Sorry for my absence . . .

The crisis we face is simultaneously so terrifying and so bizarre that I haven't been able to respond properly. Writing about the quotidian issues that interest me seems inadequate, while others who have a much larger audience are saying what I might say about our larger problems. But I've decided I'll keep on blogging, for my own sake if not for yours.

So, the Senate Majority Leader is insisting that his members vote tomorrow on a bill that will radically re-make 15% of the U.S. economy, without telling them anything about what's in it. Does that seem strange? Here's former Republican Senator David Durenberger, who thinks, yes that is rather odd:

This week, the Senate once again is set to vote on a health care bill that will radically change how people get coverage and who can afford their care. But unlike normal times, Senators, you are being asked to approve a Motion to Proceed to a vote:

• Without knowing what will be in the bill you would vote on.

• Without knowing what the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office will say about the impact of major amendments and the final bill on coverage and premiums.
• With full knowledge that the Senate parliamentarian, who rules on what can and can't be allowed in a budget bill, has said that the Senate must remove provisions intended to prevent an insurance market death spiral of sicker patients driving up costs.
• Without knowing the details of the secret state Medicaid waivers the Trump administration insists will make the bill work.
• Without knowing how your own state budget will be impacted.
• Without knowing how you will defend the provisions you will only learn about later, including the payoffs and other things that will be sneaked into the bill at the last minute.
• Without even knowing which bill you are being asked to vote on, what the defining amendments will be and how much time you will have when being pressed for a final vote you’ll be stuck with. Forever.

So why is McConnell doing this? For the past seven years, the Republican party has been obsessively demanding the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. They told their voters they were supposed to hate it, without explaining why they were supposed to hate it. (No, there aren't any death panels and the government didn't take over health care.) As it turns out, the only reason to hate it was that it was signed by a president with an African father. There actually isn't any way to repeal it without hurting tens of millions of people, but the Republican leadership is determined to do it anyway because if they don't, they'll face challenges in the next primary. So they have to keep what they are doing a secret for as long as they can.  Call your Senators' offices. Demand that they vote NO.