Indians might hope for a different outcome from the craziness that recently seized Washington, a little something for us, some residue in the can that got kicked down the road past the first of the year. We might hope for fewer condescending lectures about dysfunctional tribal governments.

The colonists really showed us some chops in the matter of dysfunction. The principle at stake in the beginning seemed to be keeping the fire of American exceptionalism burning, in this case the United States as the one industrialized nation in the world with the most expensive health care, bar none, along side the poorest health care outcomes for ordinary citizens.

Since Harry Truman was President, the Democrats have been trying to replace the death panels run by private insurance and motivated by profit with death panels run by the government and motivated by winning elections. To believe in a system with no death panels is to believe in the Health Care Fairy.