mvI really want to write about how truly odd it is that somebody, somewhere, is really excited about purchasing 27 DVDs of Miami Vice—every single episode!—and is only waiting for the price to drop to a reasonable level. Somebody, somewhere received the same daily sales e-mail from Buy.com that I did and then excitedly, frantically logged in to purchase it while it was still available. A truly strange world we live in.

But instead I have been fascinated by the politics of the health care debate. It’s the rare fight that really is worth the trouble. I think Republicans are wrong about what the bill will do, but they are right—and Democrats are downplaying—how much it will enshrine the right to health care in our country. The same arguments were made about Medicare, and almost fifty years later there’s not a chance of it going away (as shown by the anti-Obama yet pro-Medicare elderly, and the Republicans’ argument that Obama was cutting money from the program, and Bush’s prescription drug benefit expansion).

The final push in politics—the backroom dealing and vote counting and gettin’ the whip out—probably disgusts many observers, but it’s what interests me the most. Politics is prostitution, and haggling over the price is as old as civilization. Politics is balancing integrity with “What’s in it for me?” Rarely have I seen a day so full of those decisions.

However, it always seems like we could settle things quicker if everyone would just be honest. Ask the real questions! Are we going to let an injured person sit untreated outside a hospital because he or she lacks health care? If not, is it fair to require that person to purchase some form of health care in advance? If we truly believe that the market can handle the health care crisis, why do both parties pass laws requiring specific areas of coverage (like mammograms, mental health, or the recent Republican-led initiative against “fail first” prescriptions)? If the government is already running 50% of the health care in America—through Medicare, the VA, Medicaid, public employee policies, etc.—doesn’t it make sense to run it wisely, even if that means increasing it to 100%? When people bring up health care rationing, how is that different than what already occurs in our country (both with insurance company denials of service and the rationing inherent in having millions uninsured)? We can’t even ask basic questions like whether the United States really does have the best health care in the world, or if we have anything to learn from systems in place in other countries.

Instead we get fake arguments and bad logic and hyperventilating outrage and mounds of hyperbole. And an Obama victory. And a giant step toward universal, single-payer healthcare.