Was this the change we were hoping for? Backroom deals, Cornhusker kickbacks, bribes, rides in Air Force One, and a plethora of other questionable Washington procedures have left many Americans asking this question. A recent NBC News/Wall St. Journal poll put support for this health-care bill at just 36 percent. Yet Speaker Pelosi and President Obama continue to try to force this legislation on a populace that clearly does not want it to pass. What's more astounding is that not only is Washington trying to pass this health-care bill against the will of the people, but they are doing it in a manner which is unconstitutional at best and completely unethical at worst.
Speaker Pelosi and President Obama are threatening one fifth of our economy by playing Washington politics using a procedural measure that has come to be known as the ""Slaughter solution"" after Democrat Louise Slaughter of New York. The ""Slaughter solution"" will allow members of Congress to deem the Senate bill passed without actually voting on the language and instead voting on non-controversial amendments to it, thus shielding them from any potential political consequences voting for the unpopular bill may have in their home district.
This procedure was used by Republicans to pass bills that were mostly trivial in nature, and Republicans were rightly lambasted for it. Now Democrats are justifying using this measure that will have an effect on 20 percent of the economy and is tremendously unpopular because ""Republicans did it."" Just because Republicans were wrong to use it doesn't make Democrats using it right. Yet this political ploy addresses a bigger question about Democratic ethical problems and promises that have not been kept.
Health-care reform has been debated now for almost a year and many Americans have made up their mind on what they think about it. Polls show that in recent weeks the number of people who are undecided on the issue is shrinking considerably.
Yet no matter what you think about the current version of health-care reform one thing is clear, the political games that Washington is playing are wrong. The American people voted for President Barack Obama not because they thought his left wing ideology was best for the country, but thought that he and Democrats would change the way business was done in Washington. They thought that Obama would tackle the economy in a serious way and would unite Republicans and Democrats.
Well over one year later nothing could be further from the truth of what is actually going on. Questionable practices like sweetheart deals for votes such as the Cornhusker kickback and the Louisiana purchase have left many wondering what kind of ethical changes are Democrats bringing to the political landscape. Corruption and other ethical problems have plagued Democrats such as Chris Dodd for a variety of ethics charges, Charlie Rangel for tax issues, and Eric Massa for having inappropriate relationships with staffers. Now Barack Obama can't even unite members of his own party. Democrats who oppose this bill are being threatened, intimidated, and excoriated by both the president and House leadership.
This is not the change that America was hoping for. These games have been played for too long by both Republicans and Democrats, and America is sick of it. While this bodes well for Republicans in November, I fear that the changes that the Democrats are making, or failing to make, is leading our country down the wrong path. Health-care reform, cap and trade and many other policies that Democrats are seeking to enact are all, as economists such as Larry Kudlow of CNBC say, bad for the economy. After all, the biggest issue facing our country at the moment is the economy and the president and Democrats should be working with Republicans to solve those issues first, not partaking in political games and partisan bickering that does nothing to solve our health-care issues.
The health-care debate speaks to a larger issue of Democratic ethical questions and changes Democrats promised to deliver. The change that Democrats promised has not come to Washington in the form of transparency and ethics reform. Rather, the same old politics as usual attitude has persisted through this administration and in particular, this health-care debate. This must be stopped. Otherwise, our very democracy will suffer significantly.
Matt Payne is a sophomore intending to major in Chinese and economics. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
