An act of arrogance

[gwd-scouter]

Senator Mitch McConnell speaking on the senate floor during the healthcare debate this morning says that the American people don't want this bill and passing it would be an act of arrogance. OK, maybe. Why then is it not an act of arrogance to go against the voice of the American people who by majority want us out of Afghanistan?

 

Just curious.

[John-in-KC]

What I'd like is for everyone in Congress, on both sides of the aisle, to stop using their ideologies...

 

... and instead, start using their heads ...

 

Want to reduce the amount of "drive-by" malpractice? LOSER PAYS. PLAINTIFF MUST GO TO TRIAL.

 

Want to spread the risk? Single National Actuarial Pool. We're all in it, and make it the only pool health insurers can use.

 

Want to spread the risk? Require States, as a condition of receiving Medicaid funds, to implement MUST HAVE health insurance.

 

I've said enough on Afghanistan in other threads.

[evmori]

John,

 

Congress using their heads? Ha! Never gonna happen!

[CalicoPenn]

The real act of arrogance is Mitch McConnel lying on the floor of the Senate claiming the American people don't want it when polls show the majority of the American people want it.

[scoutldr]

Rasmussen poll, July 2009: 53% of Americans oppose congressional health care reform.

[Nike]

I think it was in Federalist #10 that the authour debated with himself whether a Congressman was a representative of the people and so should do as the people directly wished or was elected to exercise his best judgement. I go with six of the first and seven of the second. Sometimes we need the bad medicine and other times it is just stupid to go agaisnt the will of the people.

 

What our Congress really needs is wisdom.

[Eagle92]

Been a long time since I read Federalist Papers, but I thought the purpose of the House of Reps was to represent the will of the people, hence being elected every 2 years, while the Senate was the slow deliberate body that exercised their best judgment while representing their state, hence they were originally appointed by the state government and for a 6 year period.

[Nike]

In the age of the 24 hour news cycle and instant messaging, no one can adequately represent the ever changing "will of the people" anymore. The people don't know what they want, other than as much as possible for themselves.

 

[Eagle92]

Haven't read deToucquville, in toto, only read quotes from him, but I believe he said that the republic will last until the politicians learn that they can buy the people's votes using their own[people's own] money.

 

Also another who had seen the fall of a previous republic, if memory serves, stated that all the citizens wanted was "bread and circuses."

 

Why does those quotes seem so applicable today.

[Beavah]

Yah, been around a lot of politicians.

 

Yeh either get arrogant or shallow 99% of da time. Usually both.

 

Most of 'em get all caught up in that notion of people thinkin' that they're bigwigs, when actually shyster lobbyists are thinkin' that they're "marks."

 

Da best of the lot are the ones who aren't afraid to hire smart people and listen to 'em. The worst of the lot are da ones who surround themselves with sycophants and live in their own cocktail party / echo chamber universe.

 

Da funniest are when the worst of the lot start blusterin' about the others bein' arrogant or shallow.

 

Beavah

 

[Kahuna]

July Zogby poll: 52% against, 40% for the bills as they were at the time. Zogby is no conservative.

[Oak Tree]

I didn't think that the quote about the fact that democracy cannot last came from deTocqueville, but I couldn't remember where it did come from. Turns out it's apparently not from anyone of historical significance. It's usually attributed to Alexander Tytler, but that's an urban legend.

 

http://www.lorencollins.net/tytler.html

 

The bread-and-circuses quote does come from a Roman poet, Juvenal, from circa A.D.100, although Rome had not yet fallen.

[scoutldr]

In the interest of fairness, I would be interested in seeing impartial data which disproves the above polls.

[skeptic]

It all depends on of whom you are asking the questions, and what the questions really are. I would suspect that a simple query to most people as to whether or not medical care in the country needs to be improved, especially insurance, you would get a yes in a very large percentage. But, if you ask about the current bill, your results will be a lot different. The real problem is that most of the congress critters growling and whining about how bad it is are not offering much in the way of alternatives. Even their constituents would likely be in the "something needs to be done" category.

 

So, whatever happens with this bill, hopefully they will not simply forget it should nothing come of it as it is now.

 

Maybe I am missing something; but I think I am close to the mark here.

[emb021]

Some good quotes:

 

"Democracy is nothing more then mob rule, where 51% of the people may take away the rights of the other 49%" -- Thomas Jefferson

 

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote" -- Ben Franklin.

 

"Government withou a Constitution is power without a right" -- Thomas Paine.

 

"There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." -- John Quincy Adams

 

"When the government fears the people, there is liberty; when the people fear the government, there is tyranny" -- Thomas Jefferson

 

"Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enought to take awy everything you have." -- Davy Crockett