We do not need a No Labels movement, we need a No Money movement.
I do not know anything about the No Labels movement that was recently launched except that, as I understand it, it is being promoted primarily by a political consultant of the Bush and McCain campaigns, Mark McKinnon, and a corporate fundraiser from the Hilary Clinton campaign, Nancy Jacobson. Not bad people but not exactly representative of the vast majority of people who really are disenfranchised from our current politics. Mr. McKinnon and Ms. Jacobson need to look to the way they make a living to discover the real problem with our politics. It is controlled by money, specifically, corporate money.
Also from what I have read of this new movement they make the same mistake all of the main stream media make when talking about the right and the left namely that they are equally guilty of distorting facts. They are not. As many have said before Keith Olberman is not the opposite of Glen Beck. Questioning whether someone is actually a US Citizen is not the same as considering someone to be an idiot. One is a denial of fact, the other is an opinion based on observable facts.
The popular refrain today is the left excoriated George Bush just as badly as the right is currently excoriating Obama as if this is a good enough excuse to justify telling lies. It isn't but it is said over and over again in a sort of "get used to it" kind of way. Get used to what?
On Thursday, PolitiFact announced their "Lie of the Year". (The fact that we now track lies and have awards should tell us all we need to know about our current politics but it may be too subtle for the general masses devoid of a true appreciation of sarcasm.) I also wonder if it a coincidence that it is a Republican tag line that once again takes the top prize. "Government take-over of health care" was the winner this year following up "Death Panels" last year. Their presentation is a disturbing read.
Some facts, the statement is a lie. Not an opinion, not based on an understanding of the legislation and certainly not meant to enlighten the public but rather a lie to deliberately mislead voters.
A few more facts from PolitiFact:
• The phrase appears more than 90 times on Boehner's website, GOPLeader.gov.
• It was mentioned eight times in the 48-page Republican campaign platform "A Pledge to America" as part of their plan to "repeal and replace the government takeover of health care."
• The Republican National Committee's website mentions a government takeover of health care more than 200 times.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. As PolitiFact notes:
PolitiFact sought to count how often the phrase was used in 2010 but found an accurate tally was unfeasible because it had been repeated so frequently in so many places.
This is where money comes in. My profession is sales and marketing and this is marketing 101, repetition. How does the saying go "tell a big enough lie often enough and most people will believe it". In our modern media market it costs a lot of money to get the kind of exposure this lie has gotten which has in no small way lent it enough credence to impact the healthcare debate and probably led to the premature death of the public opiton (Although the primary fault lies with the fact that the Democrats and Obama have no back bone to speak of.)
So what we need is a real movement to get money out of politics. Until this is accomplished, corporate interests will control both sides of the argument. In our current political environment politicians buy the votes of constituents through the financing of expensive and misleading campaigns. Take away their ability to buy votes and they may actually have to return to doing it the old fashioned way. They will need to earn their votes through reasoned debate. I cannot speak for anyone but myself but I am not holding my breath.