Where ever you are, sit down a moment, and look at the arc of history. We like to believe that most of the policies we enjoy were won out of thin air in epic pitched battles where were both sides ran at each other and good triumphed. The truth is, good law often starts with mediocre or bad law that sets a precedent for what could be passed.
We've been at this for a hundred years, at this point. A full century, with ruin and prosperity, and nearly half of American history intervening. How many times have these people told themselves that it wasn't necessary, that they could wait the other sides out for something better?
We need to face something here: as bad as you might think the bill we have here is, it sets a historic precedence. After this, it's not a question of whether healthcare reform will move further, just when.
There have been posts about bozos, about buses, and all that other shit. But let me be plain here, folks: Nobody's getting anywhere with their agenda, left, right or center in this party without the help of most everybody else. The Progressive wing of this party cannot pass legislation by itself, and it will not grow if Americans do not see progressive policy out there.
We have to think in terms of balance of design here, when we think of how we lead as a party, and how we operate as a factional segment of that majority. We're designing something for the real world here, and if our objective is real world progress, then we aim our effort that way. Castles in the air, no matter what the political intentions, will not help matters.
The Conservative Democrats cannot operate their kind of politics in a nation dominated by a obstructive, recalcitrant Republican Party. Moderates and centrists cannot make deals with a Republican Party not humbled by defeat, because that party doesn't intend to play fair with us, compromise in a way where we get our way.
And Progressives have got to realize that their power depends both on preserving a majority, and finding ways to guide it towards better policy, and that won't be achieved in a mere quantum leap of wishful thinking.
Everybody's got to keep in mind that leading on a congressional basis means leading by consensus within the party. We have to learn how to form as solid a bloc as the Republicans have in the Senate, without making it so rigid that our party's political accountability suffers.
Mistakes can be corrected in the new legislation, but the opportunity to finally pass the first real healthcare reform cannot be unmissed if we pass it up. The current political situation is not so helpful that we can count on having another go at it. We can stand proud of how we stood firm and insisted on the ideal we knew to be absolutely right, but what point will there be to that if we don't have any achievement in the real world to show for our stance.
This years Healthcare Reform bill can be the next handhold on the climb up to a working, sustainable system, or it can be the slippery rock face that we grab for and slip off.
We have to stop thinking solely of what we want as individuals, and start thinking in terms of organizing as a party to get what we want as a party.