One Man's Perspective: What's going on behind those doors?

It's hard to see all the transparency behind the closed doors.

I remember a certain political candidate who said during the 2008 Presidential campaign that his would be an administration of transparency.

I understand that transparency only goes so far in government dealings. After all, there are matters of national security that require an amount of secrecy and covert behavior.

But the bludgeoning of the health care system does not fall into that category.

I don't think anybody who knows me would suspect that I voted for President Barack Obama. In case you don't know me, I didn't. But that's not to say that I didn't agree with some of the things he said while he was pursuing the office. One of the things that he suggested was that the health care industry had become a financial hardship for many and needed to be looked at.

No argument there. The average person with a serious medical problem could find themselves sitting in bankruptcy court and there's something not right about that. So yes, I agree there are some issues that need to be addressed.

And I was even more impressed when he suggested that solving the health care problems would involve bringing together those in the respective fields associated with the health care industry, sitting them down together and having them help come up with solutions to some of those problems that the system faces. The President even suggested that such discussions should be available for public viewing - a new spirit of transparency in politics.

Thumbs up. Transparency. Industry experts working together. The government listening and asking questions - taking advice and input from those who truly understand the problems on a daily basis. It all sounded good.

Then he got elected. And all that went away.

No listening. No transparency. No public involvement.

It became a matter of sweet deals replacing moral beliefs, state leaders getting greased for their vote. The experts and industry leaders were ignored. The House and Senate met behind closed doors - solid doors, no windows, no transparency - and came up with bills and secret deals.

Even today, as the two sides meet to try and reach some kind of consensus that will put a monster overhaul of the medical industry - a takeover not to be confused with a reform; even now the public is being kept in the dark.

TV representatives asked to be allowed inside these discussions which will have a huge impact on U.S. citizens and were denied access to broadcast.

Where were the experts in this process? Where was the bipartisanship? Where was, and is, the transparency we were all promised?

And perhaps the most horrific question - what kind of monster are these Capitol Hill Dr. Frankenstien's cooking up in their secret meetings. I can only hope that we don't have people screaming in horror and running through the street's when the evil scientists finally shove the office doors open and Washington's newest monster bill is turned loose on the people.