Eric Massa, Real Principles

I know: You come to a blog about The Philippines and wind up reading about a junior Congressman from Upstate New York. Can't help it.

I've said already that I'm against the U.S. Healthcare reform bill. This is primarily because my Congressman (a Democrat) from back home is against it. Congressman Eric Massa says that the original intentions, the original effectiveness, and the original scope of the Healthcare bill was completely subverted in committee, and what now is moving through Congress is more damaging to healthcare in America than doing nothing at all. In other words, according to Rep. Massa, if you can't do it exactly the way the Democrats originally proposed to do it, it's too dangerous to do at all. (See my plane analogy below.)

Fortunately 63 other Democrats in the House of Representatives have realized this as well and signed a pledge that they won't vote for any bill that doesn't include the public option — government supplied health insurance. (The current bill just passed in the Senate obligates the nation's poorest Americans to buy health insurance... but only from insurance companies. Does that sound like intelligent reform to you?)

Now, here is the point where Eric Massa stands out for me. Look at this list of the 64 Democratic Congressmen who have pledged to vote against Healthcare reform without the public option (you have to scroll down a bit).

Out of the 64 Congressmen on this list:

18 of them come from districts that are 65% or more Democratic;
15 of them come from districts that are 60% to 65% Democratic;
17 of them come from districts that are 55% to 60% Democratic;
13 of them come from districts that are 50% to 55% Democratic; and
1 of them comes from a Republican majority district: Eric Massa.

Say what you will about the decision Congressman Massa is making, you can't argue one point: This is a politician who puts his principles and his values and his campaign promises ahead of his office, his reelection, or his popularity. You have to respect that.