This is a short diary, mostly an escape from the "some assembly required" hell that awaits many fathers on Xmas day.
Progressives have leverage right now. Progressives simply don't have to pass what they see as bad legislation, or not good enough legislation.
What does this mean?
It means we are in a position of leverage and that we are well within our rights to employ it to improve the legislation.
If we "just pass the bill", that leverage is GONE! There won't be any incentive for the Conservadems or Republicans to improve the bill. Backlash won't impact Republicans at all in a negative way.
They are going to just point to that really ugly mandate without cost control, and rub it in our faces to their benefit.
That's a reality. It will happen, and they will make the most of it. Count on that.
So that's one element of this.
Another is those Conservadems need us to pass that bill, unless they want to go get Republicans to help them out with it!
What incentive do the Republicans have for doing this?
NONE!! They don't want to own a crap bill, when they can stand pat, not vote for it, and rub it in our faces. Heck, if I were them, I would be totally stoked right now, just praying that Progressives cave and let the turd pass!
Put simply, there will be NO Republican votes for this. NONE, nada, because "just passing a bill" doesn't mean anything if they own it. They get held accountable for it, just as the Conservadems do, and that's advantage to Progressives!
No way they are doing that. None at all.
So then, if they want a bill passed, they need us Progressives to pass it. It's that simple.
Now, let's say we hold firm and a bill does not pass. Who will be on the hook for that next election?
It's not gonna be Progressives because we are holding for the actual reform the Democratic party promised. All that crap about what is possible, don't have the votes, and such is just framing intended to convince Progressives that failure would be their fault.
Folks, this is not true at all. We are not the ones asking for help to screw the American people. Conservadems are doing that. Coin Operated Dems, trying to get Corporate friendly legislation passed.
We have no incentive to do that, just as the Republicans have no incentive to help with any kind of Health Care legislation!
Obama isn't going to allow failure either. If he lean on Progressives, that's going to get ugly because that will align him with the pro-corporate faction of the party, and that's proving to be unpopular. We have a lot of outs inherent in our "good reform or no reform" position, and he knows that.
He would own that bad legislation right along with the Conservadems, and he knows Labor and Progressive netroots put him in office, and he knows we have seen significant gains in the last few years, and finally, the reality is our position is best aligned with popular needs.
We have the high ground people, and we have NO incentive at all to pass bad legislation.
That's the leverage, and it's only in play while these dynamics are in play. Settle, and that's what we get. There won't be any improvement that's meaningful in the future because there won't be incentives to do that, and if we settle for crap, chances are we lose the majority which would be needed to move Progressive legislation through Congress.
If we Progressives, as a movement, cannot apply this leverage because we are scared, ignorant of what it means and how it works, or simply weak, we will be marginalized, mitigating all the gains and rewards that come with that.
And here's the great part!
We don't have to pass crap! That's reality, and we've never really been in this position before, for a lot of reasons, most of them being either Republicans controlled things, or we were too small to make an impact.
This is our moment, this is our time. We are being tested right now, and if we pass, we will have arrived, come of age, and matured into a real, viable political force that puts all the stuff we've worked for on the table proper.
If we bag on this, capitulate, that's all gone!
That is the risk / reward equation.
The worst that could happen, if we stand pat, is they will go ahead and get Republicans to pass a lousy bill. They will own that, and we will hit the streets and grow our numbers off that bad bill, pointing to it and telling people that is case number one as to why voting in more Progressives is a good idea.
The reality of there being no bill after all this debate is ZERO. Obama won't validate Republicans by not passing something.
The best that can happen is we get good cost controls, good regulation, and deflect the attack on women's rights.
This is up to us, nobody else. Stand tall, support your Progressive legislators. Let them know we have their backs, and will go to the mat for good legislation.
Please. Do this. We have so much to gain, and it's never been such a good time to grow our movement and get the rewards we've all worked for.
The only real failure we have is buying into the fear and manipulation. Republicans want us to do this, and the Conservadems want us to do this.
Republicans want all Democrats to fail, so they can run against us. Conservadems want to make their corporate masters happy, and don't want to have to go explain to Democrats why they alone screwed them over, while Progressives are gladly highlighting why they are worth votes.
That's all. Please hold ground. Please ask legislators to get real reform and voice your support for what that is.
We are not going to get single payer, but we very well could get Public Option, Medicare expansion, and at the least cost controls, and funds for preventative health, and preserve our sisters rights.
I'm a father with two daughters and a loving wife. I can't support taking that away from them, and neither should you.
Hold the ground, call, fax, voice your support, and most importantly, talk to those of us who are scared and buying into the fear and manipulation. Divided we fall, united we stand as Progressives.