One of my favorite movies is 1776, the musical.

In July 1776, Congress was working on the Declaration of Independence. A rather controversial undertaking with far reaching implications. In July 2009, Congress was tackling another controversial undertaking with far reaching implications. I am speaking of course about health reform.

The parallels, and lessons learned, are striking.

Today, health reform has its Gang of Six (Senators Max Baucus, Jeff Bingaman, Kent Conrad, Charles Grassley, Michael Enzi, and Olympia Snowe). Congress in 1776 appointed a Committee of Five (John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman) to assist with the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

President Obama observed that during July and August “everybody in Washington gets all wee-weed up.” John Adams, equally frustrated with the pace of Congress, sputtered that all Congress did was to Piddle, Twiddle and Resolve…(and Not One Damn Thing Do We Solve.)

But perhaps the most important parallel was the challenge of one overwhelming lightning rod of an issue. In 1776, it was slavery—Jefferson, Adams and Franklin wanted to include emancipation along with Independence. Now, I want to be clear that I am by no means equating slavery with Obama’s public option in health reform. Rather, I am pointing out the parallel of how one controversial issue has (had) the power to (almost) derail an act of Congress.

In 1776, after much back and forth and heated debate over the issue of slavery—and whether to include it in the Declaration of Independence—the entire South walked out as a result of keeping emancipation in the declaration. (Warning to current Congress: Think Blue Dogs). In the end, it was Ben Franklin who ultimately persuaded John Adams and Thomas Jefferson that without independence there could be no emancipation. One step at a time.

To reach their ultimate goal, Members of Congress in 1776 realized they would have to compromise. In the end, nearly one-quarter of the original Declaration is stripped out of the document, primarily the passage concerning slavery.

As much as I think real health insurance reform requires a robust public option, the 2009 Congress should learn from their forefathers – politics requires compromise.

I suspect that the Congressmen from 1776 would eventually lean towards a co-op in order to achieve the ultimate goal of passing health reform legislation.

One last particularly poignant parallel:

Ultimately, it comes down to the vote—are there sufficient votes to get the job done. In 1776, Members called for the ailing Caesar Rodney, a true statesman from Delaware dying of cancer, to come back to Philadelphia in case his vote was needed. And Rodney, understanding how precious his vote was to Independence, did return. Not only did he vote, he was one of the original signers of the Declaration of Independence.

One can only think about the ailing Senator Ted Kennedy and his lifelong dream of health reform. Like Rodney, Senator Kennedy suffers from cancer. We have already seen him come back to Washington DC to cast an important health care vote. If history is correct, he would surely do it again. Just like Caesar Rodney did in 1776.

Related posts:

1. Congress: Listen to the Academic Health Center Leaders on Health Reform
2. Roundup of Discussions Surrounding the Health Care Funding Debates in Congress
3. Songs in the Key of Health Reform: My Playlist
4. The NHMA Forum on Health Care Reform offers an opportunity to impact health reform legislation
5. How to Explain American Health Reform to Europeans

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 at 6:56 am and is filed under Health Reform, Policy, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.