Today, I devote an hour to the competing Democratic and Republican philosophies for health care reform.
The heart of the difference between Democratic and Republicans on health care reform can be summarized as follows:
Democrats believe every human being — even poor human beings, even children, even victims of domestic violence — is a “person” with an intrinsic moral worth.  Democrats believe no one should die or suffer unnecessary pain and agony merely because they are poor.
A five-year-old with treatable leukemia, Democrats say, is a terrible life to waste.
Republicans believe every corporation — even those that make massive profits off human misery, gamble with taxpayer subsidies, give bonuses to incompetent managers, or bribe lawmakers — is a “person” with intrinsic moral worth.  And no corporation should suffer unnecessary loss of profits merely because some poor “human” needs “health care.” Humans are expendable, after all, but corporations live forever.
Let the five-year-old with leukemia die, Republicans say.  Corporations are just too important.  And a corporation, with a $400 billion taxpayer subsidy, would be a terrible political donor to waste.  After all, without such boondoggles, who would pay for Republicans to be elected?
The compromise position?  Republicans say they will agree to health reform, so long as no “human” persons get in the way of a corporate person’s newly-discovered constitutional rights to make a profit at human expense.