Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation

Way back in the last years of the 18th century, Robert Burns wrote a poem about the members of the Parliament of Scotland who'd signed the 1707 Act of Union with England. Burns suggested that those members who did so were motivated by greed, and their greed finally did what many years of fighting could not: Bring his native Scotland under England's flag. The telling verse is this one:

What force or guile could not subdue,
Thro' many warlike ages,
Is wrought now by a coward few,
For hireling traitor's wages...
...such a parcel of rogues in a nation.

Burns' poem comes to mind in light of our nation's current healthcare debate. Not the issue of healthcare reform itself, a need which I think most everyone recognizes. Nor the specifics of different policies about healthcare reform, about which people can and do disagree. I, for example, think that a reform package that doesn't include tort reform and allowing people to purchase health insurance across state lines isn't serious about reducing costs. But others disagree, and no matter which kind of bill was enacted, we'd find out who was right and, I hope, admit it if we weren't.

But this mess of a "debate" and the manner of the passing of the bill, the 3,000-page bill that can't possibly be understood by anyone voting for it? The endless deal-making and granting of favors and special considerations for different interest groups or different legislators to earn their votes? The use of arcane parliamentary tactics to bring legislation to the president's desk just so something can be passed and something can be signed? The refusal of legislators to listen to those who elected -- in the real world, we'd say "hired" -- them when they ask, "Stop this and start over?" None of this reflects well on those involved, their leadership skills or their beliefs about their own positions.

Win, lose or draw on the current healthcare bill, I'll be changing my voting registration this week. I've been a Democrat since I was old enough to sign the card -- and I signed it so I could vote in what was, I believe, some kind of special election or runoff for county sheriff, not for any presidential or statewide office. I may have voted Republican a number of times, but a look at who my party put up for office would show you why. I stayed a Democrat because of the members of that party who were worth admiring, like Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Henry Jackson, Thomas O'Neill, Daniel Moynihan and so on. Even though the leadership of my party came to be vested in people who couldn't lead lemmings off a cliff, I stayed because it was about who I was and not who they were.

I'm not becoming a Republican. There are too many Missouri Democrats in my family line who would rise up and smite me were I to consider it. So I'll register "independent" and, I suppose, forgo voting in primaries. And I don't know that a hundred percent of me wants to change even that much, but I know I don't want that label anymore. It'll not make a lick of difference to them and it won't make much here. The last Democrat who earned Oklahoma's electoral votes was Lyndon Johnson and I don't see anyone usurping his spot anytime soon. But it'll make a difference to me, because despite my loyalties and misgivings, I really don't want anything to do anymore with this parcel of rogues that's been coughed up by our nation.