Well... it's not perfect for those on the left and those on the right are incensed, but the fact is that the Health Care bill will soon be law. From my personal point of view, this is excellent news as I really believed that there was NO possibility of legislation being passed in Americas broken political system, especially with the 'softly-softly' approach of the democrats and the constant howl of 'filibuster' by feckless Republicans with no real ideas of their own.

The debate and legislation however have been disappointments in many ways. Firstly, anyone telling me that the Republics should somehow be rewarded for their behavior over this past year in November needs to get their head examined. They have been elected to government, which means that no matter which side of the fence they are on, they need to work with others in order to govern. They have shown their true colors - they are completely united against anything anti-corporate and/or pro-American man in the street. I think have behaved cowardly, obnoxiously and should be punished for their total lack of doing any real work at all other than shouting a looking rather silly (Tea Party... snicker).

The Democrats on the other hand should likewise be punished by those who elected them as they have simply failed to see that they represented 'change' and the majority opinion in the country and should stop pandering to this loud and aggressive right wing movement. In every US-wide poll Americans come across as progressive on almost all issues, but the view from here in Europe is narrow minded pettiness simply due to the power of corporations and lobby groups.

They promised a change from that. They promised they would oversee sweeping changes to the manipulation and reckless behavior of Financial Institutions who today continue to do what they did before the crash... without any real changes. Basically the Democrats have shown that they can only lead and get things done by finding 'common ground' in places where the majority of people don't see it... a 100 dollar fine per day if an insurance agency doesn't cover someone with a pre-existing condition?? Seriously?? Did they not ever work in a corporation before?? There is a whole new expansion of risk assessors coming to town to do calculations on how much you might cost with your condition versus how much the fine would potentially be if you weren't covered. A 100,000 dollar life saving operation versus you living for another year ($36,500)... easy choice daddy-o... God grant the US a third party soon, lord knows they need it!

Anyhow, on the most positive note I can muster, congratulations on what I see as a step forward. The most conservative of you will think this is a disaster... today. But once you actually benefit from the system your mind will change. All it takes is one loved one to not go bankrupt, to not be denied coverage or to be helped in some way for you to understand what the rest of the western world already knows, already has and would fight to the death to keep. Even the most conservative of conservative European or Canadian politician would never dare to run on a policy of dismantling health care... it would be political suicide for good reason. Personally I have never moved to the US despite a plethora of job offers and the #1 reason was health care... so today is a brighter day, if not quite sunny yet.

Soul