Ever been to South Bend Indiana? Lovely Midwest town… Notre Dame University…the Studebaker National Museum. In the summer when the college kids go home, there are no lines at the local Jewel food store or at the downtown stop lights for that matter.
I have a swell idea. Why don’t we turn the healthcare debate over to the citizens of South Bend. Whatever they decide will be binding on the 308,487,535 US citizens who don’t call South Bend their home. Think of how much more streamlined the process would be. There probably aren’t more than a couple of dozen lobbyists who live there. No filibusters, no parliamentary maneuvering, no party lines…just a simple up or down vote. If the yeas have it we get healthcare reform but without all the pork. If the Nays have it we go on with our current system, warts and all.
Absurd you say. Nonsense, undemocratic, heresy! The thought of letting 109,425 citizens decide for the rest of us is simply ludicrous. Well, if the entire population of South Bend actually voted (work with me here) they would equal the total margin of victory that Scott Brown enjoyed in the Massachusetts Senate race that rocked the political world. And the election of a Republican Senator from Massachusetts gives the Grand Old Party the 41st vote they need to block any healthcare reform changes coming out of the conference committee charged with the task of reconciling the Senate and House bills.
That means that if even one sentence, one word, one punctuation mark is changed, the Democrats would need 60 votes again in the Senate. And Republicans are daring them to try it. So, it looks like just shy of 110,000 folks in a smallish East Coast state are going to determine the future of healthcare reform in America. Our democracy is becoming as fragile as a china tea cup (no reference to the Tea Party Coalition intended).
While democracy in the long run is the most stable form of government, in the short run, it is among the most fragile.
Madeleine Albright
