Chris Dodd: The Health Care Bill Isn’t About The Will Of The People

The health care bill is in trouble. It’s “hanging by a thread” according to at least one observer. And that has prompted Senator Chris Dodd, courageous in his final term in office, to say that the health care bill isn’t about doing what the people want.

Health care reform is “hanging on by a thread,” and one or two votes could determine the outcome of the heavily-debated bill, Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd told CNBC Monday.
“Everyone feels, I guess, to some degree who have been for this, that they would have liked something different, and that’s not uncommon when you’re considering an issue of this magnitude,” Dodd said.
Some progressives, for example, are disappointed that the Senate bill, unlike the House version, does not include a public option, he said. Senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas are two people who voted for the bill in its original form and are now carefully watching what changes are being made.
President Obama’s administration has come under fire lately for putting too much emphasis on health care reform, causing many to question whether Democrats will retain their majority control come November. But Dodd, who is retiring this year, said it’s an issue that needed to be dealt with — otherwise it would “strangle our economy,” he said.
“If this is all about surviving politically, then we’re missing the whole purpose of what we’re supposed to be doing,” he said.

The whole purpose of what our Senators and Representatives are supposed to be doing in Washington DC, with their entourages and fancy offices and all the perks of holding office in the government of the most powerful nation on earth, is representing the will of the people.
How can you say that you are representing the will of the people when you are trying to cram through a health care bill so unpopular that public opinion polls across the nation routinely show 2/3′s opposition to it? One so unpopular that it has created faction and back-biting even within the party that champions the goal of the bill?
I understand that our elected leaders cannot govern by the whims of the mob. Sticking your finger in the wind and governing by opinion poll isn’t leadership at all. But the widespread opposition to this bill is palpable. It spurred a popular protest uprising over the summer. It has inspired phone calling campaigns that have shut down congressional switchboards and email servers.
The people, for the most part, do not want this bill.
And so if our elected representation had any duty, it isn’t to push forward and stick the nation with something the majority of citizens don’t want. It’s to listen to the people, and have the humility to admit that this bill is flawed and shouldn’t pass.