A Tough Love Court and a Strong Press.

or,  
Tony: Don't Be a Hero, Don't Mess Around with Our Lives.

Imagine how much better a Congress we would demand, if we had both of the above -- a smart Court not afraid to be tough, and a strong, open and honest press "checking" the elected government branches...

What if... the Court declines to "save" the ACA from the limitations of its own shoddy drafting, and instructs the IRS it must enforce the tax laws as written.  Meaning, the federal-government-run exchanges in those states that declined to establish their own, are not enough to trigger the subsidies and mandates that follow in other sections of this -- can we all agree? -- poorly crafted piece of legislation.

What if -- instead of employing liberal lawyers with fancy pedigrees to absolve the sins of their poor work product, the national press stopped spinning and making excuses and read the law for what it is:  a quickie, pushed through while Democrats had the vote before Ted Kennedy's death, that has been rightly criticized as too complex to read before passage...

What if ... we all demanded better from our Congress and representatives and refused to settle for "good enough for government work" ?  Why can't we admit they are doing a crappy job -- not just this Congress, all those "serving" over the past decade?

They passed a lousy piece of law, and you need not have a Legislative Drafting law school class under your belt to understand that.

Why save the Congressional workers from themselves?  If the Court rules honestly, and declines to strike down the IRS latter-day interpretation of reading state-established and federal-established exchanges as being equally interchangeable -- despite what the language of the law clearly defines -- who really wins?

What incentive is there for Congress to do a better job tomorrow?

If the press continues to pile on the Court -- delegitimizing their work to protect the public from the fact that the Congress is definitely failing the country -- Democrats and Republicans -- how much change do you think we will see out of Washington?

Sadly, our press has pretty much been reduced to battling ideologies at this point -- Dems and Conservatives choosing up sides and pointing fingers at the other -- and cannot be trusted to do the job of neutral evaluators sharing an honest narrative.  How will that help, by passing off the blame?

The Journolist cabal pretty much assured no honest debate would occur prior to passage, since that liberal online association of newcomer 'journolists' pretty much tamped down any non-conforming criticism in their attempts to cheerlead the bill through in their respective media outlets. They simply knew better -- those male experts of all things that Ezra Klein collected -- rather than listening to the needs of everyday Americans regarding coverage.

Where is the basic, cheap, catastrophic coverage that many healthy people would choose?  Why does a person have to sign up to pay to medicate other people's children -- a moral issue with me -- and to pay for birth control options for wealthier women like Sandra Fluke?  Where is the pool that excludes choices like theirs -- which I would not choose for myself -- in order to protect society against the catastrophic medical needs that allegedly will be passed on to society when all the healthy people are honed in on by that mythical bus, out there waiting one day to strike us all?

Pretty much, for so many healthy Americans, we got less choice;  we're covering wealthier people with pre-existing conditions who before were paying for their own needs out of their own pockets, hitting their own policy deductible limits in January; and we're on the hook for costs we don't incur, don't believe are necessary, and never voluntary agreed to assume, absent any legal mandate to control costs this way, by forcing such coverage onto all. Who speaks for us?

In many ways,
our lawmakers are a lot like our medical establishment in this country:  We medicate to treat the symptoms, not the underlying diseases.  We think money will beat smart choices, and a history of strong health.  Nope...

I'd rather have my health, than a wealthy person's money and medical issues, any day of the week.  "Your health is your wealth."  Sadly, sometimes what people do to get wealthy -- and the costs today of maintaining such a civilized lifestyle -- is ultimately not a healthy choice, for them or their families.  Tradeoffs happen;  you really can't have it all while you're still mortal.  Save yourselves or understand that you will one day pay for your poisons...

My hope is, if Congress is told to go back by the Court and re-do their work or take an "incomplete" on the assignment to cure the ills of our current healthcare insurance setup, they will take the job seriously this time and stop blaming others when they fail us.

It's all on Washington's plate, and they really can't force the rest of us to eat their shit sandwich and then pick up the tab too.