This past weekend, I attended one of the Organizing for America "Health Care Kickoff" house parties. Some time ago, I decided that I can no longer be apathetic on this issue. No more lurking in the background. At this time, I strongly feel that our efforts at this very moment will decide what health care means for regular people in America for the next several generations.
So, I made up my mind to cast aside all apathy and nervous dawdling, and to do as much as I can possibly do to have a positive influence on the outcome. No more sheepishly writing emails every few months when prompted by SEIU, PNHP or some such group. I would get over my fear of talking to congressional aides on the phone (an anxiety that afflicts many of us) and I would start making regular calls to congress. I decided to read as much as I can about the evolving situation in order to have valid, up to date talking points. And most importantly, I decided that I would engage my friends, family and neighbors in this conversation. I was determined to find out: will this push have more to offer than the usual white, middle class baby boomer ranting and bloviating that has failed us again and again?
I knew that the vast majority of my friends (almost all of whom voted for Obama) have no idea what terms such as "public option" and "single payer" really mean. I became determined to change that. That's how I ended up bringing 6 of my well intentioned (if somewhat docile) friends to my neighborhood OFA Health Care Kickoff party. I knew that my friends were exactly the kind of people that need to be pulled into these discussions: young, progressive leaning voters that are far from politically active and mostly clueless about health care. I am convinced that folks like this are the ones that will tip the scales. They voted for Obama, they're friendly to progressive causes if prodded, but their busy lives and incurious nature renders them vulnerable to the asinine arguments of the obstructionists. With this in mind, I hoped that bringing these friends to a meeting with more informed activists would help plant the seeds necessary to spur the kind of bottom-up grassroots energy that we need to win this battle.
The organizer of the event, Michelle, was exceedingly kind and good-natured. Even over the phone she struck me as an amazing person. I wasn't so sure about attending a meeting full of Democratic Party volunteers, for many reasons. I'm not a Democrat, I'm a Green. I switched to Democrat long enough to caucus for Obama, then switched back. In my opinion, moderate Democrats are the biggest obstacle we face to a truly progressive reform policy. Colorado has two very moderate dems for senators - Udall and Bennet are both part of the Moderate Dems Working Group. Anyone familiar with the situation knows that Max Baucus, a Democrat, is probably the biggest obstacle to Single Payer in all of congress. Part of me was afraid that I was walking into a trap - a group of partisan cheerleaders watering down the argument and deflecting real grassroots, progressive change. There was only one way to find out.
Michelle had managed to fit over 20 people into her small Capital Hill apartment. This was encouraging, but I felt a bit less elated as I stared out over the room. The faces of white, middle class baby boomers stared back at me, a reminder of all of the failed attempts to pass universal health care through the years. Blue hairs and mustaches, the token chubby 50 year old liberal lady with troll doll hair and (no doubt) a cubicle full of hunky fireman calendars in some office downtown. Of course, these are the good guys, but when I hear Barack Obama talk about "the failed policies of the past," I believe he is not just talking about Bush, but also about some of the more stubborn, indignant people in this very room. My friends and I sat on the floor by the piano and I braced for the inevitable preaching to the choir.
Which is, of course, exactly what happened. Michelle asked us to take turns introducing ourselves and giving a brief description of why we came to the meeting. Of course, the "brief description" quickly turned into the kind of falling-on-deaf-ears ranting that has gotten us nowhere in the last 50 years. One of the first to speak was Larry. Larry is a big, barrel chested man, a longtime local Democratic Party operative with a thick white mustache. Larry immediately went off topic and started passing out fliers for some kind of "Health Care for All Colorado" group - no doubt a monthly gathering of middle class boomers that like to get together in private and shout out statistics to the already-converted until they are blue in the face. Nonetheless, I liked Larry. Next was hunky fireman calendar lady, a nice true blue liberal in a Humane Society t shirt that recited a question that came up many times during the meeting: "It's just obvious what we need to do and I just don't see why it's taken this long and why we haven't gotten single payer already!"
Sigh. Well, here's an idea: Maybe it's because about 49% of the population actually believes the "guvermint's a-gonna control yer doctor" smoke screen that the insurance industry has been putting down the pipe; and the average response to that from white, middle class liberal baby boomers is to wrinkle up one's nose and start the wagging of fingers. The single payer movement has been crippled by an enormous chip on it's shoulder. Most of the people in the room have done little more than piss and moan to one another for decades. Meanwhile, the real problem is evident: one of the friends that I brought literally didn't know what the term "single-payer" meant. This is an intelligent, progressive leaning young woman who voted for Obama. My guess is that her ignorance can probably be blamed on the fact that she's turned off by finger wagging grannies.
I digress. We continued going around the room. The ranting and bellowing continued. My friend Wally, who was actually one of my college professors years ago, gave me a bored, deranged look that unequivocally said "And why didn't we take acid before this meeting?" Just before it was my turn, an older fellow to my right stood up and said "My name is Randy and I'm here because I'm worried that we will end up with a system that results in rationing. They have that in Canada, and, uh, other places, and they have a lot of problems there."
ZOMG! A mole! A Republican operative planted among us!! Horrors! At least, that's what you'd deduce by looking at the faces of the horrified baby boomers in front of me reacting to a possible conservative who had infiltrated their comfortable rant session. I had another theory: a neighbor. A man who had probably heard too much bullshit from talk radio and the mainstream media, but nevertheless is probably on a genuine quest to make sure that we get the best system possible, just like all the rest of us. Larry's shit hit the roof. Troll hair lady looked like she saw a ghost. I quickly stepped up and said
Hi. My name is Joey. I'm here because, like Randy, I have concerns about some of the specifics of any new health care plan and I'd like to make sure the details are thoughtfully worked out.
Randy smiles and nods.
Like Randy said, things like rationing are of concern. For instance, in this country, almost 20,000 people die every year because they don't have health insurance at all. That's a form of rationing too - rationing based on income. More die because, although they have insurance, they cannot get their insurance to cover what they need. That's a form of rationing as well.
Randy looked perplexed for a moment, but then smiled, raised his eyebrows and said "Hmm. Yeah. Never thought about it that way before."
And that's probably the truth. He probably hadn't thought about it that way before. He probably also never thought that, as scary as government "control" of health care sounds, someone has to "control" it. And he could probably be convinced, with thoughtful, respectful dialog, that a huge corporation may not be any more benevolent in their "control" than the government. He may also have never thought about the fact that governments can be held accountable in a way that corporate executives can't: in the voting booth. In fact, that's why you do hear about long lines for emergency room visits in Canada: the government, unlike a corporation, is actually held accountable for such things, and they tend to come out in the press. Randy has probably never thought of that either, but one thing is for sure: convincing people like Randy to come around to our way of thinking isn't going to happen with a bunch of liberals shouting at each other behind closed doors.
Sometime during the discussion, I made a comment to this effect. I stated that it might be wise to attempt to thoughtfully address the concerns of the critics, as outlandish as they may be. Smoke started coming out of Larry's ears. He scrunched up his forehead, pursed his lips together and started junting his head back and forth in a "no-no-no" gesture. He said "We know what the arguments are and they're all bullshit!" I like Larry. 100 years ago, Larry and I would have been throwing firebombs at scabs and riding against the mine bosses. But it's 2009. The future belongs to the young and the inventive. Indignant baby boomers have squandered a century of progress and reduced the "liberal" ideology to a smoldering, impotent heap of stubborn, angry book clubs and blue haired discussion groups. Rather than keeping their eye on the ball, they long ago chose to die on hills that they never had a chance of taking: uphill battles like gun control and ill timed culture wars like Don't Ask Don't Tell. Meanwhile, as talk radio obliterated these straw men, the word "liberal" became synonymous with "pathetic" and the wolves robbed us blind, devouring our children while the old guard was too afraid of the "class warfare" boogey man to even try to slow down the whittling away of the top tax bracket. The righteous rants continued in small, aging discussion groups across the country: angry babbling that amounts to farts echoing in the toilet bowl as our nation circled the drain.
Our president often gets characterized as "pragmatic" because he postures as a post-partisan politician. The truth is, like many in my own generation, Obama is interested in bipartisan solutions not because he is a moderate or has inclination to compromise, but because he is intelligent enough to see when a strategy isn't working. That's what winners do. When a strategy doesn't work, you try something fresh. You think outside the box. You don't dig trenches.
Thankfully, many of the people at the meeting were open minded enough to catch on to this. If the room was totally populated with people like Larry (and Jim, who said "The Public Option is just more bullshit!"), then it would have descended into yet another choir-preaching shouting match. Thankfully, many of the people present realized the gravity of the situation and opted to brainstorm new approaches. My friends left the meeting with a ton of information: they now know how single payer works and why it would be the best option. They know that a strong public option is better than no public option, and that the actual legislation will most likely revolve around that debate. They know that they should be calling their representatives and senators and saying that they support single payer, and that a strong public option is the line in the sand. Even Randy the Republican came around and agreed to make some calls. That's progress.
We ended the meeting and agreed to meet again soon. Jim told me on the way out "I ain't coming to the next one. I don't want to be part of putting a band-aide on the current system and pretending it's okay."Good. Don't let the door hit you on the ass, and enjoy your comfortable pity party. The rest of us have work to do, neighbors to meet, information to spread, research to do and calls to make. While some of the baby boomers continue their decades long self righteous, arrogant, whiny death ride into the sunset, the rest of us will be changing minds and improving lives, cleaning up the garbage pit that they've made out of our nation.
I'm looking forward to the next meeting.