National Health Care With 51 Votes

Late last week President Barack Obama and Democratic congressional leaders agreed to use “budget reconciliation” if necessary to jam a massive health-care bill through Congress.

Most Americans probably greeted this news with the glazed eyes and yawns that should rightfully accompany any discussion of “the federal budget process” longer than 30 seconds. But this decision is a deeply troublesome attempt to circumvent the normal and customary workings of American democracy.

It’s a radical departure from congressional precedent, in which budget rules have been designed and used to reduce deficits, not expand the size of government. And it promises bitter divisiveness under an administration that has made repeated promises to reach across the partisan divide.

Reconciliation was established in 1974 as a procedure to make modest adjustments to mandatory spending such as farm programs, student loans and Medicare that were already well established in law. Over the past 35 years, it has been used only 22 times — and three of those bills were vetoed. There are good reasons it has been used so rarely.

Ramming speed! You’re going to eat the Bonkey dream version of socialized medicine, with zero Republican input.

/and because of the outcome of the last two elections, there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop it