Categorical Aperitif

I confess, I was busy as heck yesterday and did not follow the last-minute drama as the healthcare reform bill neared a vote; I did not find out it had passed until I awoke this morning to find this from the Times in my inbox:

House Approves Landmark Bill to Extend Health Care to Millions

Congress gave final approval on Sunday to legislation that would provide medical coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and remake the nation's health care system along the lines proposed by President Obama.

By a vote of 219 to 212, the House passed the bill after a day of tumultuous debate that echoed the epic struggle of the last year. The action sent the bill to President Obama, whose crusade for such legislation has been a hallmark of his presidency.

Democrats hailed the votes as historic, comparable to the establishment of Medicare and Social Security and a long overdue step forward in social justice.

Kudos to the Times for using the soon-to-be-thoughtcrime expression "social justice." They may have bent over backwards to please the right on the phony ACORN story, but at least they haven't let Glenn Beck completely rewrite the dictionary just yet.

I can't feel triumphant about a bill that

• does not make healthcare access universal,
• does not create a public option to compete with private insurers, and
• does not represent a departure from the oligarchic consensus that the job of government is to ensure that public policy serves corporate interests,

but I'll take the hardfought legislative victory for what is, more or less, "my side." It may not feel like a "monumental accomplishment," as Michael Tomasky calls it, but it's at least a big step in the right direction. And anything that helps to break the "government is the enemy, the private sector is GOD" spell that's held a big chunk of America captive since 1980 is most welcome.

But here's the thing. Community hasn't succeeded very often in American politics, but when it has, it's tended to work better than advertised. Social Security and Medicare (universal coverage for senior citizens) are very popular. Once changes like these are made, well, it takes a while, but most people tend to like them. And maybe that's the real reason Republicans are so unhinged right now.

You betcha.