I just added my name to OpenLeft's petition pressuring Majority Leader Reid to bring public option to the floor for debate. Regardless of the media chatter, we still have the votes, but only if the grassroots forces it. There is an old saying attributed to Franklin Roosevelt which I paraphrase, "You elected me to do these things; I want to do these things; now make me do them."
Politicians are not our leaders. They FOLLOW and respond to what they are forced to do. Let's make them do the right thing. Please get on the phone, on email, and call, write, bug. Get your friends and family to do it, too!
My comment to Harry Reid is below the fold.
Dear Senator Reid,
Why did you and the other leaders fail to start negotiating from a single-payer model? Is our Congressional Democratic party entirely out of touch with the real world that working Americans try to survive in? The Finance Committee Democrats gave away the store and reaped no Republican support. It's time to stop bargaining against ourselves. The Senate Democratic majority must show that it holds the interests of the American people above those of the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and the for-profit hospitals.
There is no rational policy justification, either on health policy or fiscal grounds for failing to allow debate on, and then passing a bill with a strong public option. Any less will do damage to our economy and to our nation's health. A Democratic failure now will, deservedly, consign Democrats and our current leadership to irrelevance.
Sincerely,
A New Mexican and constituent of the of Gang of Six.