In the world of Greco-Roman wrestling a “full nelson” is a grappling hold executed from behind in which the wrestler encircles his opponent’s arms under the arm pits and then secures his hands on the back of his opponent’s neck. It’s a dangerous hold because of the physical damage it can inflict and therefore is banned in amateur wrestling.

Political wrestling, on the other hand, is a different matter and in Washington, DC no holds are barred. It is here, in the person of Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, that one can fully appreciate the excruciating agony of being locked in a “full nelson”because that is precisely what the Senator has done to the people of Nebraska and the nation.

Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), the final Democratic holdout on health care, was prepared to announce to his caucus Saturday morning that he would support the Senate reform bill, clearing the way for final passage by Christmas.

“We’re there,” said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), as he headed into a special meeting to announce the deal.

Democratic leaders spent days trying to hammer out a deal with Nelson, and worked late Friday night with Nelson on abortion coverage language that had proved the major stumbling block. But Nelson also secured other favors for his home state.

Asked if he was prepared to support the bill, Nelson said, “Yeah.”

I’m not a bit surprised, as I predicted that Nelson would ultimately go along with his comrades. It wasn’t really the abortion language that twisted his arm - it was the threat to shut down Offut Air Force Base, a move that would put thousands of people out of work at a time when unemployment continues to rise in every state nationwide. That was the stick. It’s a sure bet the carrot came in the form of a grab bag of goodies that he can dole out in the next couple of years to help Nebraska voters forget his treachery.

Will they really forget? Of course they will. One of the things to which we must reconcile ourselves is the unfortunate fact that the average American voter is an idiot with a colander for a brain. As long as “Dancing with the Stars” and “Jersey Shore” are being broadcast on television and gee-whiz CGI spectacles like “Avatar” are being shown in IMax theatres, the majority of the electorate in this once great republic will be lulled back to sleep as their nation is pulled out from under them.

Instead of a public option, the final product would allow private firms for the first time to offer national insurance policies to all Americans, outside the jurisdiction of state regulations. Those plans would be negotiated through the Office of Personnel Management, the same agency that handles health coverage for federal workers and members of Congress.

Starting immediately, insurers would be prohibited from denying children coverage for pre-existing conditions. A complete ban on the practice would take effect in 2014, when the legislation seeks to create a network of state-based insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, where people who lack access to affordable coverage through an insurer can purchase policies.

While it is certainly laudable that insurers will be permitted to sell insurance across state lines, this provision is rendered more or less null by requiring insurers to accept customers with pre-existing conditions. If I had to make a bet I would wager that they will likewise be prohibited from increasing the premium for this type of coverage. This means the cost of care for individuals with pre-existing conditions will have to be spread out among all the other customers, thereby increasing their premiums. How easy will it be to increase the rates? Not every easy:

Insurers competing in the exchanges would be required to justify rate increases, and those who jacked up prices unduly could be barred from the exchange. Reid’s package also would give patients the right to appeal to an independent board if an insurer denies a medical claim. And all insurance companies would be required to spend at least 80 cents of every dollary they collect in premiums on delivering care to their customers.

There you have it…government micromanagement at its worst. You can bet that the authority overseeing rate increases will be an arm of Congress populated by liberal Democrats who will automatically refuse any rate increase - regardless of the justification - that is, unless the insurer is willing to crawl into bed with the Democrat Party as a willing political sex toy.

By compelling insurance companies to spend a minimum of 80% of their gross income on health care delivery, Congress is hamstringing insurers with an arbitrary mandate completely divorced from the reality of the business universe. What if an insurer is able to deliver excellent health care with only 70% of every premium dollar? In a normal world the extra 10% would devolve to the employees in the form of higher salaries and bonuses or to the shareholders in the form of higher dividends. Under Reid’s plan, however, they would be compelled to spend it - regardless of the fact that all of the customers’ needs have been met.

On the other hand, companies whose overhead consumes more than 20% of every dollar they collect will be obliged to cut back on expenses in order to comply with the mandate; ultimately, salaries will be slashed, bonuses eliminated and employees laid off. The end result will be what the Democrats have wanted all along: the diminution and eventual extinction of private insurers with the exception of the largest ones who would be made an offer they could not refuse.

But why on earth would any private company be willing to become a wholly owned subsidiary of the federal government? Guaranteed business and guaranteed income is the answer, my friends.

But what if people simply refuse to purchase health insurance? Surely the insurance companies cannot compel them to do so.

That is true. The companies cannot - but Congress can. For their part, Americans would get their first taste of fascist corporatism, courtesy of Harry Reid and company.

Every American would be required to obtain coverage under the proposal, and employers would be required to pay a fine if they failed to offer affordable coverage and their workers sought federal subsidies to purchase insurance in the exchanges. Reid’s package would offer additional assistance to the smallest businesses, however, increasing tax credits to purchase coverage by $12 billion over previous versions.

In what amounts to an anti-constitutional double-whammy, Americans would be compelled - under threat of fine and/or imprisonment - to purchase that which they may not want to purchase. For their part, small businesses will be compelled to provide their employees with federally subsidized health insurance - whether they can afford it or not. In order to make ends meet, many of them will be forced to lay off lower-tier workers to spare the expense of insuring them.

The overall cost of the package was not immediately available, but aides said it would be more than covered by cutting future Medicare spending and raising taxes in the health sector, including a 40 percent excise on the most expensive insurance policies. The package would reduce budget deficits by $130 billion by 2019, aides said, and by as much as $650 billion in the decade thereafter.

I’m sure the superannuated idiots who comprise the senior citizen segment of the electoral demographic will be delighted with this provision. Sorry, grandma. Adios, grandpa. You and your fellow geezers and biddies - who for years voted Democrat because you labor under the delusion that FDR is still alive and well in the party he corrupted - can now live (die, actually) with the knowledge that you have been had by the party of “compassion.”

And you union thugs will have to get used to forking over an additional 40% for your Cadillac plans. How’s that hope and change working out for you morons?

Reid officially filed the package early Saturday with plans to hold a first critical vote after midnight Sunday. Barring unexpected delays, Democrats were still hoping to push the package to final passage by Christmas Eve.

Here’s how it will go down, folks: all of the Democrats will support the bill. All of the Republicans - including Frick and Frack of Maine - will oppose it. Mitch McConnell will employ every parliamentary maneuver he can devise to gum up and delay passage of the bill. He will be thwarted by Reid, who will instruct the Senate parliamentarian to flush the rules of order down the nearest toilet.

The bill will pass on Christmas Eve - an ironic holiday present for the United States tantamount to a dirty stocking full of poisoned coal. For their part, the electorate will not realize what has happened to them until it’s too late to do anything about it.

Oh, to be sure, the Tea Party Movement will continue to gain strength and momentum - especially after this abomination clears the Senate - but its effect will be negligible when it comes to stopping Congress from a continued rampage through the Constitution. As I pointed out elsewhere, they don’t care what we think or what we want. They are determined to lay the foundation for a socialist oligarchy in the course of the next year and it doesn’t matter a whit to them how many of their number go down next November. They know the only way any of this can be reversed is if the American people have the sense to elect veto-proof majorities of Reagan Republicans in both Houses - and that ain’t gonna happen, folks.

The best we can realistically hope for is a 50/50 split in the Senate and a bare majority in the House - enough to slow things down but not enough to destroy the cancerous legislative tumors that will continue to metastasize over the next two years. Mark your calendars for December 24. It will be the eve we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and observe the beginning of the end of the republic as we have known it.

Merry Christmas! Humbug.