Please go easy on me, for two reasons
- My first diary
- This will be an unpopular diary
I am a moderate democrat, voted democrat my entire life. (do I have a place in the democratic party if I an not ultra liberal?) I see firsthand the need for meaningful, substantial healthcare reform. Thirty million Americans without healthcare is a national disgrace. Costs are rapidly becoming unaffordable, not just for low income citizens, but for middle income Americans. It is crushing to our federal and state governments, businesses and employees. My point here is that we are in desperate need for Reform.
My disagreement with progressives is two-fold. First, the great majority of Americans and our leaders are not progressives! Progressives might want national healthcare, the so-called "rich" to pay for the poor's healthcare, want businesses to suck it up and pay more, want to put the evil insurance companies out of business, want government to run healthcare, etc, but most of Americans and our leaders do not. Which leads me to my second point- progressives will not achieve most of their cherished goals. That's reality. So, are progressives willing to give up many of their goals, in order to achieve reform that doesn't go far enough for them, but still achieves many stated goals of HCR?
(on a completely side issue, to say that I am disappointed and disiliusioned in Obama and my dems in congress is an understatement. I can not believe that we were unable to pass meaningful HCR. Rahm needs to be fired, Schumer needs to replace Reid, and Obama needs to listen to Rendell, and just get it done.)