What's the point of this diary/post?
I suppose it started off having something to do with talking about saving lives, cutting overall costs, increasing affordability, reforming a broken system, solving problems and/or maybe even just governing effectively. And justly. And for the people.
Such novelty.
I bandied about (amongst myself) terms like "imperative" and "crisis" and "opportunity" and "Overton window" and "once in a lifetime" and "generational shift" and "blowing it" and "relentless centrism" and "spinelessness" and "pissing on the base" and "political depression" and "these idiots are ruining everything" and "this is worse than nothing".
I guess all my thoughts eventually metamorphosed into a discussion of specific ideas and policies that in turn became a personal word game of compromising with myself on the specific syntax I'd use to describe a victory whether real or simply perceived.
I thought about throwing in some buzz-phrases like "universal health care" and "science" and "proven" and "single-payer" and "public option" and "watered-down public option and "opt-out" and "Medicare expansion" and "Anthony Weiner" and "FDL" and "Howard Dean" and "Jacob Hacker" and "Bernie Sanders" and "Joe Lieberman" and "Ben Nelson" and "Bart Stupak" and "Barack Obama" and "insurance company bailout" and "corporate shills" and "back room deal with PhRMA" and "sell-out" and "William Butler Yeats".
After that, I considered the various tactics and strategies I'd use to arrive at/frame certain conclusions and started drawing up cost-benefits analyses that took into account ideological purity, political reality and long-term goals unrelated to Team USA winning the World Cup. (A girl can dream.)
I even stuck my theoretical neck out and (almost) went for the emotional punch of "morality" and "good conscience" and "murder-by-spreadsheet" and "Nataline Sarkisyan" and "covered but not cared for" and "completely uninsured" and "the nation's health" and "political disaster" and "kleptocracy" and "hope" and "change" and "sycophants" and "Meet the new boss..." and "lies" and "damned lies" and "the bill of goods being shoved down our throats" and "if you think left-wing bloggers are feeling cheated, then consider how people who are vulnerable and out of the loop and who really, truly needed Obama and the Democrats to come through on this defining plank of the Democratic platform are going to feel when they realize that nothing's there".
But, I thought better.
I became enamored of the idea of Winning Writing At All Costs so I decided to grow up and check out of the above camp.
I jotted something down and it's done. It's not right, but it's written. That's what counts. I'm finished. Fin. Finito.
Who cares about or needs substance or cogency?
If you do you're needy and if you're needy, you're powerless. And, excuse my laughter, but if you're powerless, I don't have time to give you anything but lip service and lies. A broken promise is better than no promise at all.
Hey, things fall apart. The center cannot hold. Deal with it.
Just don't get sick (of this pedantic mass of hot air or otherwise.)
And read this worthless blog post...for some reason...or I'll find a way to fine you.
I've blogged about something here.
(About what? Oh, I dunno. Look at the tags for Chrissake.)
This is the best you're going to get out of me for at least 20 years.
Victory.
Victoria.
Nike.
Just do it.
Legos run pancakes into ecstatic pink dishwashers.