Watching the Injury Happen

This strange health care event continues on. Like a plane that has lost its air pressure it flies on, a death ship, everyone watching silently, everyone knowing the lifeless thing must at some point come to earth and be dealt with. The press worries about process, about precedent and protocol. The politicians have become distracted and speak strangely. The citizens watch with awe and horror. There is debate over a bill that hasn't been written; there is speculation over the effects of unknown causes. Most noticeable, there is this weird urgency, this rush to achieve this unknown thing. This elephant must deliver this malignant mouse.

This is still a different land, different from others. It still does not accept organization over independence, security over possibility. And they have no faith, no confidence in the self proclaimed experts and leaders. Something remains of that spirit and energy that created itself in Philadelphia, that expressed itself in the settling of the West, that prepared itself for the challenges of the twentieth century in the crucible of the Civil War. But how much is left? Will a courageous, noble people boil up or will we be left with just an angry, bitter distillate?

The relationship between the public and their rulers has been incrementally changing over the years. This awkward political event may reset how the people see their government--but only if it changes how they see themselves.