatever legislation comes along.

Lobbyists are also hard at work to maintain the status quo and ensure their own continuing success. Returning to the subject of the vote for Supreme Court Justice, the NRA publicly announced they would go after any Senator who voted in favor of Judge Sotomayor. No subtlety there. For the NRA to be that powerful suggests we are living in dangerous times. But that is a topic for another day. Insurance companies are also working over time to kill any kind of a public option. They are afraid that a government run option could put them out of business. So there is a lot going on, but does anyone in this process have the goal of trying to craft a plan that will actually benefit consumers??

Democrats can't get their act together either. Blue Dog Democrats who represent conservative districts have to tread lightly to have a chance of being reelected in 2010. They must be seen as holding the line on spending. Liberals want to forge ahead without bipartisan support to craft a bill more to their liking. Lisa Miller in a recent Newsweek article talks about the religious left which feels the administration is not doing enough for the poor. While such a perspective is understandable, such groups seem to have little recognition of how strong the resistance is to doing even those things that are planned such as an overhaul of the health care system. The religious left may have an important prophetic role to play, but in the sausage making that is legislation they may or may not be helpful.

In the midst of this struggle, we find a minority Republican party that is tightly unified. Either they don't care about reviving their political fortunes or they believe their revival is tied to how much of the new administration's agenda they can kill. In the process truth seems to be a major casualty. The latest talking point states that the new health care plan will result in the death of seniors. Obama health care workers will be forcing people into hospices and everyone will have to have a yearly conversation about how they want to die. Apparently the sooner, the better. Actually, what is being referred to is a provision to alert patients to the option of having a Living Will, which most people would agree is a good thig. Can people putting forward these kinds of outlandish notions really be taken seriously? They fall into the category of the notion that President Obama was not born in the USA and therefore his presidency is illegitimate.

Congress is about to leave for its August recess. Health care status includes a bill just passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that seems to represent a pretty good compromise. It also includes no bill out of the Senate Finance committee which doesn't seem to be making meaningful progress. We will see a barrage of adds on both sides of the issue for the next month. Members of congress will be hard at work in their districts trying to develop momentum either for or against reform. How is the consumer going to be able to make sense of all of this? Change is not easy. Doing nothing always seems to be a safe fall back position.

However, I would submit that we have lived through eight years of an administration that has brought us to the brink of financial collapse. Those same Republicans have suddenly got religion and don't want to spend any more money. They have labeled the economic stimulus plan a failure and not a single house Republican voted for the bill. Yet while the first quarter GDP was down 6.4 %, the second quarter data just released is down only one percent. That is a pretty remarkable turnaround. More and more people are beginning to see an incipient recovery. The stock market has certainly taken notice. Unemployment is and will certainly continue to lag, but perhaps that's all the more reason to take action on health care, energy , and stimulus programs that can over time produce the jobs we need for the 21st century. Maybe it's time to take a bit of a risk. We voted for change, maybe its time to give change a chance. Otherwise we can be certain that nothing will change.