That's the Calvera Principle, first expressed by Eli Wallach in "The Magnificent Seven. Since 1876, the Republican Party has waged a relentless class war based on the Calvera Principle. All the eloquent rage expressed every day on this website and others means nothing unless we are as organized and disciplined in defending the interests of the middle class as the Republicans are in trampling on them.
One characteristic of a people who have become sheep is an inability to stay focused on an issue - or an outrage - for more than the time it takes for something else to distract attention. The rapid fading of Nataline Sarkisyan from the public's consciousness, including that of Daily Kos, is a symptom of our collective sheephood.
Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee, weighed in about the Sarkisyan case on December 21. What happened to Nataline Sarkisyan is "a horrific tragedy that demonstrates what is so fundamentally wrong with our health care system today. Insurance companies have a stranglehold on our health. Their first priority is to make profits for their shareholders – and the way they do that is by denying care."
DeMoro added, "It is simply not possible to organize major protests every time a multi-billion corporation like CIGNA denies care that has been recommended by a physician," DeMoro said. "Having insurance is not the same as receiving needed care. We need a fundamental change in our healthcare system that takes control away from the insurance giants and places it where it belongs – in the hands of the medical professionals, the patients, and their families."
That was 10 days ago. The power of HMOs, Managed Care Organizaions, and ealth insurance companies to deny life-saving health care in the name of corporate profit has not diminished since Nataline Sarkisyan died. But our attention, as in so many other areas, HAS diminished. Instead of discussing strategies to recreate the countervailing power that can take on these criminal interests, progressive bloggers are doing what we always do - flitting on to the latest thing that grabs our attention.
I could simply express my own outrage and then move on myself, but I will close by suggesting that others do what I do constantly: call and write to Senators, Congressmen, and news outlets - congratulating them for saying and doing the right thing, and excoriating them for doing the wrong thing. As always, I will stick to the same few themes - health care reform, energy, and the Bill of Rights. And I will stick to the same positions on each of these issues, changing the words only to fit the context of the day.
I have no illusions that anyone I contact is moved to act on what I say. I also know the only reason none of this makes a difference is because so few others do the same. Power responds only to consistent, credible threats to its existence, not inconsistent, unfocused, unORGANIZED gripes.