One need not travel to Washington to learn how their congress person votes on critical issues. The results are announced immediately over the airwaves (and usually on the following Sunday The Post & Courier runs a graph reflecting the votes.) On Thursday next there will be one of these important votes when the House of Representatives considers President Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The President says the current version of the bill is too expensive to continue. He doesn't remind us of his (and other Republican scrooges) philosophical opposition to all government-run health care. (Look up who voted against Medicare forty years ago.) SCHIP only happens to be their latest victim. When he was Governor of Texas, Mr. Bush unsuccessfully sought to limit access to the original SCHIP. In other words he has a track record against helping needy families with insurance coverage for children. By-the-by, during the period 2003-2005, Texas had the highest rate of uninsured children among the states. These numbers started growing long before 2003.
I will bet you right now, however, that the four Republican congressmen from South Carolina on Thursday will again buy into the President's nonsense and vote against needy children and families. They did so when the bill was originally passed in the House, and they voted 'Nay'. They will give a Scrooge-like kick in the pants to needy children, and hope for a photo-op at the next White House barbecue standing next to the 'compassionate conservative.'
It is difficult as hell to understand how Republicans claim they are for less spending and smaller government and yet have spent more money in the six years they were in charge of the White House and congress (2001-2006) than the Democrats did in any corresponding six years when they had control of the White House and the Congress. The Party of reduced spending and limited government has turned out to be afflicted with the same spending-like-a-drunken sailor mentality as any other political party. I believe this has to do with the idea that when you are in power your supporters (e.g. insurance companies, doctors, banks, etc. ) expect to be rewarded. Too bad needy children can't vote.
