When asked about the politics of "compromise" in an interview on the bus in New Hampshire yesterday, John Edwards hit the nail on the head:
"My view is, you give them a seat at the table, they eat all the food! You cannot compromise with these people. When you negotiate with them, they win. You have to beat them. You have to take them on."
We need real change. Come around after the fold for more.
The entire Edwards family has been on the bus in New Hampshire this week. Here is part of their daughter Cate's blog report about a discussion at Elliot Hospital in Manchester yesterday with voters who had real concerns about the state of health care, and the ability to pay for it, in America today:
Talking About Health Care
Cate Edwards
8/24/2007 at 2:35 PM EST
The people at the table told their stories: about the bottomless pit of bills for long term care of an Alzheimer patient, about having to move to a small one-bedroom apartment because they couldn't afford their health expenses on Social Security alone, about having trouble getting properly medicated and paying for medication in the VA health system, about having to live with diabetes and trying to cut back on medication to make their health care affordable.
Dad told them about his universal health care plan, his plan for stem cell research, his plan to protect Social Security and make retirement more secure, and his plan to take on the big drug companies and insurance companies and be a president who fights for them. Judging by the nods, cheers, and occasional smiles, I think they left that room more heartened than they had entered it. And I know they liked Dad's health care plan.
snip
As Dad took questions, I continued to watch him, beaming and shouting, "I like that!" in response to Dad's plan to pay for universal care by rolling back Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.
Cate Edwards
To get that real change in heath care and in the many other areas where we so desperately need it, we have to have a leader who will fight the entrenched interests for and with us. Why? Because the game is rigged against regular Americans and in favor of the wealthy.
It's not just that the answers of the past aren't up to the job today, it's that the system that produced them was corrupt -- and still is. It's controlled by big corporations, the lobbyists they hire to protect their bottom line and the politicians who curry their favor and carry their water. And it's perpetuated by a media that too often fawns over the establishment, but fails to seriously cover the challenges we face or the solutions being proposed. This is the game of American politics and in this game, the interests of regular Americans don't stand a chance.
Real change starts with being honest. At the end of the day, it's rigged by all those who benefit from the established order of things. For them, more of the same means more money and more power. They'll do anything they can to keep things just the way they are -- not for the country, but for themselves.
End the Game
Those who have taken so much from so many under Bush will not give it up without a fight. We all know that. As John Edwards said: "give them a seat at the table, they eat all the food!" The battle for change does not end when we elect John Edwards. It just begins!
Today, John Edwards is again calling for trade and economic policies that put workers and regular families – not corporations – first.
"For too long, corporations and their lobbyists have written our trade and economic policies at the expense of workers," Senator John Edwards said. "We need to reject these failed policies of the past. It is time to put workers and families first with a trade policy that is as innovative as the American people.
"People across America, and here in the North Country, have been really hurt by unfair trade and economic policies that only reward those at the top," Edwards continued. "That is why I am fighting to take our country in a new direction: towards one America where every family has a fair shot at the American Dream."
Reward Work And Put Families -- Not Corporations -- First
John Edwards is right: "You have to beat them. You have to take them on." Let's all work and do just that!