Compromise?

I have a problem with things being done the wrong way.

First Example, Gambling in Ohio:
There have been a number of issues on the ballot here in Ohio over the last few years about legalizing gambling. Personally I think this is a fine idea, put in something resembling the liquor control board: license it, tax it, police it. The people that want to gamble can and they can do so legally, fairly and the state can get some revenue out of it. Everyone wins.

Well the versions of the bills that have been on the ballot are nowhere near that simple. One of the first ones would have setup a monopoly. The latest one (that did finally pass) specifies only a few specific places that a specific type of casino can be built.

I finally voted for the last one. The others were not what I thought would be a "good" or "fair" way to do it. I didn't think the last one was necessarily a good way to do it, but at least it seemed fair.

I am running into the same ideological problem on lots of other political fronts.

Climate Change Legislation:
Cap and Trade is a lousy way to do some good and has lots of problems. But it is at least a try. Do I think we will be able to get better legislation? No, probably not. Will it actually do any good? I don't think so, there are so many ways to game the system and such big financial incentives to do so. Will it do any harm? I don't think it will do any harm, and I do think it will make it easier to pass more climate change legislation in the future.

Heath Care Reform:
Pretty much the same thing as for the Climate Change Legislation. Most of the current bills in congress are barely even a "change" let alone "reform". In this case I don't even know if they are a move in the right direction. I'm a fan of a Single-Payer System. I really don't see that Health Care should be run as a "For Profit" system.

The biggest "problem" is that we keep finding better and better treatments and those treatments keep getting more expensive. As this continues even middle-class people won't be able to afford health care, just because health care will cost so much. The only way I can see out of this future is to stop running it as a for-profit business. That will lower the price some, but the big advantage is spread the super-large cost over the entire population. I really believe this is the only way that it can be paid for in the time frame of the next 50 years.

So, I don't even know if any of the current bills are even a step closer to Universal Health Care. They don't address the flawed pay-per-service paradigm. They will make the insurance companies even more money. And almost everyone agrees it will cost more.

On the plus side there will be fewer uninsured people and everyone's health care will be of better quality, hopefully getting rid of term "Under Insured".

But do I support something that I don't feel is moving in the right direction? Even if I think that quite a lot of good will come from it?

I don't mind building things piecemeal. But, how can I support the steps when I feel they are going the wrong direction and there is no "overall plan" to look at to see if the direction comes back around to the "right" way eventually?

Don't say "faith" as that is just a cop out. You might as well say "wish". If I take a look at the general direction of legislation here in the US of A since we started I would have to say that we have moved in what I consider the "right" direction. So given this fact I suppose that I should support legislation that addresses some current problems even if I disagree with the long term direction since the electorate has shown that it will do the "right thing" eventually (often kicking and screaming, much like the Tea-Baggers are now...).