Recently, I’ve had a few discussions with friends regarding the current Senate health care bill. Is the death of the public option ok, since it got Medicare eligibility lowered to 55? That helps some people, right? More than are helped now, right? So that’s good, right?
Wrong. We have apparently been subjected to the obstructionist policies of the right wing for so long that we now have some form of Stockholm Syndrome. They toss us some scraps in the guise of “reform,” and we are thankful. Though every day the bill moves further and further away from anything resembling actual reform, still we are so thankful to get whatever crumbs the Right deigns to allow us.
Why should we be thankful? That they’ve watered down the bill enough that it doesn’t deserve the word “reform”? That our own representatives (with a very few exceptions) never even TRIED for a single-payer system, that they just wimped out and “settled” for less right from the start?
My friends are intelligent, educated, and well-meaning. But I must respectfully point out that they are playing right into the Right’s hand, behaving like good little Democrats who take the beating they are given and then say “Please sir may I have another?”
If we never fight for the highest, fullest goal that will bring about true change, then how can we possibly ever achieve it? If we say, “that’s not realistic,” then how can it ever be? We are cutting off our own hands by not even trying.
If we had started out with single payer as our stated goal, then a strong public option might have been a reasonable compromise. But we didn’t do that. We gave up before the fight even started. And let me tell you, right or wrong, turning the other cheek and “reaching across the aisle” doesn’t mean squat to the Right. It only shows that we are weak and defeatable, that they don’t have to take us seriously, that they can bulldoze whatever they want through either house and will get it in the end.
These friends of mine will say I’m too idealistic. As if that is an insult! It is only by striving for our ideals that we can make them reality. Yes, we must compromise along the way and take baby steps — but on the bottom line we are still aiming for the highest goals. Sadly, being idealistic (on the Left) is not viewed as a viable option. It is instead akin to being a naieve dreamer.
But someone has to dream, and someone has to fight to make that dream come true.
hear, hear!
Hello! What world are you living in? Please help me understand in my idiocy how the Right is bulldozing anything through Congress. It is the Democrats who are in charge of both houses. It is the Democrats who can’t agree to vote together on this and many other bills. It is the Democrats who refused to even let the Republicans participate in the initial negotiations on this bill. For the definition of bulldozing, watch this video.
Ah, my (all)good friend Sam! My bulldozing comment wasn’t meant to be aimed specifically at health care; it was more a reference to actions taken when the Republicans were the majority — but I can see how you took it that way.
The point of this post isn’t aimed at the Right; it’s aimed squarely at the Left. Most of the Democrats are useless, and I am really tired of being stuck with them to “represent” me. They have no honor.
I feel the same way about the Republicans. The health care bill isn’t about health care, anyhow. It’s about more government control, which is what both parties have been pushing for.
See, we can agree on some things!!!!
Although, of course, I am all for a government-run, single payer system. I know you are not, and that’s ok. At least we agree that neither party is doing its job representing the people!
I worked in Florida for 3 years with USAF and have been following the HC debate from Canada. I think the US will finally pull off something good. The cost seems high – $900B over ten years. But the math works out to $25 per person per month. Seems do-able. But I do find the language used funny. The reform is not Health Care, it is Health Insurance reform. I find it strange that the same people who say “I don’t want Government controlling my health care” are content to accept the Insurance Industry controlling their health care. I also shudder at the levels of dis-information carried on during the leadup debates. “Keep your government hands off my Medicare” must be some kind of classic. Anyway I do hope this works out well for the nation, good luck and Merry Christmas to you all!