Comments on: Sen. Brownback’s Visit

By: Kevin Mark

Kevin Mark — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 05:23:06 +0000

as others have noted, thanks for the balanced coverage of what happened. It is too scarce. Our media fails at this. The senator did not seem to be there for any input, just a touchy-feely moment with his constituents. I’d like to know who he WOULD listen to, if not his own people, oh, I forget his people dont pay him with trips and gifts. His imaginary opening speech: ‘thank you all for coming here, so I can spend a few minutes to make you feel good about electing me and I have no intention of listening to most of what you say’ I guess I’m a bit of a cynic about these things. and the ‘I wish I could do more’ bit, well exactly who has the power to vote on the issue buddy? uh, you do? duh.

By: Canadian MD

Canadian MD — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:39:52 +0000

“Universal health care is implemented in all industrialized countries, with the exception of the United States.[1] It is also provided in many developing countries.” – (Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_health_care)

So, how could “I wish we could do more” be anything but an irresponsible cop-out?

By: Jim F

Jim F — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:24:58 +0000

‘I wish we could do more’ is not a crock, nor is it a copout.

It represents the mature understanding that every penny of every material benefit that the that the government provides to one citizen comes from out of the pocket of another.

As would most of us, I’m sure Sen. Brownback would probably like free, top-notch health care for everyone. But he realizes that ‘free for everyone’ isn’t really free. And as a civil society, some level of minimum care regardless of the ability to pay is universally expected, at some level of benefit, the confiscation required by the government to provide it becomes untenable both from a practical and an ethical point of view.

What one may think that level should be is extraordinarily subjective and often dependent on one’s circumstance. What that level actually is, is the result of the democratic process.

‘I wish we could do more’ is just admitting that he can’t justify the further taking of benefits from certain citizens and distributing them to others.

By: someone else

someone else — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 06:02:30 +0000

I wish we could do more.

That is a crock, the only reason single payer is not in the current Senate bill is because of a fear that the Democrats can’t get 60 votes. They won’t even attempt to debate the issue on the floor of the Senate because of this fear of a Republican filibuster. They could do more rather easily, they just won’t.

By: John Goerzen

John Goerzen — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:25:23 +0000

Hey, we don’t have a monopoly. Need I mention Berlusconi?

By: Buck

Buck — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 01:59:10 +0000

Thanks for reporting on the town hall, as the only
other town-hall coverage i’ve seen is either a mob
scene or, in print, reports of the mob scenes–never
what’s actually discussed–or, in your case, what the
monologue includes versus what questions bounce
harmlessly off the guest/host/moderator. Thanks
all the more for giving the foreign readers of your
blog some hope for thinking that we here in the
U.S. haven’t totally degenerated into a faction-
riven squabbling nuthouse, at least in some
quarters, even if our Congress continues to be as
feckless as ever people started actively seeking
the office

Thanks, more importantly, for giving the Senator
something to think about. It sounds to me like
you made a very good case for him questioning
whether his party-line stand isn’t at odds with his
private morality and a more just social order.
While i doubt that he and his party will ever
sacrifice their perceived anticipated political gain
for the sake of the country, nor that, were they
so willing, their political opponents would yield as
much ground as it would take to win them over,
thus sacrificing their own perceived political ad-
vantage in being able to blame the other side as
do-nothing, it’s not like God couldn’t make it hap-
pen, and maybe He’s using you to do it

By: David Fox

David Fox — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:12:46 +0000

Boy, I’ve had it up to here with politicians who think government can’t work. What a cop out!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:05:21 +0000

You guys could always stop electing people who would be considered nearly crazy in the rest of the western world, that would be a start.