I am writing because i am in absolute disbelief over what it appears our cowardly and/or blue-dog Democrats are about to do to us and the country.
The idea of forcing people to buy insurance from the same crooks that got us into the current mess is the greatest corporate ReThugs' wet dream. But it's not the ReThugs that are about to pass it, it's the corporate Democrats. It's is surely the greatest stab in the back of the progressive movement since Bill Clinton signed and bragged about signing the welfare deform bill, ending the safety net it took Dems from FDR to LBJ to help create. But even Clinton wasn't conservative enough to fall for this crap. In one of his only productive decisions during his HCR fight, he flatly rejected individual mandates
I don't know whether to laugh or cry when i hear people brag "this bill provides 96% of Americans with health insurance." BULLSHIT! This forces people to buy their insurance, we aren't covering them they are covering themselves! To take credit as if we're "providing" people with some kind of service is a lie, and an outrageous lie at that.
We should fight like hell against any bill that FORCES people to buy any product from crooks, as this one will do without the Public Option.
Individual mandates MUST be accompanied by a robust public option or we're just doing the work of the insurance companies. Why would we do the work of the insurance companies, have we completely lost our minds?
Yes, as everyone will notice and some will criticize me for, i am very angry. I believe we all should be angry when "our" leaders take the side of corporations against citizens, the very citizens who voted them into office!
And yes, I am saying we should absolutely kill this health care deform bill if it includes mandates without a public option. A bad bill is worse than no bill.
Some will say "we can't hurt Obama by killing his priority." But the idea of supporting reform just because it will be bad for Obama & the Dems if it fails unmistakably puts what's best for Obama and the Dems ahead of what's best for the country. And in reality, it will hurt Obama & the Dems more than if reform fails altogether.
If the health care bill only makes the situation for ordinary citizens worse, such as if they go from no insurance to shitty insurance that covers nothing but costs them real money (which is undoubtedly what will happen with the mandate and no PO), Obama and the Dems will pay at the polls. It will be an unmitigated disaster. The ReThugs will be energized by killing real reform, the progressives dispirited from snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. On the other hand, a robust public option that all have access to will be WILDLY popular, and no matter the controversy now, will reap major dividends for it's supporters in future elections, just as Social Security and Medicare did and still do.
Send a message to your democratic representative & to Obama: we will not support a Health Care Deform bill. Give us real reform, or don't expect our support, our votes, or the votes of our progressive representatives in the House & Senate.