Lift The Curse....Please!!

Lift The Curse…..Please!!  There is a darkness that lies over our nation.  It seeps into all that our government endeavors to accomplish.  It divides our people and our leaders.  It is the elephant in the room whose presence dominates even when silent.  It is the dog that does not bark; casting its fierce demeanor through its mere presence.  It is the impediment to any fundamental progress in normal governing.  It is the wound that will not heal; it is the scab that is repeatedly ripped open.  It is the transgression that cannot be forgiven.  It is in everyone’s face every day and its omnipresence is undeniable.  Every day, every week, every month that goes by; its poisonous influence becomes ever more invasive and no one seems capable of looking beyond it to a new day, free of its confusion and arbitrary nature.  Can we not lift this curse of Obamacare?

Republicans are hell-bent on repeal.  Democrats are hell-bent on preservation.  Both are blinded by partisanship to the broad areas of agreement between them and the perceived political implications of reasonable compromise.  At the end of the day, is it truly as simple as Democrats admitting that it was an illegitimate child of the legislative process whose intent was noble but whose process was maddening.  The Republicans, on the other hand, must accept the pound of flesh that they have already realized from the ACA as sufficient and realize that a major overhaul that leaves fundamental principles of agreement constitutes an adequate repudiation of the original piece of legislation.  Both sides of the aisle must understand that it is not sustainable in its current form; that the individual and employer mandates are an improper intrusion into the free market; that health care must be dealt with in a serious and immediate fashion because people actually NEED it and USE it; and that it constitutes a logjam that is preventing any other effort at bipartisanship from having any prospect of success. 

Call it repeal/replace; call it revision; call it overhaul.  Just get it done!  The 2017 Project and Ed Gillespie have laid out detailed blueprints of the path to solving this dilemma.  I have long ago given up on Obama as being an honest partner in any form of legislative compromise.  But I cling to the hope that there are Democrats in the House and the Senate that will join with Republicans in an effort to put forth a veto-proof solution to the curse of Obamacare.