But it's what the Founding Fathers wanted!

I really don't want to talk about health care reform anymore. The case for reform surely still needs to be made clearly and pointedly, as the seven and a half-hour health care summit highlighted yesterday. That said, until something happens in response to all the talk, it's useless to continue pondering the outcome- at least for someone who has no effect on legislature and legislation. So I'm done specifically ranting about health care reform for now.

I don't even really want to get into yesterday's summit, as I came away from it impressed by certain parts but still largely unsurprised and disappointed. The Democrats were pretty solid, some of the Republicans even made good points, but most of all there was Obama at the front- taking all ideas into account, generally not bothering to separate the good ideas from the bad, and not bringing up the progressive points of the health care bill that had already been trashed. Disappointing on his account, but unsurprising. The same can be said of the Democrats who, while solid on what they said, also didn't raise the issue of the Senate bill being way too watered down and lacking in progressive ideas. They didn't challenge Obama that there needed to be a stronger bill- while the Repubs continued to say the bill was too strong. All in all, I felt the whole thing was okay- but not nearly pointed enough (largely thanks to Obama)- but what matters is what happens now that the summit is over. So we're back to hypothetical situations until Congress makes their move. I'll continue watching the scene in case anything interesting happens, but right now, I'm counting on more of a rerun.

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Some important points that I want to bring up that aren't specific to current legislation but still play a role in the health care talks are those that deal with Republican claims on the American health care system. There are a few key talking points that get repeated no matter how they're discussed and rebutted. They include:

• The US has the best health care system in the world.

Jesus, how many times do we have to keep coming back to this one? Health care is great in the US for those that can afford the best care. Republican politicians keep touting stories of foreign heads of state coming to the US for health care as if it doesn't matter that many Americans don't have access to those same services; and their answer to the fact that the World Health Organization ranked the US 37th in overall health care performance is just repetition of their previous claim. The reason this pesky little talking point won't go away is because people are taking fools who use it as a basis to oppose health care reform seriously.

• The health insurance industry should stay private in order to preserve free markets.

This is a double-headed claim that seeks to preserve the status quo of private insurance and beat down any attempt to provide competition to it through a government option for the American people. When pressed to explain the validity of this position, proponents often go on to say that the private insurance industry has few problems, generally with reference to the first talking point above, and that with a few tweaks, private insurance needs no other competition than itself. That could be true, but it hasn't proven itself to be so yet, especially with current skyrocketing increases in private insurance premiums. So what's the problem with having the government offer an alternative? Of course you've probably heard this by now, but giving the government the power to offer another option would be a government takeover! You as an American citizen deserve the right to not have an option for cheaper health care!

• A government option for health insurance offered to the American people is not only an encroachment on the free market, it's against what the Founding Fathers and the Constitution stand for.

A more general point, taken up by Libertarians and Republicans alike, and used in a number of cases outside of just health care. Not only is it a vague claim to make, it also gets used in so many situations where it doesn't make sense. This essay explains what a lot of people seem to be missing: the Founding Fathers were wealthy land speculators and slave-owners intent on furthering their own interests and tamping down democracy. Democratic ideals arose through the will of the people more as a whole, because it was they as American citizens that were largely getting left out of the governing process in the first place.

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Other more general prevailing sentiments of the opponents to current health care reform legislation are spread out through many of the arguments: the current system works, government takeover, freedom, free markets, and billowing costs are common themes found. The majority of the arguments from these premises are straight BS for one reason or another (or many)- the problem with Obama is that he has a problem with flat-out calling out the lies and worthless arguments and focusing on the important issues. Republicans hear "philosophical disagreement" and continue repeating inanities that should be slapped down and not taken seriously from then on. How else are you going to move forward on anything?

And I've been stuck on this for way too long myself. Okay, I'm done. For now. Moving forward...