Published: September 03, 2009 10:15 pm      

Where do we go from here?

Summer recess is almost over and Congress will return next week to Washington, D.C.

For sure, many of our lawmakers have heard an earful of ideas on health care reform. It is now time for them to get down to the hard business of compromise. That is what democracy does best, and when our government governs from the “middle” revealed in compromise, it governs best for all Americans.

Supporters on the extremes of each side will not budge very much. Government insurance for all the “poor” no matter the cost or status quo, with no real change, will dominate on the wings. Somewhere, and we are not sure where it is, there is a middle ground.

No doubt the thousand-page proposal generated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others, which no one appears to have read, will be a starting point for the Democrats.

The Republicans need to write their own position to counter. Both proposals should be far less than 1,000 pages and be readable and understandable by all, most of all by the public. We should be able to read it and decide for ourselves.

Each proposal should come with a firm dollar cost to the federal treasury. No gimmicks, no voodoo mathematics. Just tell us what it will cost each year for the next 10 years. One number will probably be high, and the other lower.

Then put the two proposals on the table for debate. That is the way compromise is achieved. Debate it, modify it, move it around, consider costs and benefits, and do it all with absolute transparency. It may take a while, as compromise usually does.

Then produce a compromise bill, along with the total cost to the taxpayer.

Here is the clincher: Find cuts in other government programs (nothing is “off the table” or “off budget”) to pay for a revenue-neutral proposal. We implement the reform that we can afford and move on.

That is what our lawmakers are elected and paid to do — govern in the best interests of all Americans. Compromise has always pointed that direction in the past. Let’s do it NOW.

— The Joplin (Mo.) Globe