I have a pretty low user ID and I have never seen so many flat-out right wing arguments on this site as I have seen lately. It is amazing!
How did it happen? Political activists decided, with good reason, that there had to be some way to screw up the courage of progressive legislators, to get them to hold their ground. So, they decided to draw a line in the sand: a "public option" or no deal. As political strategy, it has been effective in many ways. The problem is, folks confused strategy with fact.
Now, with the PO gone, tons of "progressives" on this site are devoted to the task of defeating the most massive expansion of the US social welfare state in decades. And what arguments to they use? Most often, the ones that are always used to defeat social progress: right wing ones!
To be clear: I am greatly in favor of a strong PO (I prefer single payer.) The question I am addressing is whether, at the end of the day, if progressive legislators genuinely conclude that they can't get the PO through our non-majority-rule Senate, how should they vote?
Follow me over the fold and we will identify the right-wing arguments that folks here are using to conclude that they should vote "no".
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