Health Care Bill Signed--Republicans Fight On

On Tuesday March 23, 2010 at approximately 12:10 p.m. eastern time, President Barack Obama signed into law the congressional bill that represented health reform that had become the cornerstone of his presidency up until that point.

The bill, which was passed in a late night session of Congress just two days before (Sunday March 21), marked a new beginning in the President's efforts to reform the health care system.

As could be expected, the health care reform bill's passage and signing was met by mixed reaction.

Naturally, many Democrats and Democratic supporters applauded the results while many Republican lawmakers, such as John Boehner a congressman from Ohio (I am sad to say), continued to rail against the bill calling it "a mistake" that will drive health care costs up and send the economy reeling once again.

Understandably, the enactment of this health care bill dramatically changes the landscape of the health care industry.

Also, understandably, changing from what is familiar to something that is new is hard for many people to deal with but sometimes change is necessary.

And in the case of health care, it was.

Just about every major reform or program initiated by the government , faced some form of resistance or skepticism.

When Social Security was enacted, many Americans were angry, confused and resistant to the government taking money out of their paycheck to put into a system that was to give it back to them at retirement, but over time it was accepted and is a mainstay of every working American's life.

The initiation of income tax and the creation of the Internal Revenue Service was not well received the time of their inception either.

Americans were appalled when they were informed that they would have to pay tax on the wages that they earned but again, over time, it was accepted however grudgingly by Americans and is presently a permanent fixture in American work life.

Neither one of these programs were popular or widely accepted when they were first introduced but with the passage of time, resistance to them lessened and acceptance of them increased.

Right now health care reform is not very popular or agreeable with many Americans but whether unpopular or unagreeable, it is now law.

For Republican politicians to continue to fight against it is a waste of valuable time that could be better spent preparing to meet the next challenges that face America.

Those who continue to push back against the new law very much resemble those southerners of the Civil War era who continued fighting against the North long after they knew that the Civil War had ended with the surrender of Robert E. Lee.

Republicans and their supporters who continue their efforts to resist health care reform are like those of the post-Civil War south who continued living as though nothing had changed.

Just like those 19th century southerners who refused to acknowledge or accept defeat, modern day Republicans continue to fight a war is over and has been decided in favor of the opponent.

is time to move on.

CNN The Toledo Blade The New York Times The Washington Post