The right has been amazingly energized by their fight against healthcare reform. They think they are winning the battle.
The left has become much more complacent, relying upon our electoral victories as if the job was already done.
But it isn't.
The right is correct, we are aiming at a deep change in our country, and a refocusing of values.
Strengthening the focus on solidarity and compassion for the least advantaged, and weakening the focus on individual and corporate earnings at the top of the income scale.
This is a major social change, not jut political change.
It cannot be accomplished by elected officials alone.
If we do not recover the same grassroots fervor and activism that we evidenced during the campaign, our opportunity may pass, and we may be mired in a swamp of discord as health reform scare stories take root.
The campaign was tiring, but there has been time to recover.
The media is more interested in the horserace than the substance of the program, and ordinary people have real questions that need answered which have not been answered. This provides the perfect breeding ground for paranoid rumors.
Much as we would like to have a charisma-driven image campaign, that won't work here. People need more facts. Maybe not every last detail, but more of a basic understanding of:
- How much post-reform healthcare will cost me?
- Where are the projected savings going to come from?
- The fact that no one is talking about the financial outcomes for individuals is odd, to say the least.
- The issue of cost savings very complex question, but one could reduce this to a list of 10 points, with estimated numbers. The anti-reform forces are saying that savings will come from reduced care, and we have to have solid arguments, not just aghast faces to oppose them with.
In any case we have excellent resources.
In Organizing for America and other organizations, we have well-constructed channels with substantial resources.
No one said that turning our country around was going to be easy, and now is the time to become active again, to become involved reaching our neighbors one by one by phone, at events, and door-to-door, educating and identifying supporters.
If we are going to take our country back, WE have to take it back.