The Great American Band Aid Program

President Obama is intent on continuing the government "Band Aid" program. That is where the government does quick fixes that are popular to problems that need real attention and real solutions.

It is a dumb idea and doesn't make sense to most of us, but it is what happens every day in the local city council to the Federal government. And it just does not work. The politicians, however, would rather do these quick fixes and win the next election than say "the election be damned, we need to fix the problems."

And every year the real underlying problems keep growing worse and worse.

Jimmy Carter once enacted regulations saying that if a bank wants to do business in a neighborhood, they have to stop denying loans to the people they make their money off of. And it was a good concept . . . at the time. But it did not address the underlying issues involved. That is, it failed to address why the neighborhoods were undesirable in the first place.

Later, there were those who wanted to check things out with these institutions, backed by the government, that were doing fancy footwork with the books while conforming to the now expanded version of those same Carter regulations. There were politicians who would demand these institutions deliver on the American dream of "everyone deserves a home" belief. And they threw around words like "racists" and "anti-poor," popular words that were sure to guarantee votes against these "evil corporate toadies" in Congress who were "in bed with big business.

Then the whole shebang blew up in all our faces when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and Goldman Sachs and all the others slipped into the dark hole of economic collapses. And our economy shunted off the golden path to the brambles. Now we're in such a huge mess that everyone is scrambling to adhere the band aid of socialism to the problem. Thing is, it is not even a good band aid. It is not even a good quick fix that will result in winning the next election. So why are they doing all this patch job on America?

It is more a matter of just doing what politicians have been doing for decades, I think. (I have to, otherwise I'll have to believe that our leaders have a bigger agenda for America than a simple socialist or Marxist society.) But this time, the citizens of America are a little more savvy about these things. This time, the approval of the public is against the quick fix, against the band aid. Thing is, the politicians are a little behind the times and they seem oblivious to America's response to their ill-advised plans.

There are lots of problems, like abortion, to which they have applied these fixes in the past that do not address the real problems. The real problems with unwanted pregnancy have to do with education of the poor on consequences of unprotected sex, the abandonment of the parental responsibilities for young people they brought into this world. It has to do with responsible behavior by all concerned. It has to do with a legal system that caters to the criminal and makes the victim the target of suspicion. It has to do with so many things that have nothing to do with making abortion legal or not. Yet Roe vs. Wade is the classic example of applying a band aid for votes. "See, we did something."

A cry that is being repeated today with health care. The President and the Congress want to be able to say, "See we did something." But their proposal has little to do with fixing the problem. They nabbed a scapegoat, the evil greedy corporations. They made you angry or afraid of them. "They destroyed our economy. They gave out bonuses. They want to drive up costs and deny coverage to the point that people DIE!!!"

But they intend to do little to actually fix the problems with health care. They will do nothing about the bloated and easily taken advantage of welfare, Medicare / Medicaid rolls. They will do nothing about the high cost of doctor and hospital bills that are driven up by high legal fees and insurance costs, which are driven up by a legal system that will sue anybody for anything for exorbitant fees as a way to gain wealth. They will do nothing about the system that keeps small groups, businesses and individuals from joining together to get lower costs health care. They will do nothing to make it easier for health insurance to be provided across state lines.

But they will pass this bad bill, and the President will sign this bad bill, and the people will have to live with this bad piece of legislation, that does nothing to actually FIX THE PROBLEM, just so they can say "We did something."

This is just not good enough. The American people deserve more than just a simple platitude from their government. They deserve more than a little band aid.