So the ranter (or raver, I’m not quite sure given the fact they didn’t call me an idiot) asked me to try to explain the health care mess in our nation. To be honest, I don’t know that I can do so. So they will just have to accept my sincere apology, even if they were asking for a sincere explanation.

However, I think there are some things that need to be said in regard to health care/insurance reform and what we are seeing unfold in regard to it in Washington.

What President Obama is trying to do is offer some kind of government-provided insurance coverage to approximately 20 million Americans who currently have no coverage of any sort. This was something that he discussed in his campaign, and he is very much set to make it happen.

Yes, I think everyone would agree that health care in this nation needs reforming. There is no doubt that something somewhere needs to be done to help the tens of millions of Americans who do not have health insurance.

However, the responsibility of reforming health care being placed on a government that is in far worse need of reforming than anything else seems a bit convoluted to me.

The thing that I keep coming back to is this: you change things, but who is going to pay for it? The people who can’t afford to pay for any kind of health insurance now are the very people who aren’t paying much if anything into our tax system.

So, again, the bill gets footed by the hard-working families in this nation.

When I look at my own kids, I am almost enraged at the fact that before they ever go on a date, before they ever drive a car, before they ever even step foot in middle school, they are already in debt because of the mismanagement of our federal government.

For lack of a better way of putting it, that just ain’t right.

Our nation is so deeply in debt, almost to the point of being irreversibly so, for our government to make any attempt to place something as massive as health care reform on the shoulders of the American taxpayer is ill-advised at best, downright dangerous at worst.

See, some states have already said in very plain language that even if the federal government force-feeds health reform down their throats, they will not support it. Legislation has already been either passed or proposed in nearly half of the states making clear states will reserve the right of sovereignty if forced to do so.

In Missouri, it has even asserted the right of the state to negate federal law, specifically in reference to the proposed federal Freedom of Choice Act, which some fear would bar states from passing laws regulating abortion (which is another big issue with proposed health care legislation).

New Hampshire goes so far as to lay out a very strongly worded variant of the Doctrine of Nullifcation, which specifies acts by the federal government (many of them currently being proposed in Congress in reference to health care) which would effectively negate the Constitution and the authority of the federal government within their state.

And then you have Hawaii, where its proposed sovereignty bill comes very close to being an actual act of secession, based on native tribal rights.

As things stand right now, it looks like Oklahoma, Washington, Hawaii, Missouri, Arizona, New Hampshire, Georgia, California, Michigan and Montana will definitely consider sovereignty bills this year. They may be joined by Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Alaska, Kansas, Alabama, Nevada, Maine and Pennsylvania where legislators have pledged to introduce similar bills.

And now it appears elements are being lined up to literally ramrod the reform bill through Washington regardless of any opposition. This “nuclear option” would negate any voice or vote raised against health care reform as defined by President Obama.

This would be a very dangerous roll of the dice. The ramifications are almost certainly sure to spell doom for a majority of Democrats in Washington as things already appear to be poised for Republican domination in the November elections. Such a “nuclear option” might create a political backlash that would rock Washington.

Even worse, though, is the thought that such a brazen act of ignoring the voice of the nation would actually line states up to make a stand against Washington’s shenanigans. If that were to happen, we would be walking in uncharted territory, navigating a political landscape full of uncertainty.

I just don't feel we don’t need that kind of anxiousness to exist in a nation that is already operating under a storm of discord, debt, and doubt.

So, to summarize, yes, health care/insurance needs reforming. No, it doesn’t need to happen right now regardless of the cost.

Health care/insurance reform deserves careful consideration to come up with a plan that is workable and manageable for the people who will be paying for it — you and me. Until that happens, I just don’t see it as being worth risking the stability of our nation.