By Travis Johnson

•Health Care Costs Too Much.

•To Many Americans Who Want Health Care can’t afford it.

For a over a year, a great portion of the American polity has dedicated its time to addressing those two statements. Thousands of speeches, millions of pages of text and who-knows-how-many bytes of data have been generated to express the feelings of those on both sides of the aisle. Our political system has ground nearly to a halt amidst the debate.

Health care reform is not a new issue. Teddy Roosevelt sparred with his opponents on the topic over century ago. Harry Truman tried reforming the system. Bill and Hillary Clinton tried it. Since we’re still talking about it, I think we know just how much success any of those folks had.

Now, into this fray comes President Barack Obama who, after more than year’s worth of debate (during his Administration) has waded into the debate and is, today, holding a one-day, bipartisan Health Care symposium to cut through the muck and solve this problem. One-day. To solve a century-old problem. Some would say that this the kind of bold action that needs to be taken if we’re ever going to make progress. “Fortune favors the bold” someone once said. I believe someone looking at this plan would not see it as “bold,” but see it for what it is: naive.

Democrats have criticized Senator Orrin Hatch and other Republicans who have said we should toss out the 2,000+ page documents supported by the Democratic leaders of the Senate and House, as well as the White House’s Frankenstein’s Monster which blends the worst of both documents and start over. Lamar Alexander argued fairly persuasively for starting over today at the White House Symposium:

But here’s what I predict will happen at the end of the day: Democrats will say Republicans didn’t listen to them. Republicans will say Democrats didn’t listen to them. The Democrats will then try to pass Health Care Reform through Reconciliation. Shouting will then recommence.

I’m sure those of you have children or who have younger siblings recognize this as the HHMNHHMF Cycle: The “He Hit Me…No He Hit Me First” Cycle. Often that Cycle ends with both kids shouting for a Grown-up to break it up and find a solution for everyone. Other times it ends in fisticuffs which a grown-up then has to break-up.

On behalf of everyone, I’m officially calling for a Grown-Up. The Grown-Up Solution is what I asked for back in August and am asking for now. We need this entire process to be taken out of the hands of politicians and put back into the hands of people who know these issues. A bipartisan commission led by Medical professionals who have been public policy experts would bring a gravitas that no politicized symposium cold ever have, no matter how “bi-partisan.” They should be given a year and told that at the end of that year, they should provide Congress with a series of suggested remedies to the Health Care crisis. Then Congress can haggle over how much we can afford to do and in what time frame. But there would be no question about the sincerity or the necessity of the proposals.

America Needs the “Grown-UP Solution.” Who’s with me?

Travis Johson  is the Founder of Republicans United a group seeking to bring the “Big Tent” back to the Republican Party.