Opinion: A Health Reform Lesson From 1980

(March 16) -- After a bruising battle in Congress, a Democratic majority was poised to pass some significant, albeit compromised, legislation, and then an election changed the political equation. Suddenly, the Democrats were faced with the prospect of not only not passing it any time soon, but perhaps never passing it.

No, I'm not talking about health care today. Rather, this situation occurred exactly 30 years ago. But the key thing is that the Democrats faced political reality, passed their legislation and never looked back. The history of that event provides an obvious lesson to the current Democratic Congress.

The 1980 story involved what came to be known as the Alaska Lands Bill.

The story begins with Alaska statehood in 1959 and the subsequent debates over how much of that gorgeous, resource-laden state was to be open to development. In 1971, Congress set aside a significant portion of Alaska's 375 million acres for native Alaskans, but it also mandated that policymakers decide by 1978 what to do with nearly 100 million other acres that many viewed as possible conservation areas.

As the 1978 deadline approached, battle lines between conservationists and pro-development forces hardened. Even though those seeking protection for these lands had numbers, opponents had the filibuster. And they used it. President Jimmy Carter used his power as chief executive to set aside 80 million acres as national monuments.

But the debate continued. By the end of 1980, both houses had passed a bill, the House version was quite a bit stronger than the one senators had been able to get past the filibusters. Sound familiar?

Conference talks fell apart as members of the House were unwilling to accept the weaker bill. Then in November 1980, Americans elected President Ronald Reagan and a Republican Senate. During the campaign, candidate Reagan had blasted the potential Alaska bill as a "lock-up" of valuable resources. After the election and before the victors took office, House Democrats, led by Morris Udall, acquiesced and passed the Senate bill. As Udall said at the time, "I don't believe this is a perfect bill, it's just political reality that we act now."

The parallels to today's situation are obvious.

After the Massachusetts election of Scott Brown as the 41st Republican, thus guaranteeing a filibuster of future attempts at passing health care, the Democrats are again split between a strong House bill and a weaker, although still substantial Senate bill.

With President Barack Obama's modifications, the current proposal accomplishes many of the things that he, a majority of Democrats and indeed a majority of Americans want in health care reform. Some may say that pushing a bill through now is somehow unethical, but in a time of demonizing and minority obstructionism, these charges ring hollow.

If the Democrats really want health care reform, they should heed Udall's comment. It's political reality. Act now.

William Lowry is a professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis and the author of several books on energy and environmental policy issues. He teaches a course on how the American political system is influenced by energy and environmental issues.

To submit an op-ed to AOL News, write to opinion@aolnews.com.