U.S. Moves Out Of The Early 20th Century

With tonight's historic House of Representatives 219-212 vote for the Health Care Reform bill that's been brewing for about a year now (but don't tell Republicans that, as they're characterizing its passage as an example of something being "rammed through Congress"), America seems well on its way to taking one giant leap closer to the rest of the industrialized world (and parts of the developing world) by offering almost-universal health care to its citizens. The fact that so many denizens of that country could still believe that universal health care will inevitably lead to ruin, when there are literally dozens of examples showing just the opposite and no examples of what they're afraid of, speaks volumes about how backwards some segments of the population have become. Growing up in the 60s, I could never have fathomed that America would fall so far behind the rest of the world, and yet here they are... the last developed country to provide affordable health care to its people! Wow.

At any rate, it's terrific to see such an amazing turnaround from just two short months ago. That's a huge testament to President Obama's involvement, as well as some incredible work by people like Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I predict that this will become an assumed "American right" within a few years, and those who opposed it will find ways to make it sound as if they supported it all along. Canada without universal health care, for example, is just about impossible for most of us to imagine. Thank goodness Tommy Douglas had the strength of his convictions when we needed it most!