Like you, I am furious, depressed, and demoralized by the apparent loss of the public option. I read Bob Johnson's heartfelt and emotional diary and felt compelled to recommended it because it described exactly what I was feeling -- that We The People have once again lost to our corporate masters.
But then I remembered back to the spring of 1999...
I was graduating from college, and the 2000 presidential election campaign was getting into full gear. I remember a heated conversation I had with my best friend and roommate at the time.
Depressed and demoralized about Clinton's triangulating non-progressive policies and the role of corporate money in government decision-making, I argued that it didn't really matter who won the election. That Democrats and Republicans were basically the same, serving corporate America and the military-industrial complex. That I wasn't going to work on the campaign, because why bother. I voted for Al, but I didn't work on his campaign. I know that enough of my liberal peers voted for Nader to make a crucial difference.
Because as bad as Clinton was sometimes, George W showed us just how much worse Republicans could be. And Al, after he was freed from the constraints of campaigning, revealed what an amazing President he would have been.
In moments like this -- when it's clear that the man who promised HOPE and CHANGE will not give us as much change as we need, and is crushing our hope -- it's tempting to throw in the towel. To say, they're all the same. To say that "my days of working on national races is over."
This disillusionment and war-weariness is understandable. I feel it too. But think who benefits most from those of us on the left losing our resolve. Only those same corporate moneyed interests. The reactionaries. They have a seemingly never-ending supply of passion and vitriol. After 2006 and 2008, when wave elections washed their garbage out, they could've felt similar disillusionment and weariness. But instead, they've doubled down. They've upped their guerilla tactics. And they are fighting to the death.
We must do the same. Although we might have lost this battle, we cannot lose the war.
We must double down. We must go all in. We must counterattack with all our forces. We must do whatever gambling and/or war metaphor we can think of in order to increase the pressure, to make our voices heard.
Because this war is ongoing, it will last all our lives, and those of subsequent generations. The creation of a more perfect union never ends. And we can't faint from exhaustion while they run all over us.
Throw the bastards out, let our voices be heard, and if we don't win this one, take names and hold grudges. It's what they do. If I've learned anything through this health care "debate" it's been that we need to learn more from them, fight more like them, using everything we've got. To never give up, even when the going gets tough.