It’s a flim flam! Just in time to celebrate the country’s independence, members of the Senate, the House — and yes, even the White House and the press — are putting the shells on the table and asking the public to find the nut.
Why is it that we can never the get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
Because each and every politician that ever was and ever will be got their lessons from none other than Mordecai Jones the king of the art of Flim Flam, along with a media that has gone hog-wild over ratings, sound bites, and sensational headlines to get those pings.
The quick synopsis — the title character in “The Flim-Flam Man,” Mordecai Jones, aptly portrayed by George C. Scott, teaches a young deserter the art of the flim flam. The movie, based on the 1965 novel, “The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man” by Guy Owen, truly depicts the sentiment that a sucker is born every minute. If you have never seen it, by all means rent it. The resemblance to today’s Washington is uncanny.
Republicans have disliked Obama’s Affordable Care Act for eight years — so much so in fact that at its inception Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, told them to just sign the bill, and then find out what it was inside afterwards: “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” she orated.
So you would think that after eight long years of something that stuck in their craw, they would have dreamt up something to take its place when the time came.
Now is the time. In usual fashion, instead of either passing the bill, or finding out ways to improve on the replacement, they choose to shuffle the shells around and beg us to find the nut.
Why? Because there is no plan that will ever be able to make their pockets fuller, the insurance companies happier and the American people more in the dark.
Let’s add hysteria caused by the irresponsible media and you have the perfect flim flam.
I would like to take this time to tell the planners that if you are revamping the Affordable Health Care Act, make sure it truly is affordable — and maybe this time you can address the following:
• Dental care — because the average cost of a filling is more painful than root canal.
• Reigning in hospital bills— because a hospital shouldn’t charge $15 per Tylenol pill, for a total of $345 during average patient stay.
• And Big Pharma — if you can get an antidote for an overdose for free, cancer medications should be the same. They both save lives.
Not for Nuthin, I’m tired of the flim-flam. Hope you all had a great Fourth of July!
Follow me on Twitter @JDelBuono.
