I have been contributing to Daily Kos for the last few years on an off. Many of you would be surprised to know that I consider myself a libertarian. Not the Ayn Rand version, but more of the pragmatic type.
For example I believe in regulation as long as it does not go overboard to stifle competition and destroy value. I think some companies create value for society. Microsoft (I know for they are supposed to be evil), for example provides useful tools that make my life easier at work. Bill Gates deserves to rich. I don’t believe in the drug and skin laws; I think they are a waste of time and resources that break up families. I think long-term welfare is a waste of time and resources that destroys families. I think everybody who can, should work. I have two friends in wheel chairs who work. Short-term welfare I am OK with. I think we need to leave Iraq and Afghanistan immediately (Japan and Germany too). I don’t think government should be involved in marriage. Period. But since the government is, I think it should be open to all.
Why should you care about where I stand? Because I voted straight Dem in 2008. Traditionally, I voted libertarian. However, I started reading site like the Dkos. Atrios, and TPM that gave good information based on facts. I knew in the past that the libertarian was going to lose, but that never bothered me until Bush and his crew came into power. After a few years, it became apparent that the GOP was crazy and had to be stopped. So I made a deal; I will vote for a straight Democratic ticket for local, state and national legislative and executive races, but will vote for all the libertarian judges. Also, since I am black, I wanted to affirmatively vote for Obama. It felt good voting for Obama, vis-à-vis voting for the lesser of two evils. Finally, I can never forgive McCain for choosing Palin. That was the most irresponsible thing that I have ever seen. What if McCain would have died? I have had former students of mine who know more than she does-and I talking about high school students.
What I value most from government is competency. Bush failed in this regard, but Obama and his team, for the most part, are pretty sharp. They did some things I did not like (hiring Geithner, bailing out GS via AIG, not structuring the bailout properly), but it was far better than anything McCain would have done. This health care fiasco is looking very Bush like.
They have been working on this health care bill for almost a year. The House did its part in a competent manner. Things were going well in the Senate until July. In July the health care plan was popular. Then it got to the Finance committee. For whatever reason, it was important for Obama to have bipartisanship. However, the probability of that happening was low. During the stimulus fight, Republicans weakened the bill and then voted against it.
During the summer the fake town hall meetings got all of the media attention. Meanwhile Baucus and Nelson kept dragging their feet, trying to get Grassley and others on board. Each time a concession was made, another problem crept up culminating to Grassley talking about "death panels". Why did Democrats continue to work with him after he made those comments?
At the same time, Republicans were starting to repeatedly hammer the bill. Democrats could not fight back and sell the bill, because they did not know what was going to end up being in the bill. At some point it seemed as if everybody reached an agreement: public option with opt out. Then Lincoln for whatever reason could not vote for it. By the way if Karl Rove would have run this operation, Lincoln would have found herself in some dark alley with both her arm broken-metaphorically. Next there was an agreement with no public option but an expansion of Medicare. Then Lieberman killed that. As an aside, why did Obama save Lieberman’s behind? That looked weak. What would the Republicans have done to a prominent senator who was caucusing with them, but who campaigned for the other party?
Finally, the Senate passes a bill, but the process was so ugly the bill is unpopular both on the left and the right. I don’t really have an issue with the bribes; that is just the way things are always done in Washington. Then reconciliation seemed to be moving forward until the Coakley implosion.
Coakley was a bad candidate. But where were the DNC, DSCC, and Axelrod? They are just as at fault as Coakley is. They knew what was on the line. Howard Dean would never have let this happen. After the Coakley loss, Democrats had limited choices. The House could just swallow hard and pass the Senate bill, and fix it later. Or it dies.
I understand why the House is upset. They kept on compromising while the Senate kept on demanding more compromises. Additionally, this sets a really bad precedent. This would mean that in the future, the House would not have to show up for work-just pass whatever bills Lieberman and Nelson would write. Unfortunately for the House, this is not the bill to take that stand. Politically and morally it would be wrong. If health care dies the Republican will take back both chambers of Congress in November, and we will be in Iraq forever.
I work in corporate finance. I have a gold or platinum health policy. When I get sick and need to see my doctor, I can see my doctor and get the entire testing done for a co-pay of $30. If I need a prescription, then I need to pay $5 more. Most Americans are not as fortunate. I have friends who need this plan to pass. They have no health care and really need it. I had a friend who is in the Green Party, but who voted for the Democrats tell me yesterday, that the only thing he cares about in the Obama agenda is health care. He does not care about cap and trade, bank regulation, or any other stuff. If this does not pass, he will vote Green this year.
When Bush was president, he would routinely pass big bill with less that 60 votes; sometimes with 50 + Cheney. I don’t want to hear lame excuses from the Democrats to explain their incompetence. Don’t blame Republicans because you are in charge. In the eyes of the country, Democrats look weak, indecisive, and incompetent. I don’t want to hear about Republicans. If the Democrats had their stuff together, they would have passed this a long time ago. There is a lot not to like about this bill, but that can be fixed over the next few years like Medicare was. What I won’t do is vote for Democrats if they cannot show that they can competently pass big important legislation. This is what I would do if I were the Democrats:
- Pass the fucking bill.
- For the next few months sell all the good parts of the bill to Americans.
- Campaign against the Republican for trying to block health care.
- Relieve Tim Kaine, and Bob Menendez from their duties. Axelrod can be given a pass this one time since he got Obama elected.
- Replace them with Howard Dean and Chuck Schumer. I know Washington does not like Dean, but he is a winner and extremely competent. Since he was at the DNC, all Democrats did was win.
- The House should make it clear that for the next big bill, no normal reconciliation process = no bill. And then carry it out.