Word is that the Whitehouse is preparing to ask the progressives, in the base and in Congress, to be "good soldiers" on healthcare reform. Thus, once again, we are expected to swallow any old piece of shit bill that comes out of negotiations with the Republicans in the Senate, so that the Whitehouse and the Dems in congress can chalk up a "win" on their scoreboard.
Well, unfortunately, I know that the Democratic Party has years of "dry powder" that it has been sitting on for what was supposed to be just this moment. For YEARS, we SOLDIERS have been told that we must keep our powder dry so that we can get healthcare reform.
We soldiers did our part. We got you control of Congress in 2006. We got you the Whitehouse and 60 votes in the Senate in 2008. We put our primary (Hillary vs. Obama, Dean vs. Kerry) differences aside and were "good soldiers" to achieve those gains that our party "generals" said we needed. And along the way, on any other thing we said we really wanted, we were told to put those issues on the backburner because getting healthcare passed was just too important. It is, after all, a life-and-death issue.
You want to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell? Just this year, the Whitehouse has essentailly said that "We have to save our powder and do health reform first before we deal with very politicized issues like that."
You wanna impeach Bush? "Sorry, but we can't 'blow things up' politically right now; we've got to save that powder so we can be all bipartisan and pass healthcare."
You want to investigate torture, put Cheney & his cabal of lawbreakers behind bars, or do anything to hold the Republican party accountable for the crimes it authorized? Sorry, that would cause political polarization and would jeopardize our ability to get healthcare reform passed for millions of American. We have to keep our powder dry.
Well, I've been a "good soldier" on these issues and many more for years. And now the moment is upon us, and We Soldiers were promised a goddamn FIGHT here, now. There should be a hoard of "powder" in our "army's" storehouse. Our cannons should be aimed menacingly at our Republican opponents' fortifications, and we should be standing ready with a match in hand prepared to blow their asses to smithereens if they don't give us healthcare.
But what the hell have we soldiers in the trenches gotten for all our pains? More weakeness, compromise with, and appeasement of those who cannot and will not be appeased: No single-payer, a weakened public option, a 'triggered' public option, or possibly even no public option at all. No wasted powder here either. Honestly, what the hell are they saving it for at this point?
As a good progressive soldier, my generals have been promising that on THIS issue, in THIS moment, they would be sounding the advance, would be putting our "powder" and this "army" to good use. And we've waited patiently for years, putting issue after issue after progressive issue on hold.
I hear that there is nothing more insulting to an infantryman than to have to give up and surrender hard-won ground. Yet, that is precisely what our "generals" are telling us we should do now. Now, at this pivotal moment, we have given our leaders the the dominant, strategic position. We have seized the highground and have our enemies surrounded, politically speaking: They cannot advance so long as we hold the line.
So, the promised moment has come to sound the advance, yet we continue to engage in parley talks with the enemy and talk as though a peace treaty worth more than the paper it is written on can actually be penned and signed. We continue to sound retreat after retreat, squandering the political advances that WE GOOD SOLDIERS have made over the past five years.
So, don't talk to me about being a good soldier. It is DAMN WELL TIME for our leaders to start being GOOD GENERALS and LEADERS. If not, once the retreat is truly called and this army gets back to the political "fort," I will be deserting my formation and joining a mutiny against every damn leader who was a part of this potential disaster, from the Commander-in-Chief on down. If they don't want to use the powder on our opponents now, for THIS "life-and-death" issue, after all this time... Well, then, for this infantryman and GOOD SOLDIER, it will be damn well time to use the "powder" on THEM and get new generals who don't leap at Republican whining, much less jump at their own damn shadows.