where are AMERICAN ideas?

yet another entry on the topic of healthcare in this country. i watched the healthcare summit that was conducted between the dems/president and the repubs about two weeks ago. we heard a lot of talk that day and the days after about all the "ideas" in the legislation: obama's, democratic, republican. but i've yet to hear one word about any AMERICAN ideas in the legislation. yes, the republicans showed up with the ever-present line that "the american people want us to scrap this bill and start over," but that wasn't an idea. and quite frankly, starting over doesn't seem very likely to produce real results in this decade if it is what's done.

also, rep. alexander recommended we do it in small steps because "the federal government just doesn't do big well." that may be true, but if we do it in small steps and still end up with the same end result, we only succeeded in spreading out a process that could've been done at once. beyond that, healthcare reform is kind of like a three-legged stool in that it needs to be done at once to stand or else it'll fall over.