Seriously.
The way I see it, the only ones who compromised were Progressives. The Progressive caucus, bloc, movement, whatever you want to call it, tried to hold the line on real reform for ordinary people.
They got told, "not this time", and "please work with us" so that nobody loses face on this deal.
Fuck that!
I don't see what Progressives have to lose by simply voting "no".
If Health Care Insurance Reform must pass, then let the President along with House and Senate leaderships go and pass it then.
They don't need us to fuck everybody over, then claim "victory". In fact, if they are right, Progressives would look bad wouldn't they?
Seems like the perfect chance for them to step right up and do "the right thing", and gain some valuable ground against that "netroots", who are just a bunch of pajama pants bloggers, who don't know shit, right?
This bill is absolutely not a compromise at all. It's a big plate of STFU to the Progressives.
Folks, all this means is we Progressives have not come of age. That's what it means. We've grown stronger, bigger, smarter, faster. All good things, but not quite good enough to carry the day... YET!
Progressives need to dig in and force these fuckers to take ownership of the damage they are doing. If Obama wants it that badly, he can send Rahm out to roll over a coupla weak Republicans and get it passed.
If we've not come of age yet, they really don't need us do they?
On the other hand, maybe they do need us. If they do, then standing pat is the only way we are going to see anything favorable in that legislation.
This all goes back to rule number 1. If you can't walk, you will not get a good deal. This has always been true, and is true right now.
What they are counting on is everybody playing "fair ball" not doing anything ugly to expose the corporate largess that goes on every single day in Washington.
Hell, that would even make the bill "bi-partisan" wouldn't it! Hell yes it would. I heard Wyden speak about "bi-partisan" being his top priority! Well, sweet then! Go get after it you Coin Operated Blue Dogs!
It's actually hard for me to contemplate how much more Republican of a bill this could be. All the major check marks are there. Abortion, corporate give away, wealthy tax avoidance, deficit neutral, added cost for middle class, medicare tweaks even!
What the hell else do they want?
I'll tell you what they want. They want us to sign on, so they can put the spin doctors to work convincing people this was the best that could be done. They want to pass it, but they don't want to really own it, because that tends to bite the owner in the ass when people find out they got fucked yet again.
We should not grant them this! We need to stand firm and just say no, unless... and put just one thing on the table. One thing only:
Cost Control. That's it. Let them do every other thing, but that thing, and say NO. That's how we can leverage our movement. And if they pass it anyway, what do we get then?
We get the ability to say we Progressives don't own this. Obama does, House and Senate leadership does. Republicans do and Coin Operated Corporate Democrats do too.
We get to say to ordinary people, when they find out they were screwed again, that Progressives were the only ones working for them. That's the cost they must pay for fucking everybody over. We have to make them pay something, and either they can give us meaningful cost control, or they own this fucker, and make that damn clear.
Their move.
Either we get that one thing, or they go ahead and pass it without us. Either is fine then, because we can leverage either case!
If we get cost control, then we matter and will have finally come of age, a force to be dealt with, earning our longer term seat at the table.
If we don't get that, and they have to go scraping for votes, or Reid plays silly games to avoid the House, we get to say we didn't own that, and look at what positive things could happen, if we grow the Progressive movement!
In the latter case, we target a few of these weaker Blue Dogs, and fund raise, phone bank, and hit the streets like hell to unseat them, and let everybody know we are doing it.
Better yet, 50 state progressive strategy. Target everybody that is weak, Democrat or Republican, and take some seats big, running on ending corporate politics in Washington, which just about everybody gets right now, and those that don't will get it huge, if we stand right now to make that point, or get cost control.
Taking ownership of this shit is a big mistake. Whoever owns it is going to have to deal with it, year after year, as mandated, expensive insurance --for profit insurance, premiums continue to add up, denying ordinary people their means to save, grow, do, live and retire.
It is time for Progressives to step up and find out just where they stand. Perhaps that seat at the table is just waiting for us. Maybe forcing their hand is enough to get cost control.
Maybe it's not. That's ok too. In that scenario, rather than be frustrated, we get to work just like we have for years now, growing stronger until we do get that seat at the table.
Why deny this? Why water things down, diluting the Progressive brand, when doing so gets us absolutely nothing? Doing this actually aligns us with Coin Operated Corporate Democrats, making it harder to grow the party in the right direction, as they profit from our work just as we do, hobbling the movement from growing to take that seat at the table proper.
They know this, we know this, so why do this?
Finally, I do realize this splits the Democratic party. I understand that, and can only counter with what good is a party that always uses Progressives as the whipping boy in these things?
It's better than Bush. Only marginally better than Republican Congress, because that's what we are about to get. That majority isn't going to last and it's not going to last because the people won't be shown what it's worth.
The only ones who have a problem with that is us!! Progressives are the only ones frustrated by this Coin Operated Congress, along with many ordinary people, though they might not know it.
Edit: They don't know it because we are just "Democrats". I hate to admit it, but that is a problem. Really, there are corporate politicians, and Progressives. That's the real split, and denying that only hurts us, not them!
We need to message to people on this directly. There is a clear difference between a Progressive and the rest of Congress and that difference is we are not Coin Operated, Corporate people. We want reform that works for every day Americans, and the rest of them are only interested in keeping the private corporations happy.
I'm not for this bill without cost control. I buy the incremental deal, but that first increment has to actually contain some reform, or it's just a giveaway that empowers the other side, without us getting anything in return to empower our side.
That, people, is a loss. To have grown as much as we have, only to hand them a loss, wrapped with a "see? government doesn't work, does it?" tool to boot is just too much.
50 state progressive strategy. Do it, starting right now. Stand firm, let them own this mega-giveaway, let them account for it, while we build our numbers to the point where we really can incrementally undo the corporate mess.