UPDATE:4/24/2010 It's a funny thing, what a little time and space does to change one's mind. The bill passed some time ago. I still hate the mandate that's in it. And I still hate that there's no not-for-profit option in it. But neither Obama nor the Democratic party lost me over this bill. Instead, I've come to see the undesirable aspects of HCR as a sacrifice required by the impossible political environment created by the Republican obstructionism. So bottom line? It's actually turned me further towards the left. Go figure.
I've seen a lot written about how Obama is losing the Left over Health Care Reform. But if this Senate bill passes, Obama will also lose a big chunk of the Center. He'll certainly lose me, and nearly everyone like me.
See, I'm one of those coveted (and usually apathetic) Independent voters. Like many others, the 2008 electrified me through my enthusiasm for Obama, and my disgust at Palin and the terror-tactics of the Right. I voted, when I often don't. I talked others into voting. I started my own political blog, and helped get others excited. I got my husband interested, and he swung opinions and votes at work. It was a small effort, compared to what many of you did, and do daily... but it does matter. We shoved opinions just a little to the left.
But this Health Care Reform mandate? I can't support it as-is. The only meaningful regulation seems to be not on the Insurance Industry, but on The People themselves.
Since my political "electrification" in 2008, I've been reading DailyKos, learning a heck of a lot, and watching HCR pretty carefully with a lot of concern.
My husband's job relies heavily on business from health insurance companies, so I know how interwoven the industry is with our economy.
But my brother, parents, numerous friends and other family members have suffered deeply over the years because of problems with insurance - either they couldn't get coverage, couldn't afford it, had doctors and hospitals who quit taking the plans they could get, and now, with my folks on Medicare, the "donut hole" has become a major problem.
I know how important this reform is to people, and to the country. I know what a tightrope walk it requires to balance all of the interests for the good of the country, and for political reasons.
But this business about a mandate, without a reasonable not-for-profit option? Or anything that seems to regulate the industry in a meaningful way?
Well, I'm sure it means my husband's work will appreciate the extra business they'll get, but it infuriates me that the most significant new regulation seems to be on us, as citizens, and not the industry which has been running amok for decades...
Whatever the reality of the impact, this mandate feels like the very thing Republicans insist Democrats are always after... taking money and choice away from individuals. And bizarrely, instead of the money and control winding up in government hands, it seems to be winding up in private corporations... which has my head spinning so fast I can't even articulate it.
Losing the public option means losing enthusiastic Progressive support for the President and the Democratic party. Keeping this mandate-without-meaningful-options means losing Center and Independent voters.
And we won't just withdraw support, or stay home during elections. Many of us will actually wind up voting Republican.
And that scares me.
As angry as I am about the shape of this Senate bill, I do NOT want the Party-of-Fear-Hate-And-Bad-Religion to gain ground in 2010 or 2012 -- giving them any room to take control back right now, it's terrifying.
See, I'm one of those coveted (and usually apathetic) Independent voters. Like many others, the 2008 electrified me through my enthusiasm for Obama, and my disgust at Palin and the terror-tactics of the Right. I voted, when I often don't. I talked others into voting. I started my own political blog, and helped get others excited. I got my husband interested, and he swung opinions and votes at work. It was a small effort, compared to what many of you did, and do daily... but it does matter. We shoved opinions just a little to the left.
But this Health Care Reform mandate? I can't support it as-is. The only meaningful regulation seems to be not on the Insurance Industry, but on The People themselves.
I'm in Texas, where we desperately need a stronger Democratic presence to counter the Bush-Cheney-Perry-Conryn schools of thought, where Palin is bizarrely popular, the Bible is now taught in our PUBLIC schools, and we could well wind up with Intelligent Design in science class.
So whether Texas ever turns Blue again in a presidential election matters much less to me than that the state itself stops this headlong rush into fundamentalist driven policies. We need those like me, electrified by 2008, to stay enthused, or at least interested in what Democrats have to say, interested in voting for them, and while we may not become a Progressive state, we can at least not be so regressive.
But Texans will hate this mandate with all of our being, and if this is held up as evidence of a "moderate!" Democratic policy, this state will run further to the Right than ever.
And now I'm finding I'm too angry to write an appropriate closing.
Angry enough that I had to censor my language. I'd always hoped my first DailyKos diary would be more coherent, a stronger contribution... or raising questions that I have about progressive causes.
But all I seem able to do is rant.