Most folks know only three things about lemmings: 1) they’re sometimes in a hurry, 2) it’s always for a collective enterprise, and 3) a precipice is generally involved.

Answers to these questions are sometimes baldly, offensively obvious. The stock-in-trade of Congress is the political deal promising appropriations to a district, as in the case of (non-defensive) Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana.  Personal reward also looms large, especially for the soon-to-retire.  Michael Barone in The Washington Examiner pointedly observes that a $174,000 Congressional salary is easily exchanged for upwards of $741,000 made by trade association leaders.  Alternatively, there is the use of threat, now alleged to have reached terrifying proportions, as Nebraska’s Sen. Ben Nelson finds Offutt Air Force Base (of SAC fame) on the altar.  National Security be damned.

But only one motive is weighty enough to drive this bizarre stampede, and that is CONTROL.  A good wrestler knows that the difference between final victory or defeat may depend on one more inch of leverage achieved by his left elbow.  When the tipping point arrives, the leverage is sufficient, and it’s checkmate. “We are in a define-or-be-defined occupation”, says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  ANY healthcare bill that scrapes by will redefine the terms of the healthcare debate for all time - with the Government in charge.  Once freedom is gone, it’s gone.  Mop-up operations may be done at leisure.