I do realize it is probably best that I stay away from politics in this blog, the same way as I try to avoid it in my daily life. Don’t get me wrong - I do not miss a chance to vote and support the things I feel are very important. 

I do realize it is probably best that I stay away from politics in this blog, the same way as I try to avoid it in my daily life. Don’t get me wrong - I do not miss a chance to vote and support the things I feel are very important. But to say I am cynical about politics and politicians would be the understatement of the new decade. (Maybe the new millennium.)

Thing is, if you are not as cynical about politics and politicians as I am, I think you are just not paying attention. Or maybe you get it. I sure as hell don’t. How can this cast of goobers in Washington calling themselves the United States Congress expect us to take them seriously? Do they care?

The health care system in the United States, being among the best in the world, is obviously in serious need of an overhaul. Huh? Well, I will plead guilty to being one of the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens who think it is OK because me and my family are OK. I do understand, however, that our system is not perfect and reform is needed to improve it. I will continue to say that (all) systems should be improved until they pry my cold dead fingers off this keyboard, so there is nothing earth-shattering there.

So in order to impress us with their acumen in the spirit of good politics and reform, the goobers have locked themselves behind closed doors to make all kinds of irrational and arguably illegal deals to push through legislation that most of us do not want and on which legions of future politicians will forge careers working to repeal. I guess when they locked the doors common sense and the citizens’ agenda were still waiting around outside.
  
So, are we having fun yet? Not quite enough. The latest thing and the one that gets me blogging about all this is the setting aside of the construction industry for special punishment. I guess the goobers read in the paper that unemployment in the construction industry is hovering around 25 percent, so here is a chance to kick them while they are down. You have heard this in other places (www.nrca.net/rp/news/stories/nrca-opposes-unfair-treatment-of-construction-industry-in-health-reform-bill.12-28-2009.2079.aspx), so I will keep ranting without boring you with all the details here. Long story short, the proposal added to the Senate/goober version of the bill singles out construction employers and removes an exemption from them so that construction firms with as few as five employees (not 50 like all other employers) will be fined for not having health insurance.

This would be OK if there were even the slightest, tiniest rational reason for it. You may be thinking this is a “union-friendly” kind of play, but I think it goes beyond that. I think the goobers smell victory in their takeover of the health care industry and are setting the stage for a takeover of the entire construction industry. Yeah, that’s it. They will force small contractors out of business and as the surviving contractors grow bigger and bigger they will have to be regulated. Then one regulation at a time they will become more and more bureaucratic and bloated. The goobers will say they are a bunch of greedy bastards and must be punished. They will pass more and more legislation until the “single-payer” rule goes into place, effectively establishing the US Government as the one big-ass construction company we must all report to in order to acquire our built spaces.

Now you may think this seems like a really far out rant, even considering the blogger. Far out? Far off? You sure about that?