Politics or Policies?

WE are of to a quick start in the blame game as the Democrats are being blamed for preventing all the great policies the president wants.

Of course, it's debatable a to whether those policies are particularly good or if they are just politics.

Its fairly easy to define objectives that almost all Americans would agree with.  Border Security would be one of them.  The use of this phrase to mean build a wall isn't.  Border Security is the prevention of undocumented crossing but in an efficient and affordable way.

Immigration is not much of a threat to this country, in fact it has always been one of the cornerstones of our growth. Still, almost every American would agree that it should be controlled and regulated.

Similarly, almost all Americans would agree that good affordable health care should be available to all.  How to achieve that is the issue.  Most countries have made this a Government obligation where it is provided at no point of service cost.(there is of course a cost that the taxpayers bear).  It has been shown to bee efficient and effective, but it conflicts with our capitalistic system.  The Affordable Care Act kept the private provider system and overlaid Government subsidies for those who qualified.  It was a compromise that incorporated many republican features, but it didn't win over many republicans as politics became more important than outcomes.  It did significantly reduce the number of uninsured in this country.

Issue after issue could also be addressed in a manner that would win the support of the great majority of Americans is we ignored politics and focused on policies.  Take something like gun control.  We have moved to an all or nothing approach, largely because of the lobbying of the NRA.  Yet throughout our history we had restrictions of who could own a gun and where they could carry it, it just made sense.  No citizen should be prevented from owning guns, if they pass a reasonable background check and take responsibility to control them.  We do this with cars, motorcycles and boats, why not guns?

Its the politics and the great amount of money involved that prevent progress.  We need to demand good policies, not bad politics.

Otherwise not much will happen.