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Richard Carnes: A bundle of misfits

Richard Carnes
Vail, CO, Colorado
newsroom@vaildaily.com

Please Lord, in the best atheistic plea I can muster, please let it be over.

I am attempting to finish this column on Sunday night, and the final decision for the latest greatest issue to impact whether the planet continues to rotate seems to have passed.

At least I think it passed. Like whether we’ve seen the last of winter, I’m just not really sure.



I feel like Sam the Snowman (Burl Ives) shivering under my umbrella of private health insurance in fear of this Bumble Beast of legislation, only the last thing I want to hear is a singing sales pitch for silver and gold (Glenn Beck does that enough already).

The American public of Rudolph is trying to grow a set and once again be a leading country in a progressive world, but as opposed to showing the way, this flashing red light of misinformation and misplaced fear keeps blocking our view.

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The Democrats are Hermey, the misfit dentist wannabe who selfishly desires to bring free dental care to the entire North Pole, while Yukon Cornelius (the Republicans) and his pious pickaxe of magic (which much to his repeated surprise never finds the pot of gold), will do everything possible to stop the little loser from claiming success.

In the midst of all the bickering, the lonely Isle of Misfit (uninsured) toys sits waiting patiently for those they have no control over to decide their medical future of fate.

Inane Christmas movie metaphors aside, I just want the entire issue to be done, but fear reality will keep it on page one until something more important takes precedent, like say, perhaps, Americans exploding in Afghanistan for no apparent reason.

The worst part about the entire health care issue, at least in my eyes, is how both parties care more about next November’s election than what is best for America. Their biggest talking point was to warn the other that if they voted “wrong,” they would not be re-elected.

How selfishly sad.

A myopic view tells me 32 million Americans will have some level of health care that they did not have before, and no Americans will ever again be turned down for pre-existing conditions. On the other hand, my wife and I will pay more income taxes.

To paraphrase Gloria Gaynor: We will survive.

Easy for me to say, sure, because I have the exact same crystal ball that each of you are holding at this moment. But what I do know for sure is that both sides of our dysfunctional Congress will continue to claim the outcome of this vote either ruins or saves America.

One or the other. Those are our only robotic choices.

Of course, the president still needs to sign off on the Senate bill today, and all sorts of wrenches can be thrown in the spokes throughout these next few weeks, so I just don’t see it ending any time soon.

Either way, the sun came up this morning, and I’m pretty sure it will tomorrow, as well.

Richard Carnes of Edwards writes a column for the Daily. He can be reached at poor@vail.net. Comment on http://www.vaildaily.com.


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