The battle over health care reform is not merely a legislataive battle, rather it is a battle over an idea; the idea of self-government in the United States. If the White House, and the Congress bow to unchecked corporate authority, and offer a bill lacking substance and reform, then the hope of a people inspired by a movement will die with reform. If corporate interests are appeased at the behest of the people, then it is time to call it for what it represents; the beginning of the end of the very idea of self-government.
This is not the first time corporate authority has been placed above that of the people, to be sure. However, what is different this time is that the urgency for reform, real reform that benefits the common man and expresses the will of the people, is at stake. And nothing is more central to self-government than the will of the people. Without the will of the people, the idea of self-government dies. That - is what this battle is about.
The time for the Progressive Caucus in the Congress to take a stand has arrived. Further capitulation to the entrenched forces opposing health care reform is tantamount to complicity, and history shall be their judge.
I fully understand the arguments for supporting this increasingly watered down bill that passes as reform quite well; namely, that this is the best bill we can hope for at the moment, and that any incremental success today will certainly be met with incremental advances in the future. Such talk ignores one obvious factor in the equation however; that of course is the notion that time is on our side when clearly it is not.
The notion that we have an infinite amount of time to solve the great issues of our time is simply that; a notion, and a foolish one at that. The current state of the health care crisis is not called a crisis without merit. The suggestion that we can casually walk out of a burning building at a leisurely pace makes little sense unless you are first in line. Those of us in the back of the line respectfully request a change of pace for the flames are dancing upon our jackets.
In times of crisis, leadership must be bold and decisive. The time for delay, for passing the problem down the road, is past due. The note has been called.
Was this not the central theme of the most recent election in which the voters overwhelmingly opted in favor of action over deliberation and half measures?
Such was the most recent election that in fact, a more compelling contrast could not have been conceived than that of a youthful, energetic man who looked more like new America, standing in opposition to that old, fatigued and deliberative figure that John McCain represented. Old America is dying; we need a new America that works for all Americans, especially the middle class, or let the heavens fall.
And yet we are now being sold a bill of goods called reform, which enacts very little of its namesake, while principally passing the larger issue of health care reform down the road once more. Some will surely argue that political realities dictate that a compromise must be reached, and I would agree with that assessment. The only question however should be how much the republicans and the health insurance lobby is willing to concede, not the progressives.
With the costs of healthcare, education, two foreign wars, and the service on our debt rising in cost and scale with each passing day, the time for bold leadership has long since arrived. Only the bold and the courageous understand that we can no longer shirk our duties and obligations in favor of conciliation to unchecked corporate authority. The president and many of the democrats in Congress seem to have lost sight of this truism. We need to remind them of the fierce urgency of now.
Therefore, I propose that all progressives, and especially the members of the Progressive Caucus, take a stand and oppose this bill. Progressives of all stripes should oppose this bill loudly and proudly, and do so with the full conviction that history will judge them favorably while damning the opposition.
If the Republican Party, the health insurance lobby, and their appeasers in the White House and the Congress want to derail real reform for real Americans, let them do so, but have them do so on their own accord, while owning full responsibility for their abrogation of responsibility.
For posterity’s sake, when future Americans suffering in a world of diminished health, wealth, power and expectations look back on this era, in an effort to analyze where it all went wrong, where corporate authority coalesced into the sole arbitrary source of power on this continent, where the power and influence of the corporation replaced a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, let it be said that a few strong voices expressed their opposition to the continuing charade that is perpetuated as self-government today.
Let the opposition rejoice in their Pyrrhic victory disseminated to a gullible nation as reform. Their victory will be the bane of them and come at the further erosion of the American Empire.
The time for complicity in the ongoing battle for the soul of America, even the very idea of self-government in the United States, must be joined, and must end with the result that corporate authority has been firmly placed in check. The battle for the soul of America must begin anew, and it begins with the firm and steadfast opposition of this bill. The eyes of history will be watching.