Laws and Sausages

Bismarck said, "You don't want to know what goes into the making of either laws or sausages."

The Iron Chancellor would be pleased (or perhaps appalled) that things haven't changed very much. The current issue of Time includes the following "Back & Forth" from the floor of the Senate as it debates the proposed Health Care Reform Bill.

Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican - "I don't need maternity care so requiring that to be in my insurance plan would would make my policy more expensive."

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan Democrat - "I think your mom probably needed it though."

So we've gone from "Death Panels" to abortion coverage to illegal immigrant eligibility to maternity care for males. One wonders how laws are ever passed what with 535 cooks stirring the pot and millions of dollars of potential "campaign contributions" on hold pending the outcome.

Yet, working within what appears to be a flawed system, our elected representatives have come up with civil rights, poverty relief, environmental, and labor legislation that gives us an equitable, free society. It's not all sawdust and entrails that go into the democratic sausage. Bismarck probably would be pleased.