"I remain unconvinced that the perfect should become the enemy of the good".

I'm not even sure that this new sausage is really what one in fairness would call "good". You have a lot more faith in government than I do.

I just pointed out that there are irreconcilable goals here and that good legislation would perforce need to step on somebody's toes. ..unless you believe in fairy tales. AMA, Big Pharma, and insurance companies' imprimaturs would logically indicate that the legislation flawed or unaffordable, and that the toes being stepped on are the public's. Don't forget the individual mandates...to purchase private, for profit health insurance. The union of corporate and government interests is called Fascism.

If this is the best that 60 Democratic senators and a "liberal" Democratic president can come up with, I'd say we need to set our sights higher and get rid of some of these "Democrats".