Yesterday’s GOP vote to move their iteration of the healthcare required some last minute dramatics, with arrival of John McCain and a tie-breaking vote by Vice Preside Pence. Senator McCain arrived with thunderous applause and received a presidential tweet calling McCain a hero.
“So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave – American hero! Thank you John.” (President Trump, July 25, 2017).
That tweet counters what Trump stated as a candidate. During a July 2015 event, Trump said McCain “… is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” But yesterday, McCain was a hero once more. And with that vote, McCain saved the GOP healthcare bill via a partisan vote.
MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough claimed McCain was only moving the bill to debate, that the GOP Healthcare bill faces many steep obstacles. So, in essence, neither the GOP nor Democrats gained from the maneuver. That logic vacates the recent electoral cycle. For instance, no one thought Trump had a chance to win the Republican Primary. Of course, no thought President Trump would actually win the Election. Of course, few thought Betsy DeVose would win confirmation. Of course few thought President Trump would name his daughter and son-in-law as special advisors. And few thought Trump would fire Comey. Etc. Etc. Etc!
As a former veteran, I honor and respect Senator John McCain. I truly believe McCain has been, and always will be, a war hero. However, with surgical scars and all, McCain flew into Washington on wings of an eagle, yet made vociferous speech that ultimately landed a decision like a peck of a hen. Chicken.
McCain will did not vote for “a health care bill.” Rather he favored opening the amendment process. In doing so, he helped enabled the GOP achieve that any sort of measure is passed, tossing reform details to Senate-House conference, that will receive little input from anyone outside G.O.P. leadership.
In all transparency, Nate Silver (FiveThirtyEight) tracked and recorded the voting records of all GOP “Mavericks.” McCain has voted along party lines 94% of the time. Turns out McCain is no Maverick. And by casting his vote, McCain moved 20 million American Citizens closer to perilous health care.
In the October – December 2008 Dharma World Magazine, Pinit Ratanakul wrote:
“The Buddhist worldview is holistic and is primarily based on a belief in the interdependence of all phenomena and a correlation between mutually conditioning causes and effects. This belief is formulated by the principle of dependent origination, also referred to as the law of conditionality, the causal nexus that operates in all phenomena–physical, psychological, and moral. Accordingly, whether in the universe, the natural world, or human society, or within oneself, nothing exists as a separate unit but only as an interdependent part of the whole.”
What the GOP and Trump miss is that Americans are interconnected. And dumping 20 million or more into a world of inadequate care means America itself will probably not like the end result. However, maybe Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway is correct, those losing able-bodied citizens losing Medicaid coverage under any proposed GOP health care plan should find a job that provides health insurance.
Fortunately for McCain, he will return to Arizona for treatment – at the Mayo Clinic (Phoenix), a healthcare facility most could never afford. More than likely, McCain’s health care will likely cost him nothing. That fact was not lost on tweeter Alex Morash.
“Thankfully John McCain had access to the best health care in the world so he could get back to DC to vote to rip care away from millions.”