What Does the Mid-Term Election Mean?

It never fails. After every election the pundits sit around wringing their hands agonizing over the results and what it all means. In part, it is because they need something to talk about. In part, their livelihood depends on adding their input.

It also always happens that the winners try to read as much as possible into the election results. They want to convince themselves and the public at large that they have a mandate to push their agenda. The losers try to downplay the outcome and find as little reason to change direction as they can. Wherever possible the losers will blame other factors rather than admit a repudiation of their policies.

It falls to the electorate at large to separate the truth from the spin. Sadly, the electorate is generally so fed up with campaigning they don't want to think about it any more. They would much rather move on to their holiday shopping.

What do I think the Republican gains and Democrat loses in the most recent election means? Several things:

• Obviously, it will be harder for Democrats to push reform and investment in our nation's future. It will require substantially greater effort to find common ground with the Republicans for anything to be accomplished legislatively. Progress will have to take smaller steps.
• Since the number of political moderates in office is being reduced, compromise will be more difficult than before. Immigration policy reform is probably dead.
• The United States was not exempted from the current global phenomenon. The general result of this election was predictable even a year ago as one by one western democracies suffered loses for whichever group was in power. The global economic recession took a toll on the leadership in power in country after country no matter who was in charge when the downturn began.
• The predictability of this outcome vindicates the significant push the Obama administration made for major reform in the most difficult areas in the first few months of the term. The best (perhaps only) window of opportunity was in the first two years.

As a final comment on the predictability of the election outcome, I actually had the majority of this blog entry written in my head months ago. I even considered posting it well ahead of election day. But, I held out for the chance that I could be wrong.

That's Wade's two cents.

Wade Houston
November 7, 2010

Thank You for Health Care Reform

Health care reform is now law. Thank you! Thank you to all those who had a part in making that happen. Thank you to Presidents Truman, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Clinton and others who urged health reform they never got passed during their administrations, but they kept the discussion going.

Thank you to the Congressional Representatives and Senators who voted for the passage. Thank you to President Obama for his exhaustive support. Thank you to all who lobbied, blogged and campaigned for its passage. Thank you to all the citizens who called or wrote their Senators and Representatives in favor of its passage. Thank you to those who gave money to get the message out.

The week the bill was signed into law I paid a visit to my Congressman's local office to thank him for his vote.

The Gospel of Luke reports an account of Jesus healing ten men of leprosy, but only one of them bothered to come back and thank him. I don't want to be one of those who fail to express gratitude.

So, this entry is dedicated to thanking all of you.

That's Wade's Two Cents.

Wade Houston
April 18, 2010

Health Care Battle Not Over

The battle for health care reform is not over -- far from it. Like many others in this country, I feel the current bill before the House of Representatives does not go far enough in reforming our health care system. At the top of my list of dissatisfactions is the fact that some of its most important provisions don't even take effect before 2014. Even so, I think it helps to draw an analogy from the sport of mountain climbing.

If ever there was a task that could be compared with scaling a monstrous mountain, health care reform has got to be that task. Even expert climbers scale difficult mountains in stages. At certain points along they way, they may even drive a piton into the side of the mountain to fasten a safety rope to protect themselves from falling back below that point. In recent years, there has been an emphasis on "clean climbing" which uses no pitons, but even the clean climbing devotees acknowledge that the most difficult mountains still require piton use.

Passing the current health care reform bill represents driving a piton into the health care reform mountain. It is not the summit, but it preserves the progress to this point. There is still much more to be done, but it is dangerous to continue without a safety rope. Clearly, we have come as far as we dare without locking in the progress to this point. The current health care reform legislation needs to pass.

That's Wade's two cents.


Wade Houston
March 20, 2010