Healthcare Reform: How Do You Feel?

It's tough sometimes... being a lone liberal among a huge sea of right-wing friends and family. I feel as though I'm occasionally put on the spot to speak on behalf of all Democrats (and PS, would you ever have me represent and iterate on behalf of say, all women? Or suburbanites? No.); and joked with a friend one day when he recounted how his conservative Texan family members approached him with SO JOHN, IT'S 40 DEGREES IN DALLAS TODAY -- WHAT ABOUT ALL THAT GLOBAL WARMING CRAP YOU KEEP SPOUTING?

Perhaps a bad example, but you may understand where I'm going with this point. Which is this: Regardless of what side of the fence you reside on re: healthcare reform, a monumental and historic step was made this week. It's one that will shape the future of our country and of the way we care for our fellow countrymen. You may not agree with all of the terms (heck, I'm not sure that I do), but I fully support the message behind the bill signed into law yesterday. And that's the beauty of it: This law can be modified, optimized and improved. It's not an end-all/be-all and certainly won't fix everything wrong with the present health system. What I don't support are all of the naysayers who have narry an idea to their names in replacement, but rather keep running their mouth in access about what won't work. BRING SOMETHING TO THE TABLE WHY DON'T YOU?!

And because my written eloquence compares little to this following excerpt from Nancy Giles, a CBS Sunday Morning contributer, I'll leave you with her words (character assassinations aside, I hope you'll just take in her message):

"(It) is a crucial first step, and can be amended and improved, but doing nothing is not an option. Health care should be a basic human right. And no one should be uninsured, or underinsured, or go broke paying their medical bills in the richest country in the world."