A step forward, but can we still walk?

     The passage of the health care plan, and the validation of its constitutionality, mark a step forward. Now, the United States is no longer the only modern nation in the world without some kind of health care plan to address needs of a large population.
     It's a flawed plan, because the resisters did everything they could to poison it, kill it, keep it from being born. It will need work, just like Social Security and Medicare needed -- and continue to need -- adjustments and improvements.
     The ability to take an idea and make it better, make it work, is what progress is all about. It's what nationhood is about. It's what the evolution of humanity is all about.
     But as we assess the meaning of the Supreme Court's decision, and listen to the rhetoric of those who are dedicated to stepping all over political adversaries, even if it means stepping on the American people, we have to wonder if the hyperpartisanship of the ones who are truly elected to be The People in the the true definition of the document that uses the term, "We the People," will bring the temple down on us all.
     It's clear from listening to the talking heads in Washington that the focus is on winning the next election, not health care, not national defense, not jobs or the economy. They just want to win, even if it's over the ashes of the great American idea.
    Many years ago, I interviewed a politician beloved in Carroll County. He was a conservative Republican, and proud of it, and he was proud of his record in Annapolis.
    What was his record?  Voting against Democrats and anything they wanted to do.
    Let us support progress, even if it means we have to learn something new.
    If we don't keep walking forward, we may forget how to walk altogether.