by Interim Colorado Senator Michael Bennet is obviously an idealist, as his recent interview with CNN indicates. His response to the question that many vulnerable representatives are asking themselves gives it away:
“If you get to the final point and you are a critical vote for health care reform and every piece of evidence tells you if you support the bill you will lose your job, would you cast the vote and lose your job?” CNN’s John King asked Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado on Sunday’s State of the Union.
“Yes,” Bennet bluntly and simply replied.
Good for Bennet. His way of thinking is exactly what is needed in Congress, a sort of hard-headed, “This is what I believe, re-elect me or not”, idealism that exemplifies the best in American leadership.
Unfortunately, it happens that Bennet is on the wrong side of this issue.
Make no mistake, government-run health care will be a disaster for all parties involved. Just as Medicare has been an expensive, inefficient system that been in trouble practically since the day it was implemented, a nationalized health care system will reduce health care quality for the majority of Americans while raising taxes on these same people.
But Bennet’s blunt statement of his position gives me faint hope: Perhaps if this rookie senator is willing to put his hard-won position at risk for what he believes is right – wrong or not – then perhaps there is hope that others in Congress will do the same, even if it means crossing swords with the Democrats’ leadership.
That’s not too much to ask. In fact, this is really all we ask of our representatives, that they tell us plainly who they are prior to being elected and they perform their duties thusly while in office.
