This whole Healthcare Debate is really starting to get to me. On the one hand, I'm seeing the progressive community getting organized and I'm really proud of all we are doing.
On the other hand, I'm seeing the WH float trial balloons that make me think I was hearing things when I listened to Barack Obama the candidate speak about healthcare reform.
It's enough to trigger feelings of hopelessness. Now I don't know about you guys, but when I'm feeling hopeless I start yelling about being fucked or I start threatening to disengage from whatever situation I'm in that is causing me to feel hopeless. I'm probably the only person who does that, but I have noticed a general fuck you democratic leadership tinge in the fresh orange air here.
Here's the thing though. We have the numbers on this one. We are frustrated because we feel like we can't do it alone. The WH isn't selling real reform, and we don't trust them to advocate for the middle and lower classes against corporate interests. (We have real world experiences to back that fear up.) NCeve and Slinkerwink and Firedoglake (and others!) have changed the course of this battle. The WH is so irritated that this is not going to their plan that they are bitching about their base in the media.
We need a flag to rally around. A clear sign of what side we are on in this fight that we can display with pride. Something that is easy to get and easy to pass out. And then we need TO RALLY AROUND IT. Because how many Americans, liberal or conservative or independent have been screwed by their insurance companies? A lot.
The WH isn't clarifying what a public option means so that we can sell it? We know what we want, Howard Dean and lots of others have been busy describing it for awhile now. I've got an idea. What if WE CLARIFY WHAT WE WILL ACCEPT?
I'm not advocating leaving the democratic party. I'm advocating that we organize NOW and let them know what they are going to do for us, not Wall Street Elites, us, the middle and lower classes who have been squeezed by rightwing idealogy and leftwing capitulation for far too long.
The only way we are going to lose this Healthcare Debate is if we let it happen.
UPDATE: Here is a group using a white ribbon for symbolize support ofr healthcare reform.