The push to "get something done" on health care no matter what front group is pushing it, comes ultimately from Democratic Party leaders who think that if they pass the Senate version, the lowest possible entity, they can call it reform and be done. (Think lipstick on a pig.)
Then, these leaders believe, the Party will enjoy the best of both worlds, support at election time from the voters for 'getting something done' and tons of cash from the insurance and drug companies and HMOs. Enough cash to help bury the Republicans once and for all. And that is why not one Republican will support the Senate bill even though it clearly benefits their corporate crony friends in the health insurance industry.
If passed, the Senate bill would contribute substantially to the demise of the Republican Party and bring the country closer to one-party rule alla Mexico and Japan.
What we’ve been witnessing in the Congress over most of the past year, is not so much a fight about health care, but rather a battle royal over who will get the lion's share of corporate cash during the next decade. And it’s a battle, Democrats have been winning.
According to OpenSecrets.org, in 2008, candidate Obama collected $745 million Vs McCain’s $368 million. And for the 2010 Congressional fundraising season, the Democrats in the House and Senate already have collected $333 million, 25% more than Republicans. And these differences are likely to expand, unless Massachusetts changes things.
So contrary to what the liberal media says (and some progressives think), the Democratic leadership and the Obama administration are not cowards, not stupid, not misguided, too polite or spineless--though many Congressional progressives might deserve that latter name. The Party leadership and the President know exactly what they want--money, and they are pursuing it relentlessly and ruthlessly. And as the numbers cited above show, with great success!
So I oppose the sham Democratic health insurance reform plans in the House and Senate not only because they are bad for the people and the country, not only for moral, medical, social, and financial reasons, but also because of the political damage they will do to the country.
If the Democrats win on this, they will assume they have boarded a high speed money train and will continue their corporate friendly public-private reforms that will rush past their Republican opponents still riding in their old fashioned locomotives.
It will also leave the Democratic base of working and middle class voters stranded at run-down stations in the run-down cities, suburbs and villages across America still waiting for the humane health care system they deserve.
Bill Bianchi
Progressive Democrats of America-Illinois