“Washington is the only place in the country that doesn’t realize that this debate is over.”Gov. Bobby Jindal has apparently joined my opinion editor in a boycott of cable news, because the debate couldn’t be further from finished.In an Op-Ed for the Washington Post yesterday, Jindal attempted to pitch conservative ideas on how best to accomplish health care reform.In the big picture, he’s absolutely correct in trying to reach out to Democrats to get a bill passed for the American people. The tone in Washington on health care went from a tepid murmur to a high-pitched whine last summer, best exemplified by Joe “You Lie” Wilson’s disgusting outburst at the president’s joint session of Congress.But Jindal’s foray into national politics leaves much to be desired and much more about which to complain.”The debate on health care has moved on,” Jindal wrote. “Democratic plans for a government takeover are passé. The people don’t want it. Believe the polls, the town halls, the voters.”A few key points:Democratic plans for a government takeover never existed. The government isn’t trying to push HMO’s out of business. If they did, the health care bill would mandate single-payer, “Medicare-for-all” style reform, instead of the choice of a public option to compete with private insurance companies.If you fear government intruding in the private sector in terms of competition, good luck trying to FedEx a letter.The people do want reform. I, for one, believe the polls, especially the most recent CBS News/Washington Post poll citing 65 percent of those surveyed favor the choice of a government-administered health insurance plan.”Hope for meaningful reform need not be lost,” he continued. “Only two things need to happen. First, Democrats have to give up on their grand experiment and get serious about bipartisan solutions. Second, Republicans have to join the battle of ideas.”Mr. Governor, you’re a governor. You’re not in the Congress. You’re not a legislative member of the “Party of No.” Congressional Republicans are only trying to kill health reform to make Obama look bad. So much for what’s best for the country.Republicans can’t “join the battle of ideas” if they don’t have any. Tax cuts aren’t an idea, they’re a brain-dead mantra of the richest 1 percent.Jindal proceeds to offer 10 ideas to “increase the affordability and quality of health care.” Eight of these ideas are already included in the Democratic health care bill, including refundable tax credits for the uninsured.President Obama campaigned on digitizing medical records, requiring coverage of pre-existing conditions, transparency, covering young adults, portability and voluntary purchasing pools. The last one is the public option, which many Americans don’t realize is an option, not a mandate.One of his ideas, rewarding healthy lifestyle choices with premium rebates, amounts to discrimination based on health, not entirely unlike current industry practices of barring or dropping coverage for pre-existing conditions.Eliminating discrimination based on pre-existing conditions has broad bipartisan support — although it wouldn’t show from Republicans in Congress, who simply seek to make the president and Democrats look foolish by making up lies about health care reform.The level of hypocrisy shown by Jindal in presenting “Republican” ideas for health reform is mind-boggling.No, it’s not. That’s too nice. For now, we’ll call it “Jindalian.”Nowhere does he address the near-crime of more than 46 million uninsured Americans, or even mention local efforts to improve health care for Louisianians.As the governor of Louisiana, Jindal needs to stop pretending he cares about the issues his constituents face.He already knows he has Louisiana locked up in his inevitable run for the White House.Eric Freeman Jr. is a 22-year-old political science senior from New Orleans. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_efreeman.—-Contact Eric Freeman Jr. at [email protected]