Open Thread Mondays: Where Were You When Healthcare History Was Made?

The media’s narrative about last night’s healthcare bill paints it as a turning point in American history on par with September 11th or the Kennedy assassinations. Of course, whether it’s a good or bad event depends on the outlet.

If you read “liberal” newspapers, it’s an event as important as the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. If you watch right-wing pundits, it’s the equivalent of the burning of the Reichstag, or the tipping point that will throw our fragile Republic into a third-world disaster area.

In truth, it’s probably neither. The bill is a piece of hackwork, compromised to oblivion. It will improve the system, surely, but it’s not sweeping enough to fix our core healthcare problems – or expensive enough to bankrupt the nation.

But I could be wrong.

Let’s all sit and take a moment to think about where we were yesterday evening as the bill received its final votes. After all, the true effects of this bill won’t be felt for years. So it might be good to write it down before you go about your life and forget about it. In 2045, when your grandkids say, “Hey, old person, where were you when the government pulled a parliamentary trick that saved/destroyed America?” you can look it up on Sheepshead Bites and answer them.

I, for one, would love to tell you I was sitting on the floor in front of the TV gripped by C-SPAN. But no, in reality I was lying in bed, rubbing my jaw, which gets sore because of a joint problem I can’t get treated because I’m uninsured. I was watching Breaking Bad, a television show about an upright chemistry teacher who turns to cooking crystal meth in order to pay his medical bills for his lung cancer. Ultimately word of the vote was passed on to me by a doctor who retired after years of frustration with dealing with stingy insurance companies.

Where were you?