Be Generous To Your Supporters and Evil To Your Enemies

The practical rules of politics haven't changed since the days of Plato. As we watch the revolution in Egypt, we understand that those rules are as alive today as ever. The problem for our Congresspeople, with respect to health care, is to determine who are their supporters and who are their enemies.

If you want to know who financially supports your Congressperson, call that person's office and ask.  Or search online.  In either case, you will only find part of the answer since direct financial payments to Congresspersons' campaign funds, amounting to a few million dollars here or there for strategic Congress operators, is only part of the story. The other part - much more difficult to calculate -  comes from individuals and groups who provide funding which gives them extraordinary access to your elected officials. Those Congressional votes aren't bought, but access is, and with access comes only one side of the argument about health care reform.

The tougher part is figuring out  "who is your Congressperson's enemy"?  Is it the kids who, if health reform were to be repealed, would lose their health insurance, lose their access to medical care, lose their medical care and treatments and get sick enough to die or become permanently injured. Is it the people who should be paying for their own health insurance, but prefer to use resources which other people pay for in the form of taxes and exaggerated medical costs - and go through life cost-shifting?  Is it the well-paid health insurance executives? Is it the pregnant women who can't get health insurance?  Is it the laid-off workers whose employers have cut-off their access to health insurance benefits?  Is it the Medicaid patients whose states have run out of money to treat their leukemias, cancers, heart disease, diabetes?

So who are the politicians' supporters who play the music that certain segments of Congress dance to, and who are the politicians' enemies who "deserve" to be dealt evil?  Who shall live and prosper and who shall be denied health insurance and die?  Who deserves just treatment and who does not? What are the ethical rules governing political votes on health care reform?