Failure, again

One of the great disconnects in politics is the let down that inevitably comes after a charismatic leader is voted into office. In our representative Government, only so much can be accomplished when we elect a group, or a cause. Most recently we see the election of Obama and the large Democratic majorities as another example of failed expectations. Running on a platform of change, he was able to defeat arguably much better qualified opponents in the primaries and ride a wave of disgust over the failed policies of the Bush administration into office.

Now two years late we see tea party republicans stirring up enough enthusiasm about the "failed" policies of the Obama administration to most likely take control of the House of Representatives and possibly the Senate. Of course this may be the best thing for the potential reelection of Mr Obama, since the failures of the next two years will discredit the winners of this election and may lead to a belief that the President was right in the first place. Hard to predict right now, but I think the example from 1994 when Gingrich and the republicans took control, only to bicker so much that they guaranteed Clinton's reelection could serve as an example.

The problem with all of this is that there is really only so much any party can accomplish, no matter the size of the majority, in our system. We have checks and balances and enough differences of opinion, even in the parties themselves that a change that is clearly something most Americans have wanted for quite a while, such as Health Care Reform, has been so argued about and so distorted in people's minds that the law that was passed, ended up not pleasing anyone very much, even though it is going to lead to quite a few changes that most Americans favor.

However, many Americans don't let facts get in the way of a good rant about Government and the health care bill has been blamed for ills that predated it by decades, such as the growth in health costs. Certainly the growth we have seen to date is unnerving, but the cause is not the health care bill, and based on almost every objective analysis I have seen, it will reduce the rate of increase in the future.

Providing health care to everyone in this country is simply the right thing to do, and something we already do, inefficiently and at great profit to the Health Insurance Industry. The New England Journal of Medicine had a recent article about how as much as 40% of health care insurance premium went to profit and overhead and not to claims payment. Wouldn't reducing that 40% seem like a good thing?

However, I digress. The election of charismatic leaders can only lead to truly revolutionary change, if it is accompanied by a revolution. Since revolutions are messy and unpredictable (take a look at history) we are probably going to continue to elect charismatic leaders who are doomed to failure, again and again and again.