and I don't hate the people who support her. I don't hate Slink, or Eve, or any their supporters. I don't agree with their message, and I certainly don't agree with their methods(or their choice of partners), but it's not personal. I don't hate Cerk, and I have an enduring amount of respect for Glenn Greenwald.
I am not a villager, nor a DLC supporter. I think Rahm, Lieberman, Bachus, Nelson, et el can suck it, and I prefer the house bill over the senate bill{except for the anti-choice language: WTF is that all about?}. As a matter of fact, I'd like to see single payer for everyone.
I'm as liberal as anyone here, and @ least as progressive as anyone you know.
But, I am deeply disappointed by Jane's efforts. While I certainly believe that we, as progressives, should be putting pressure on congress to adopt a more reasonable bill, I don't believe that we should burn the house down in order to do it.
My argument is three-fold.
First, I believe that failure to pass some sort of heath care bill would be political suicide. The democrats would lose the house, and perhaps the senate, and the progressive political agenda would be hamstrung at least until 2012.
Want progressive judges on the supreme court? You can forget about that. An empowered GOP will wipe the floor with any candidates President Obama puts forth. Want better, more progressive labour laws? More regulation of financial institution? More support for the poor?
Who do you think will be passing that? Who do you think will be left?
Second, While the senate bill, as it stands, is far less then perfect, it will provide healthcare for 30 millions Americans who currently lack it. It will stop odious practices like 'pre-existing condition' dodges, and it will build community-minded projects like Bernie Sander's Community Clinics. That, in of itself, is better then the current system.
I want more. I really do. But if we can get that much, then we'll be that much better off. I remember a provarb my mother taught me
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
This bill will be second bite(the first being Medicare). If we're strong, if we're united, we can get there. If we're not, we just can't. Those are the cold & hard facts.
Third, the FDL civil fracas is distracting us from useful action. Rather then pressuring Lieberman, Nelson, et el to accept compromises, we're getting into bed with tea baggers, fighting amongst ourselves, and generally wasting our energy and our money. Those ads that Jane is running against the most progressive member of the senate(Sander)? Why can't we focus that money & creative energy at the asshats who are the
real
problem, like Lieberman? that would make it much more likely that he'd be willing to compromise with the house bill. As it stands, he's probably giggling himself to sleep every night, because we're so busy attacking reach other we haven't noticed him.
Finally, I'd like to apologize to anyone I've had unkind exchanges with over the last week. Tempers flair, and I'm as prone to a snark-off as anyone. But I'm trying.