"They're all the same!"
"They've sold us out again!"
No they're not. No they haven't.
So, I just got a notice form Bank of America to inform me of how I will be affected by the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act.
So here are the 5 bullet points in my letter from BoA"
- Your rate for existing balances will no longer be raised for being a few days late with your payment.
- Beginning February 13, 2010, your Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) on existing balances can only be raised if you do not make your minimum payment within 60 days of the payment due date.
- You will not be charged a fee for going over your credit limit.
- Any amounts you pay over the minimum payment will now be used to pay down balances with the highest Annual Percentage Rate.
- For your convenience, your payment due date will always fall on the same date each month and will be at least 25 days from the closing date printed on your statement.
Those are word-for-word, not an interpretation or a paraphrase.
Those god-danged corporate fascists. How dare they interfere with the free market like that? How dare you, Barney Frank?
So what's my point? Simple: on this, on health care, on everything, we've got some good people working hard and trying to do the right thing. And that includes the President, who signed this, who would have signed stronger legislation had Frank been able to get it through, who would sign Medicare expansion if Reid and Pelosi could deliver.
We're passionate, we're angry, we're frustrated. We know the Senate is broken (and that's not Harry Reid's fault!) and want it fixed.
I'll refer back to that great Steve Benin piece today, as has been diaried elsewhere and is, i think, a poignant reminder to us all:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
But notice the quality of the debate. Note that Howard Dean, Markos Moulitsas, much of the FireDogLake team and others are raising important questions and pointing to real flaws. At the same time, note that Ezra Klein, Jonathan Cohn, Nate Silver and others are offering meaningful defenses of the Democratic plan, based on substantive evaluations.
Progressive activists and progressive wonks are at each other's throats this week, but they want largely the same goals. Their differences are sincere and significant, but the intensity of their dispute is matched by the potency of their arguments.
And then turn your attention to the other side of the divide, and notice the quality of the arguments conservatives and Republicans have offered -- and continue to offer -- in this debate. Death panels. Socialism. Hitler. Government takeover. Socialized medicine. Incomprehensible charts. Incessant whining about the number of pages in a proposal.
Time will tell whether reform will pass, whether the bill will be worthwhile, and whether the activists or the wonks win out. No matter what happens, the argument will continue beyond this one piece of legislation. But regardless what side of the dispute you're on, it's worth appreciating the vibrancy, energy, and seriousness with which progressives are engaging in the debate, as compared to the incoherent, ridiculous, and dull qualities our friends on the right have brought to the table.
So while I might disagree with Markos and Dr. Dean on health care, at the moment, and side with Ezra and Nate, I'll never stop thanking ANY OF THEM for fighting hard for a destination we all want.
And I'll let Benin's piece and that letter from BoA serve as my reminder of who the good guys are here, and who the real villains are. The villains aren't Rahm Emmanuel and Barack Obama. The villains aren't even the few remaining honest and intellectual and principled conservatives.
The villains are the current incarnation of the GOP and their water-carrying Fox and talk-radio propagandists who exploit the fears of everyday Americans.
I'm never forgetting that
Peace,
Bob