If the Republicans and Democrats could have gotten together on even a Step One healthcare reform bill, I think reasonable people would have approved — I almost wrote “would have been happy,” but I realize that’s a naive idea. The fact is, the Republicans sort-of participated in this long process — all the while denying they were doing so and reserving the option of trashing the process and its product.

While Congressional Democrats may have had their fingers crossed while appearing to collaborate with Republicans on a bill, I believe President Obama has bent over backwards to try to generate a bipartisan process. I think reasonable people would have to acknowledge this. I don’t expect unreasonable partisans to agree. So be it.

Whatever happens next in Congress, the ridiculous political battle over whether to fix a clearly broken healthcare system will no doubt continue. Standing where I do, independent and desperate to clean up our broken political system, I’m ready to support the Healthcare Reform Act of 2010 in its reconciled form. And I’m ready to campaign and vote for any candidate who promises to be independent from boneheaded, ideological Democrat or Republican partisanship.