Ok...I wrote a diary/rant yesterday about the exhaustiveness of this healthcare fight and for us to keep our heads and not be too up one day and too negative the next Link based on what we see and hear in the news. We just need to keep on e-mailing, calling, faxing, talking to friends/family about true healthcare reform until the legislation is signed into law. That has not changed. However, my thoughts for the last few months have been that we are moving toward reconciliation for healthcare reform. I understand the President letting congress do it's job but he might want to weigh in pretty soon before this entire thing falls apart.
Democrats in both the house and the senate are standing up for what is right. They are not going to let the few dictate to the majority. I'm not sure what the President's strategy is but I really don't think the majority is going to go along with the conservative democrats just to get something done. When we voted for hope and change President Obama was the vehicle that we thought would move us in that direction. In and of itself we've always known that he alone was not HOPE and CHANGE. But we believed and still do believe in those ideals he spoke of during the election. A lot of us who were new to the process and invested lots of time, money, and energy in that effort to get the President elected have not left that battlefield. We are paying close attention to everything and we are still fighting for the ideals that his election embodied.
This is why I believe we are heading down that road of either reconciliation or bust. This battle is not just about healthcare reform anymore. This healthcare battle has turned into the epic battle of Corporate interests vs the interest of the people. I think it is one of the most overt wars I've seen in my lifetime. This battle has been long, nasty, and very eye opening.
Today Senator Feingold said the following link:
"The mere fact that there's a bill on the floor is not enough for me to vote for it," Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) told MSNBC's Willie Geist on Wednesday morning. "It certainly wouldn't match the historical moment to do something that's just health care reform in name only. We need to do something real. We need to do something to stop the insurance companies' dominance over the checkbooks and health care of Americans. And that means doing something significant."
He's been hinting lately that he may not vote for this bill. That is important because I don't think it is a bluff.
In a diary I wrote yesterday I believe you have this split:
Public Option - No votes
Liebermann
Landrieu
Nelson
Hagen
Bayh
Public Option w/Triggers (no P.O.)- No votes
Burris
Feingold
Sanders
Rockerfeller
That spells...reconciliation or bust to me.
I'm not panicking or putting all the pressure on the President. Congress has the role of crafting legislation. That is their job. They need to step up and stand up and be counted so we the public can know whose interests they really represent. I hope these politicians understand that most of us know this is a pivotal time in American history. I'm curious to see what they think their role is in it. For me this is truly a test for our elected officials.
From Pollster.com link
Only 23% say they trust government "just about always" or "most of the time," which is the lowest number on this question in 12 years.
What's more, nearly half of respondents (46%) support building an independent political party to compete with the Republicans and Democrats.
And nearly six in 10 (57%) blame both Republicans and Democrats for the partisanship in Washington; 24% blame the Republicans only, while 17% point their finger at the Democrats.
emphasis mine not the poll
Today Representive Kucininch summed it up best for me this way link
"We compromised on [a] single payer [health care system] by backing a public option, and now we are being asked to compromise the public option with negotiated rates. In conference, we will likely be asked to compromise negotiated rates with a trigger. In each and every step of the health care debate, the insurance companies have won. If they get hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxpayer subsidies, they get to raise their premiums, and increase their co-pays and deductibles, while the public is forced to pay for private insurance, then the insurance companies win big.....
And this link 2:
(if I can get video I will post it)
Providing health care to all Americans is the moral responsibility of our government, consistent with the Preamble in the Constitution. Yet we are being told that it is not possible to have the kind of single payer health system which every industrialized democracy in the world has.
"We compromised on single payer by backing a public option, and now we are being asked to compromise the public option with negotiated rates. In conference, we will likely be asked to compromise negotiated rates with a trigger. In each and every step of the health care debate, the insurance companies have won. If they get hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxpayer subsidies, they get to raise their premiums, and increase their co pays and deductibles, while the public is forced to pay for private insurance, then the insurance companies win big.
"If this is the best we can do, then it is time to ask ourselves whether the two-party system is truly capable of representing the American people or whether the system has been so compromised by special interests that we can't even protect the health of our own people. This is a moment of truth for the Democratic Party. Will we stand for the people or the insurance companies?"
Yep, that about sums it up for me.
UPDATE: I am not advocating a 3rd Party but something is in the air and we all should pay attention to it. I personally voted maybe. Corruption is on full display and I don't think I'm the only one who has noticed it. 3rd Parties might end up being a protest vote. We see how well that worked out for us with Gore v Bush. The real answer is campaign finance reform.
UPDATE II: I DO NOT THINK 3rd Parties if elected would be any different than dems/repub who are mainly concerned with re-election. We need to change how elections are funded. That is the only way to get real reform in this country. Thanks "doinaheckuvanutjob" for requesting I add this to my post.
UPDATE III: looks like out of 139 votes 37% say they are ready for a 3rd party with 23% thinking maybe. See what I mean about disillusionment just within KOS. The WH has got to pay attention to this and not right it off. This could turn into folks staying at home on election night 2010.
UPDATE IV: WOW...the vote is now tied. Ok..now I'm nervous.
UPDATE V: Seriously??? Yes is winning. Now...I'm really nervous. That wasn't the outcome I thought it would be.