I purposely refrained from using far more colorful language in the title.
I am starting to wonder if we really deserve HCR right now.
We spend over $400 billion dollars per annum on 'defense'.
We have over 700 military installations all over the world.
We, a mere 5% of the Earth's dominant life form, use a quarter of its resources.
We, the people of the United States, are kept in thrall by multi-national corporations who use our government as if it were a free PR firm, presenting us with a political scene which is little more than legerdemain.
We are so desperate for the crumbs our own government, duly elected by us, should deign to spill, that we are willing to compromise, and compromise, and compromise away all our demands, until we are left with less than nothing, a farce and a sick joke on the American people.
There are places in America that gladly pay corporations to screw them over.
Give them an inch and they'll take a foot, and pretty soon you won't have a leg to stand on.
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. - Thomas Jefferson
The people gets the government it deserves.
Attaquez, attaquez, attaquez! - Napoleon Bonaparte
We should have never budged on Single Payer.
The governments of Europe are fairly afraid of the people. They know that their people are their lifeblood, their raison d'être, and that they can break a political party in a matter of weeks.
The governments of Europe provide their people with health care.
I was born in an NHS hospital in Britain. I lived for eight years with Seguridad Social in Spain. I am an advocate of Single Payer from experience.
This whole thing has been twisted into an inedible shit pretzel, and I for one don't think that it will help a single human soul who is not on the payroll of some vampire insurance company. It is corporate bondage pure and simple.
So I say forget HCR as part of the progressive platform. It's time to go back to the drawing board and figure out why things aren't working.
Like, remember that $400 billion? Do we really need to spend $400 billion on 'defense'? What's up with that? I seem to recall our old nemesis Rummy once admonishing the Chinese for expanding their 'defense' budget... to $90 billion p.a..
And what about this government of ours? Are they really just marionettes, swaying to the symphony of corporate greed? How do we fix that? Campaign Finance Reform? Term limits? End the entire practice of lobbying? Throw the lot in jail and start over?
And what about that 14th Amendment as it is applied to corporate 'entities'? Can we beat corporations back to the point where they are restricted to a specific charter?
The funny thing is, most of these aren't per-se left/right issues, but nevertheless the are core issues when it comes to curing what ails our nation, and issues that maybe even them teabaggers can understand.
So that we can pass meaningful HCR.
So that we can pass meaningful environmental legislation.
So that we can create meaningful jobs.
So that we can properly regulate the banks.
So that we can educate our children.
So that we can no longer live in fear of our government.