Bipartisan, Moderate, Independent, Fair-minded good solutions for Middle-class American Patriots

In other words, "maverick" centrist patriotic Democrat Max Baucus has submitted a "compromise" health 'reform' bill.

The virtue of the bill is that it is "a compromise aimed at helping draw support from some Republicans and moderate Democrats." The proposal will "get a response from the bipartisan group that includes five other senators when they meet Tuesday." It has no public option, but that's the reason that it's "Congress's best hope for reaching a bipartisan agreement on sweeping legislation to overhaul the health system."

I, for one, am very convinced by all of this. Given the results of the last two election cycles, it's very clear to me that the electorate fervently believes in hearing what Republicans have to say about health care. Its clear from the results of the 2006 and 2008 elections that Americans don't prefer one party over the other, they just want as much 'bipartisanship' as they can get their hands on.

With control of the White House, crushing majorities in the House, and a filibuster-proof majority of 60 senators in the Senate, what the Democrats need first and foremost is to actively seek out the views of Republicans and see that their concerns are met. Voters didn't give the Democrats the largest majorities in a generation because they wanted them to change things. And they certainly didn't vote to give Democrats majorities because the Democrats talked about health care reform during their campaigns.

Think about it: Democrats can't just use the majorities they were given by voters to pass legislation. Instead, what Americans need are solutions that pander to the pathologies of a party that was hammered into the ground by voters two election cycles in a row. It's obvious that we need maximal 'reaching across the aisle'.

Moreover, we need solutions that are 'realistic', 'feasible', and very cautious. Our 'free market' health care system basically works great for everyone, so why fix what isn't broken?

What this really makes clear for me is that 'bipartisanship', 'moderation', 'independence', 'fair-mindedness' and 'centrism' are all timeless values in and of themselves. Specific political content has no relevance to politics.

It's not like elections shouldn't have consequences. So I was thinking, perhaps we should stop having them. Just appoint 50% republicans and 50% democrats to sit in Congress permanently and we can ensure that 'divisive' 'partisan' politics are gone for good. In this way we could invest forever in the timeless values of moderation, bipartisanship, centrism, reaching across the aisle, and so forth.

etc...