I can’t help but laugh every time I hear some Republican say “passing this bill [health care reform] will cost the Democrats in November”. I keep wondering to myself if Coach K is calling up John Calipari and saying “if we meet in final four and you run a zone defense, it will cost you dearly”.

But today I got thinking more about this and translating it to when Republicans controlled everything, like they did for a majority of the last decade. Is that why the Republicans never tried to push through legislation they have campaigned on for decades? For example:

Republicans are “small government”, yet the government grew at record rates under their rule.

They have been against abortion for all these years, yet when have they actually tried to outlaw it?

Or how about taxes? We hear Republicans all the time crowing about across the board tax cuts, yet the only tax cuts they ever did was for the rich.

The Republican solution to health care for years has been tort reform, dating back to at least the last time the issue came up – during the Clinton years. Yet with the Republicans holding control of the entire government, they never once tried to do anything about it.

So this brings me to the big question – has the Republicans been erring on the side of caution when they have control? Sure the issues above make great campaign talking points, but are they afraid that any real action will lead to an electorate peril?

The Democrats are on the verge of passing legislation they have been advocating since the days of FDR. Now it is suddenly “politically dangerous”. They are working towards delivering on a major campaign promise from 2008, and that will cost them? If you really believe this, then you believe that our government is incapable of change, and that leaves us in a very bad position as a nation. A nation that can’t change is a nation that will be left behind.

So when you hear the next Republican warn Democrats of the electorate costs of passing health care reform, do what I do – laugh your ass off. Sure the Democrats are going to lose seats in November, but that isn’t because of this legislation. The losses will be due to a big anti-incumbent sentiment sweeping the nation today. When you have a majority the size of the Democrats then some losses are all but certain in this climate.