So now we have the White House on board officially in favor of a strong public option to compete directly with the private insurance industry.
While many of us understand that a single payer system would be the best option, it seems that the majority are making the decision to rally around a bona fide public option that would force the private insurance industry to clean up its act or say buh-bye.
And we also know that Obama has threatened reconciliation if Congress doesn't get themselves behind his health care principles and come up with a plan that includes a strong public option.
But I'm here to tell you, there will be no need for reconciliation. A strong public option in health care reform will be passing through congress with strong support of almost every democrat and even a few republicans.
I'll confess, I'm not psychic. So how do I know? Follow me below the fold and find out why the lobbyists and special interests will lose this battle and why the blue dogs and corporatist congress critters will ultimately end up voting for the people's health care reform - including a strong public option.
THE REALITY
For decades the lobbyists and special interests have been used to having their way with our so-called representatives. This cozy arrangement has relied on two factors, both of which MUST be in place for the tactic to be successful.
- Lobbyist money
- An inattentive electorate
It remains an immutable fact that congress persons have to raise money to run for re-election and that their jobs are literally "in jeopardy" every 2 or 6 years. (That's gotta suck, seriously). It's also a fact that to run for reelection takes lots of money and typically they amass their war chests from lots of sources including lobbying groups. And many (but not all) of these lobbying groups' interests are in direct opposition to what's good for the American people. It's why nothing gets done for us no matter which party is in "power".
But the other necessary ingredient in this formula is an electorate that isn't paying attention to what's happening. When you have an inattentive electorate, our legislators are free to take all the money they want, vote on measures that don't benefit anyone but the lobbyists and whomever they represent, come home a few months before the election, run a few ads, talk about some local park or construction project they got earmark money for, and everyone goes out and votes for them. Again.
But this time something's different.
Voters nationwide are paying attention.
And an attentive electorate throws a monkey wrench into the whole situation. After all, health care reform is one of the most important things to many Americans. It was a pillar of Obama's campaign platform (Iraq, Health Care, Green Energy...it was like a mantra for god's sake). And now that the President has officially aligned himself with the strong public option camp, those who supported Obama, some 69 million Americans from coast to coast, will be paying very close attention to what is being done on the health reform front.
Well, this is a huge problem for our elected officials. Because if reforming the health care system is important to families and businesses in my community and state, and these individuals and organizations take the time to let our elected officials know how important it is to them, how much money will that representative need in order to keep his job come election time if I and my community know he voted against it? How much money will he need to spend on commercials to convince me to vote for him again? What will he have to do to keep me away from the polls on election day or to work actively against him? How many lobbyist dollars does it take to be effective against an electorate who realizes they aren't representing us?
So make no mistake about it: lobbyist money is only effective and attractive to our representatives when they KNOW we aren't paying attention. It is not omnipotent. It cannot call the shots or dictate policy. We do.
A RECAP
One good thing about this reform effort is that there are lots of well-financed organizations that have been gearing up for this fight for years. I know lots of folks here worry about the "blue dogs" and worry that we'll have to go to reconciliation to get this thing done. And while I'm not opposed to reconciliation on it, if it comes to that, it won't come to that. Here's why:
An example is Montana. Obama lost Montana by only 2% or a mere 12,000 votes. He didn't win the state but he had a tremendous base of support in every county statewide; support Senator Baucus cannot spit on if he hopes to get re-elected. He will need every one of those votes to keep his job. Sucks for him, huh?
Well, the situation is not all that different for many of the other key fence-sitters.
Obama has strong grassroots support in literally every county of every state in this nation. We can thank the long drawn out and painful primary for that. It wasn't over until it was over an our guy campaigned in every single state in America. He amassed an email list of 13 million+ donors and supporters. Because his campaign was smart enough to organize the grassroots from the bottom up, beginning with people setting up their own house parties, the reach of the organization is extensive. It is also interesting to note that Obama won by earning 52% of those voting that day. And while current polling isn't restricted to only those who vote, his approval ratings are 12% higher than the percentage of votes he earned on election day.
Just sayin'.
So what you have are hundreds of community groups in Montana and Texas and Nebraska and Tennessee and North Dakota and West Virginia, to name a few. Obama had grass roots volunteers in those states and they worked hard for our then candidate even though, ultimately, we couldn't carry those states electorally. That can only mean one thing: reactivating those community groups will put just the right pressure on legislators who think they can ignore this legislation in favor of corporatist- and lobbyist-friendly positions. It will have even greater impact on those DEMOCRATS in states like Louisiana, Indiana and the like, who expect and need DEMOCRATIC votes to be reelected. Those grassroots groups were strong enough to get Obama 303,000 votes in West Virginia (to McCains 397,000); to get Obama 3,500,000 votes in Texas (to McCain's 4,400,000); to earn Obama 141,000 votes in North Dakota (to McCain's 168,000); to see Obama win 1,800,000 votes in Georgia (to McCain's 2,000,000).
Are you picking up what I'm putting down?
THE SOLUTION
So what does that mean? It means that you and I are the key to getting Health Care Reform passed with a strong public option included. And just as we did during the campaign, we can ingivorate our communities and create the groundswell of support and action that will pressure our elected officials to represent US or face losing their jobs. Fortunately, Organizing For America makes it all so easy. We won't get the same numbers we did during the election. But we don't need to. Winning the health care reform debate is about LOCAL and STATE action. And our legislators get far fewer turnout numbers for congressional elections and even fewer in non-presidential election years. In other words, a few thousand angry locals is enough to really fuck up their game.
We have everything we need to make it happen. Because lobbyist money doesn't mean diddly-squat to legislators if they know they're being watched. Lobbyists money by itself is not enough to ensure re-election when your constituents have made it known that they want a public option and you end up voting against it.
So here's where you come in:
Get active in Organizing for America. Find out if there is a Health Care Service Project taking place in your community on June 27th and if not, create one. It's a great way to get information out about what the public option is really all about.
Our group in central Florida is planning a Health Fair and Town Hall. The fair will provide health information such as where to get your kids signed up for free health care, local free exercise services, health services available in our county for low and moderate income families...all that. The town hall is going to be moderated and several knowledgeable people will be on the panel to help answer questions (and debunk lies) about the public option. And to top it all off, for the 14 days, whenever we come across someone who is in favor of health care reform, we will be adding their name to a HUGE banner which will be delivered to our representatives' offices. What FUN! We'll make a media event of it!
You can do this too!
Organizing For America even has Health Care Reform Action Page where you can even click a button and get a phone banking list of people near you. These lists are made up of those people who we already know supported Obama in November. You can make of their representatives and senators and encourage them to call or even to help volunteer to bring about health care reform. There is a button there that allows you to enter your zip code and instantly write letters to the editor of your local papers. Its SO easy everyone of us here could do that - and encourage at least 10 others to do so as well.
WE ARE PAYING ATTENTION. THIS AIN'T 1993, BABY
I believe we're already seeing the reaction to some pressure. It's why we've seen a sudden willingness on the part of some of our legislators to be "open" to the public option. Others have suddenly just magically and mysteriously come on board. It's also why some other legislators are desperately trying to devise "alternatives", like the co-op, to try to create the appearance of appeasing us while not pissing off the "money" sources they think they need. Let's tip the scales for these guys. Let's tell them their money is useless if they vote against what we want and that we're watching.
We have organizations like DFA, HCAN, AARP and MoveOn, ready to strategically run ads and apply pressure in just the right states and districts. And of course, President Obama, master politician, master communicator, and resident bully pulpit occupier (with a 64% approval rating nationwide, I might add) will also be holding town halls in just the right places to push his health care reform public option agenda and create pressure, head explosions and abject fear among "uncooperative" legislators. He is ready to spend all that political capital and I cannot think of a better issue on which to spend it. A solid public option as part of health care reform will do more for families and business (and our economy) than nearly anything else that will be accomplished in the next 4-8 years.
So we have the political action groups ready to go. We have The Destroyer gearing up. We're the only part of the puzzle left, but arguably, we're the most important.
If you live in a state where both your Senators are on board the public option train, choose a strategic state where the Senator is wavering and is up for re-election. Get a zip code and start making calls and writing LTEs. If you live close to such a state, travel, just like many did during the campaign, and knock on doors. Give people slips of paper with phone numbers and email addresses, links to more information.
When we put all of these elements together, WE WILL WIN and we'll do it without reconciliation.
Fired up!