Now, a more self-evident statement may never have graced this space (and that's saying something), but still -
I look at the stance Republicans in Congress have taken on the healthcare reform bill and marvel at their obtuseness - and recognize it for the gift that it is.
See, it's like this:
I'm not gonna pretend the bill in its current, Senate-extruded form isn't a massive giveaway to the nation's healthcare insurance giants - a group as generally worthy of disdain as almost any - but the fact is, the bill also will do good for a large number of people. And by "people," I mean the flesh-and-blood kind, the kind that can actually, you know, vote, not the legalistic kind that can only ruin your credit rating, pollute Prince William Sound or write self-serving legislation.
And - and - the bill is a foot in the door, a shifting of the Overton window, an acknowledgment that government support and regulation of healthcare for Americans of all ages, from all economic backgrounds, is important.
The significance of that, I believe, is what has yet to become evident:
The first meaningful assault on Fortress Shock Doctrine since Ronald Reagan's blitzkrieg attack on PATCO has begun. Mind you, this particular healthcare bill is not our Normandy, not yet. More like our Sicily. But it demonstrates what's coming. We've established a beachhead. And don't think Big Business in this country doesn't recognize this battle for what it is; this transcends healthcare. Healthcare just happens to be the beach we landed on first.
The idea that government has a central role in improving people's lives - an idea that has been on the defensive in this country since Reagan uttered his famous "nine words" - has now regained its footing and has begun its fight back from humiliated, discredited laughingstock to serious position to, ultimately, conventional wisdom of the "Well, duhh!" variety.
That is the "meta" surrounding the passage of this (currently deeply flawed) healthcare bill: it represents the most significant reversal to date of - ironically - Chicago School economics in this country since Reagan took office.
But there's more: in opposing this bill to a person, Republicans are laying themselves open to serious damage when the bill's benefits to real people become manifest.
Which I find amusing.
Under BushCheney, Republicans in Congress had no problem ramming through legislation that nakedly benefited no breathing Americans except those making more than, oh, say, $1,000,000 a year. Bankruptcy Bill, anyone? Repeal of the estate tax? Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans?
Republicans' results at the polls since then have not generally been favorable to them, as people have figured out on which side their bread is buttered.
But that won't daunt the Rs: damn the health clinics, full steam ahead to unalloyed corporatism!
Such purity of ideology means that now, when they actually have an extraordinary opportunity to support legislation that would be a tremendous boon to their corporate masters AND would benefit real, breathing American voters, Republicans - like the monkey with his hand in the cookie jar - are trapped. They can't let go of the idea that only Big Business and the wealthiest Americans must benefit from the actions of government.
Thus, in the entire United States Congress, out of 217 Republican members - 40 in the Senate and 177 in the House - exactly one - one - voted in favor of healthcare reform.
What a colossal mistake for them.
For which I am grateful.