George:

I phoned Rep. Periello's office today to urge him, as strongly as possible, to vote for the House bill. My reason: The ghost of Sen. Kennedy should haunt us. We ought never to forget that in 1971, he turned down Pres. Nixon's offer of a health care bill that Republicans could back, if the Democrats would; and as we know, Kennedy, who was leading the Democratic fight, turned down that President because the bill wasn't all Kennedy hoped for. Kennedy wrote that he regretted that decision to the end of his days.

No, of course the current bill isn't what any of us who is concerned about the health of the whole polity would desire. But it's what's on offer. And we can't get anything better (from our/my/Periello's point of view) unless we have a floor to build upon. This is the hour, now is the chance, here are the people in need. Thirty million of our fellow citizens will benefit from this bill when it becomes law: to say no to that necessary and decent possibility, because the bill doesn't do this or that other thing, is bad judgment, I am convinced.

Let me propose an analogy. Suppose Rep. Periello votes against this bill, the only possible one that will be available for us for the long-foreseeable future (do you doubt it?). And suppose, because of his vote, the bill fails. That will mean -- I believe the statistics and projections I've read -- that tens of thousands of people will die, they will die, because they have no health insurance. Rep. Periello will have held out for high principle, a principle I share; but because of this, we as a polity -- and tens of thousands of us, U.S. citizens -- are harmed. What shall I think then, when I cast my vote? Shall I say, Periello hasn't lived up to the responsibility I placed upon him. If I don't vote for him, yet another reactionary Republican will win. But if I do vote for him, though I thoroughly disapprove of his negative vote, then I'll have compromised my principle of concern for the health of the polity. What should I do?

Compromise? Can I swallow hard and cast my vote for the best possible result available, despite my deep dismay at (what could be) his horribly wrong vote? That's my question.

Katherine McNamara (Electronic mail, March 17, 2010)