It hasn’t been even a day yet and I’m already sick of the refrain I’m hearing about the Democrats losing the Senate seat in Massachusetts yesterday: “Massachusetts has sent a message” and everyone seems to think that the message is “Americans don’t want this healthcare reform.” Typical in this so-called analysis is the announcement by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), who receives my award for the Most Self-Serving Grandstanding Weenie of the Day. As the NYTimes reports:
And after the results were announced, one centrist Democratic senator, Jim Webb of Virginia, called on Senate leaders to suspend any votes on the Democrats’ health care legislation until Mr. Brown is sworn into office. The election, he said, was a referendum on both health care and the integrity of the government process.
Translation: “I don’t want to vote on a bill I supported if it’s going to get me booted out of office, so I will pretend to have integrity with this noble rhetoric even as I am chicken-shit scared to show some integrity by continuing to support a cause that is bigger than me and that I believe in.” What a self-serving prick. Explain to me how 54,713 people (the swing) who voted in Massachusetts — a state with 98% healthcare coverage under a state plan — constitutes a “referendum on health care.” To me the “message” is: “We’re already covered here in Massachusetts so why should we vote to subsidize the rest of the nation? Screw you all.” Which brings me to the real message, which is: this election result and Mr. Webb’s reaction are manifestations of fundamental American self-centrism. Why in the hell should I, comfortable in my Boston suburbs home and state-subsidized healthcare, support healthcare reform for those less fortunate than me in some other city in some other state somewhere? Why should I, as a US Senator with cushy healthcare coverage, show loyalty to the cause if it means political suicide? (Note to Mr. Webb: standing up for what you know is the right thing to do even as you know it will bring an end to your political career is far more noble than your sanctimonious grandstanding).
I will repeat: the real message here has nothing to do with healthcare or anger about Washington or displeasure with the Democratic Congress or Obama’s performance. The message is the same as it ever was — Americans are fundamentally self-centered and proud of it. To be otherwise — other-centered — somehow leads down a slippery slope of socialism. And yet Americans (excepts perhaps the hardcore solitary survivalists) all want to enjoy the benefits of living in a free society, but gripe about having to pay for it. Well, it’s not just the military that secures our freedoms; it’s thinking and caring beyond one’s own self (and immediate self-interest, such as one’s pocketbook) that builds healthy societies. Oh wait, but that sounds so socialistic. Help, I’m slipping….
