I’ve gotten countless emails and Facebook updates from friends and activists about the health-care reform bill staggering its way through Congress. On one side are the people asking me to support its passage; these people include my good friend Barack Obama and sometimes his pal Harry Reid, who write and email me frequently, in fact more frequently than people who actually know me by name. Also on this side are what I’ll call party regulars. On the other side stands just about everyone I know.

Last week, and no, I don’t remember the date, I decided I was against the bill. “Inalterably against” was I think the way I put it. I don’t know the date, but I do know the circumstance:  It was after Joe Lieberman got everything he wanted. Although it isn’t even remotely about Lieberman for me, I do have to say that if Lieberman were in favor of the Earth continuing to spin around the sun, I would opt for eternal darkness, because surely that would have to be better. As I put on my Facebook status that day, “Lee Wochner hates Joe Lieberman. Not because he disagrees with Joe Lieberman (disagreeing is fine), and not because of Joe Lieberman’s principles, but because Joe Lieberman has no principles.” Not much to add to that, except the comment this elicited from one respondent:  “But he does have one principle: do whatever is best for Joe Lieberman.” Right.

But again, that’s not why I’m opposed. And I’m sorry to be on the other side of the 31 million or 42 million or whatever the latest number is of people without health insurance who would suddenly get it, but here it is:  I just can’t swallow on the idea that people will have to buy insurance. The notion of being forced to buy insurance raises ugly images of a mishmashed “Brave New World”/”1984” society wherein the proles are forced to buy more to support specific industries and their elites. Every day we move further along that track, and it’s just not right. Even if it didn’t benefit insurance companies (which, obviously, it will), this component of the health-care legislation just isn’t right. In fact, given the nation’s inciting incident, it seems patently un-American. (And please don’t compare it with having to buy auto insurance. As the Department of Motor Vehicles is always keen on reminding us, driving is a privilege, not a right. Living, on the other hand, seems like a right.)

So there it is.  The reprehensible teabaggers and I have found common ground. I’m not happy about it. But at least, unlike them, I’m not acting in lockstep with my cohort.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 7:40 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.