Jay Ambrose: Health vote moves us toward a tipping point

Jay Ambrose: Health vote moves us toward a tipping point: "Here's my vow: to vote for no one for the House or the Senate this next November who does not first pledge to do everything within their power to rescind any health care monstrosity that gets visited upon this nation by what currently seems a derelict Democratic party.

It's true that despite all the sound and fury, after all the hoopla and posturing, we still have only an outline of what we might get. The reason is a rush to do anything to please the great idol Obama, the extraordinary extent of change being sought, the mystery of how differences between the House and Senate versions might be resolved and the purposeful obfuscation of morality-challenged legislators who have plenty to hide.

But that outline tells us of extraordinary costs and an approach that could well represent a tipping point in this country's economic decline while it reduces freedoms, rations coldly, does nothing to improve health care and could worsen it over time. What is more, the march toward disaster has taken on the aspect of inevitability. It seems increasingly likely that sometime early next year we will see final passage of some such bullying behemoth of a bill pasted together by a conference committee.

The opposition must, of course, continue to fight, showing that with all the prudent alternative actions available, there is no way advocates can justify this assault on the country. About all advocates can do is tell you what's wrong with the present system even though the legislation we've seen does not even try to address some of those issues and is, at the same time, so massive and clumsy that its unintended consequences could go every which direction – including the direction of human tragedy. To the elderly in particular, I say: Watch out."