A health care Mulligan may not be a bad idea...

I always am amazed at those on the left who express selective frustration that we can't have a reasonable dialogue about the issue du jour. Seems civility is a one-way street.

At the core of of their argument is an insistence that we spend precious time and energy discussing and debating an issue in which no substantive common ground exists. Constitution-loving patriots could never condone a government-funded communal health system, just as leftist utopians will not be satisfied until they get one. I simply don't believe that there's a place of compromise on nationalized health care. Medicare and Medicaid are both extremely expensive, and near bankruptcy. I'll skip reciting the lengthy list of other bloated and ineffective government programs that lawmakers are great at starting but horrible at operating. On some issues, you compromise. On others, the really important ones, you just have to win.

While I would concede that some of the town hall disruptors from our side may have violated Miss Manners' Guide to Town Hall Etiquette, their behavior is no more offensive than the proposal they are opposing. The simple fact is, we don't want more government. America is seeing ginormous and unprecedented deficits, with an economy still sputtering despite spending hundreds of billions we didn't have to get it moving. We see government taking over the banking and automotive industries. For good reason, it's scaring the crud out of us to think that the government wants to take control of medicine.

Now there's discussion of a "do-over", a Mulligan. I have mixed feelings about it. America has already shouted a collective "hell no!" and I generally get indignant when politicians have a deaf ear. But on the other hand, I largely credit the health care debate for sending President Obama's approval ratings into the tank. And if another round of "just give socialism a chance" discussions can produce similar results... I'm open to the idea. The only thing better than one Waterloo, would be two.

I can see this Congress and President getting booted. Now that would be the change I could believe in.