Winston Churchill once quipped, "The United States invariably does the right thing after having exhausted every other alternative." Left-handed compliment or not, I actually find comfort in those words. We're sometimes late to take our rightful place among the forward thinking, advanced nations of the world, but I believe we'll always get there. In the final analysis, that's what matters most. Let's look at this in the context of capital punishment and our health care system.
In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that we could no longer execute the mentally retarded. Then in 2005, in Roper v. Simmons the Court ruled that we couldn't execute those who committed their crimes as juveniles. These are welcome examples of better late than never, but the stumbling path we took to get there certainly supports Churchill's assertion. From the 1980s forward, capital punishment of juvenile offenders separated the U.S. from literally every other country on earth we would consider civilized with respect to human rights. Indeed, except for China and a couple of African counties with dreadful human rights records, it left us with no peers whatsoever except for those we tend to scorn as savage backwaters of Islamic fundamentalism. The message here is that even when things look bleak, we will eventually come around.
With respect to the health care controversy that remains front and center, we currently have a problem that will eventually become a catastrophe if we do nothing but snipe at one another rather than fixing it. This is perhaps the one and only point of universal agreement among all reasonable, well-informed parties no matter where they stand on the proposed reforms. If the current proposals are wrong, then introduce something else and let's debate it. No side has a monopoly on wisdom. It would be a shame to squander this opportunity, particularly if we do so for no better reason than one side's desire to drill a hole on the left side of our collective boat, while they stand on the right side and high-five each, ignoring the seeping water as they celebrate their Pyrrhic victory. There is, however, good news. History has shown us that Churchill was right; even if we can't figure out what to do now, we will eventually find the solution before it's too late. When we do, we will have cast off the distinction of being the only modern, industrialized country that didn't adequately insure all of its citizens, just as we are no longer the only such country to carry out executions that are widely considered barbaric.
