Change is in the air

Even Republican misrepresentations and scare tactics won't be enough to flaunt the will of the American people and stop the inevitable changes coming in how Americans purchase and receive health care. This is hardly a surprise given how out of touch the GOP has been with the wishes of Americans over the past several years. Those who have had their heads stuck in the sand for years will finally be bowled over by the huge momentum gathering among Americans for health care reform.

A new poll out today and published on the front page of The New York Times shows that Americans overwhelmingly (72%) support a government-run health care option as a prime means of driving down the cost of health care. It's particularly telling that opponents in Congress don't even have a majority of their party behind them as 50% of Republicans favor the option.

We will continue to see the Fear Card played as the primary reason for not reforming health care, but the truth is that the opponents have no solutions or proposals. They just want to stand for the "haves" in an era where they are increasingly endangered species. The "no" option is ringing hallow with most Americans who understand that change is not only needed, but required. We cannot continue to prop up a bloated and out of touch health care system that does not act in the interest of the vast majority of its constituents.

Despite all the arguments about how awful health care is in other countries, there's no denying the data which show that life expectancy in countries with government health care (France, Italy and Canada) is higher than in the US. We are paying more for less and the American people are saying enough. Now it's up to our politicians to put our wishes into action. This is another ticking time bomb for Republicans in particular. Their argument has no clothes since they can hardly say it's not broke. In the end, they're left with their default argument -- be afraid, be very afraid.