Lessons from FDR.
You can’t turn a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.
~Franklin Delano Roosevelt
I heard Thom Hartmann use this quote this morning on the radio. I like good quotes, and that’s a good quote.
I’m all for “sitting down with the enemy” to talk about compromise, engage in diplomacy and look for our commonalities. Compromise can be a good way of getting things done. But at some point, after giving the tiger every opportunity to meet you in the middle, and knowing you’ve done everything you could, you’ve just got to sew your arm back on and change your strategy.
I’m hoping that next week when President Obama addresses Congress about health care reform, he has come to the same conclusion.
The Only Thing We Have to Fear is Fear Itself
~Franklin Delano Roosevelt
While we’re on the Roosevelt theme, there’s always that quote too. The people who are showing up to defeat health care reform, to keep Obama from addressing school children about the importance of education, to storm Town Hall meetings, and to cry “socialist!” or whatever “ist” sounds good at the time, are afraid. Granted, they’ve been helped there by the likes of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and a host of other paid, professional fear mongers. That’s why they keep their jobs. They’re very good at creating fear. And fear is very good at creating anger. And anger can be very effective in creating intimidation. And intimidation can result in backing down. And backing down from the principles and issues you were elected to implement can be a very very bad thing. That’s where we are.
After unsuccessfully attempting to create meaningful bipartisan compromise on a health care bill before the summer break, and faced with dwindling approval ratings, the President is ready to make a speech next week to congress. And it’s going to be an important one, perhaps even a game-changer.
Scheduling of the speech next Wednesday night, just a day after lawmakers return from their August recess, underscores the determination of the White House to confront critics of Obama’s overhaul and to buck up supporters who have been thrown on the defensive. Allies have been urging the president to be more specific about his plans and to take a greater role in the debate, and aides have signaled he will do that in the address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber.
The speech’s timing also suggests that top Democrats have all but given up hope for a bipartisan breakthrough by Senate Finance Committee negotiators. The White House had given those six lawmakers until Sept. 15 to draft a plan, but next week’s speech comes well ahead of that deadline.
It follows an August recess in which critics of Obama’s health proposals dominated many public forums. Approval ratings for Obama, and for his health care proposals, dropped during August.
Senior adviser David Axelrod had said Tuesday that Obama was considering being “more prescriptive” about what he feels Congress must include in a health bill. Axelrod said all the key ideas for revising health care are “on the table,” suggesting that Obama will not offer major new proposals but may talk more specifically about his top priorities and perhaps add details to pending plans.
The president hopes to “take the reins of this debate and take it to the finish line,” said an administration official who spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss White House strategy.
The thing that Democrats need to remember is the very thing that Howard Dean reminds us of – the public option IS the compromise. A single payer health care plan was the dream of many progressives. The status quo is the dream of many conservatives. Meeting in the middle is the public option – the choice of whether you like the plan you have and want to keep it, or whether you want the public OPTION.
Take the time, before then, to contact your elected representatives one more time. Those motivated by fear have been calling already, and every time they call, they claim to speak for you. You haven’t heard them, but they speak for you nonetheless. Phones are ringing in your senators office right now. And don’t forget to contact the White House. Most people reading this have given time, material support, and mental energy putting Barack Obama in the White House because you were tired of having someone in there who didn’t speak for you. So, devote a little more to remind him of that.
Need a pep talk?
This debate is about lives. Not money; lives. It’s about individual freedom. Do we want a society in which it’s okay to walk by a man dying in the street because we have our own lives to live and he should have made better decisions when he was younger, as the cynics on the right seem to think, or are we better than that? Don’t we have a responsibility as a society to make sure that man sees a doctor and at least has a shot at continuing to live?
I find it difficult to believe that a society in which a significant proportion of its citizens have been trained in first aid and CPR simply wants its people to die. I find it difficult to believe that a society in which more than four-fifths of the population claims a belief in a single God that preaches mercy would simply look the other way as tens of thousands of people are allowed to die simply because they don’t have enough money in the bank. According to the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran, followers have a moral OBLIGATION to help the afflicted, regardless of how much money they have.
So why has this issue become all about money? Why does there seem to be no moral component to this debate? We obviously have the ability to pay for health care for everyone, because we do it now. So, if there is a flaw in the system that sentences tens of thousands of people to death and suffering, why is there even a controversy over finding a way to fix it? Have we become so enamored with our warped view of “capitalism” to even realize that it is, in fact, killing us? (And yes, I put “capitalism” in quotes, because nothing about our health insurance system resembles true capitalism in any way.)
This issue shouldn’t even be controversial. Our current health care financing system is an embarrassment, and it is not worthy of a society that sees itself as “freedom-loving.”
Read the rest of the article “On Health Insurance Reform, We’re Right They’re Wrong. Period.” HERE.
We desperately need more progressives on Twitter to fight against the Status Quo. Teabaggers have over 11,000 ppl on Twitter acct. and progressives only 3600..Please sign up at http://tweetprogress.us . We need you to fight the good fight and keep the wingnuts from doing what they have done to VanJones. Thanks.
OK you guys gave me the nerve: I just called the school disctrict hotline, and voiced my opinion — The nice lady said that they are going to record the speech and show it in the classroom when the kids normally take social studies. I sure hope they do!!
I tried writing my (Republican) Congressman, and he responded with an auto-reply email, which ran a bit like this:
Thank you concerned citizen. LIKE YOU, I am concerned that this President is FORCING US to accept government-controlled health care.. and will dictate which doctor you see … blah buh blah blah…
WTHECK?
He didn’t even read my email, and assumed I was yet another redneck from his district… and there are many, many around these parts.
And this just in: Our school district said the President’s address will “interfere” with the lunch schedule, so they are going to post the link to his speech online, and that parents and children can watch it at home…, blah blah blah….. I have NO DOUBT — had that President been GEORGE W BUSH — they would have called an assembly to watch it at every school.
The reason given for my insurance increase is that my state’s regulatory system requires my Mega Insurance Company “to cover people rejected by other insurance companies because of expensive pre-existing medical conditions…” and those people are just soooo expensive. I can reduce my premium, and my coverage, but once I do that, I cannot increase my coverage later. And, since I’m 60, female, and have a pre-existing condition (tho I haven’t filed a claim for so much as a bandaid in years), exactly where am I supposed to look for different insurance? I’m working with people who fervently believe Pres. Obama is going to gut Medicare, create socialized medicine, and destroy the US just for giggles. I seldom post, but if it weren’t for Mudflats I’d just give up.
After the war in Iraq (how many MILLIONS of Iraqi citizens were killed in this illegitimate war?) and the current actions OVER THE HEALTHCARE DEBATE the republicans have proved themselves to be, Terrorists.
The following describes them perfectly:
“Terror” comes from a Latin word meaning “to frighten”. The terror cimbricus was a panic and state of emergency in Rome in response to the approach of warriors of the Cimbri tribe in 105BC. The Jacobins cited this precedent when imposing a Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. After the Jacobins lost power, the word “terrorist” became a term of abuse. Although the Reign of Terror was imposed by a government, in modern times “terrorism” usually refers to the killing of innocent people by a private group in such a way as to create a media spectacle. This meaning can be traced back to Sergey Nechayev, who described himself as a “terrorist”.[8] Nechayev founded the Russian terrorist group “People’s Retribution” (Народная расправа) in 1869.
In November 2004, a United Nations Security Council report described terrorism as any act “intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act”. (Note that this report does not constitute international law).[9]
Violence – According to Walter Laqueur of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “the only general characteristic of terrorism generally agreed upon is that terrorism involves violence and the threat of violence”. However, the criterion of violence alone does not produce a useful definition, as it includes many acts not usually considered terrorism: war, riot, organized crime, or even a simple assault. Property destruction that does not endanger life is not usually considered a violent crime, but some have described property destruction by the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front as violence and terrorism; see eco-terrorism.
Psychological impact and fear – The attack was carried out in such a way as to maximize the severity and length of the psychological impact. Each act of terrorism is a “performance” devised to have an impact on many large audiences. Terrorists also attack national symbols, to show power and to attempt to shake the foundation of the country or society they are opposed to. This may negatively affect a government, while increasing the prestige of the given terrorist organization and/or ideology behind a terrorist act.[11]
Perpetrated for a political goal – Something that many acts of terrorism have in common is a political purpose. Terrorism is a political tactic, like letter-writing or protesting, which is used by activists when they believe that no other means will effect the kind of change they desire. The change is desired so badly that failure to achieve change is seen as a worse outcome than the deaths of civilians. This is often where the inter-relationship between terrorism and religion occurs. When a political struggle is integrated into the framework of a religious or “cosmic”[12] struggle, such as over the control of an ancestral homeland or holy site such as Israel and Jerusalem, failing in the political goal (nationalism) becomes equated with spiritual failure, which, for the highly committed, is worse than their own death or the deaths of innocent civilians. One definition that combines the key elements was developed at the George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies by Carsten Bockstette: “Terrorism is defined as political violence in an asymmetrical conflict that is designed to induce terror and psychic fear (sometimes indiscriminate) through the violent victimization and destruction of noncombatant targets (sometimes iconic symbols). Such acts are meant to send a message from an illicit clandestine organization. The purpose of terrorism is to exploit the media in order to achieve maximum attainable publicity as an amplifying force multiplier in order to influence the targeted audience(s) in order to reach short- and midterm political goals and/or desired long-term end states.” [13]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism
Well said, AKM. Thank you once again for being the eloquent voice of our hearts.
when your employer pays for your health care, that same employer
passes on that cost to the consumer of it’s products or services.
then that same employer receives a business deduction on it’s taxes,
thereby passing on the costs of the employee’s health care onto
the backs of the american tax payers.
that is a form of socialism also.
religion in america is fond of using “fear” in it’s teachings regarding
it’s god. the repukes also use “fear” in it’s attempts to manipulate
the populace.
repukes the party of dipsticks.
Yes, call your congress people, sign the petitions, send letters. We need health care bill with a PUBLIC OPTION.
It is time Pres Obama fights for us just like we fought for him.
“brainwashed aliens”…….which is of course my point. Sitting down with these people (thankfully the minority) and trying to reach consensus won’t work. Even with the long shared history and mutual trust, I couldn’t even make a dent in my own brother’s reasoning.
Time for PO and the rest of the Democratic leadership to step away from the conference table with the GOP and craft health care reform which the majority wants and voted for last November.
Time for us as the majority to make our voices heard. Sorry, bro.
Good pep talk, AKM.
@ seattlefan
——————–
Yep. Those “tigers” FDR was referring to have mutated since the 1930-40’s. LOL. Complex business when it hits home. It seems much easier to debate/discuss health care reform with strangers as compared to friends, neighbors, and especially family.
Oops…I just realized my post could be OT. Sorry Snoskred. You can move it over to the Open Thread if you want. Just got caught up in the moment of responding to a fellow frustrated flatter with a similar sibling problem. 🙁
@Lee434 #81.
I think we have the same brother! OMG! I have posted before about my brother and it is hopeless trying to talk with him. He is a vet and college educated and an Executive Director where he is employed. He is the only one in my family (5 kids!) who became a wingnut. I still love him, but will never understand or agree with any of his views. He and I have agreed to disagree because we love each other, but there is absolutely no way either one of us will convince the other what is right. Sigh…………
My out-of-state brother who’s extremely intelligent with degrees in electrical engineering and dentistry was visiting a while back. The topic of health care reform was brought up at dinner. When he started ranting that the swine flu was a US government (Obama) conspiracy to test some germ warfare principle, I almost choked on the beverage I was drinking.
Tigers??…. Hell….these people are brainwashed aliens. I want my freaking big brother back!!
Hope great letter Good for you AKM thanks for the push forward.I have been e-mailing out of state senators and reps and even republicans members of congress to let them know they should be ashamed of their party for the way it treats it’s constituents and thinks party first instead of country first.
Just a reminder guys – the open thread is open for all off topic comments, all day. 🙂 You can find the current one here.
https://themudflats.net/2009/09/02/open-thread-31/
Strangelet, I liked your letter. I liked it especially because Begich does a major whimp, whimp and then has the nerve to wonder if he can ever be a Kennedy. Not a chance! I expect him to be a one term Senator because no one respects someone without a morals and guts. I mean what can you say about as guy pretending to be a Democrat who doesn’t care about health care and is in favor of destroying the environment.
I am no fan of Specter but at least he has the guts to say what he is about good, bad, or indifferent. I am tired of whimpery.
O.T. There’s some David Kernell news from Knoxville, TN (Sarah Palin Yahoo email trial)
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/sep/04/survey-barred-in-palin-e-mail-hacking-case/
Posting states Kernell’s trial date is October 27th.
A.E.T. academic economic thinking..Alaska style! we need full coverage..gov sponsored health care with minimal monthly fees!..travel AID to the bush patient, anchorage patients should not complain bout’ the bush livers, there is a cultural meaning to there presence there..thousands of years. Lisa m. knows little..even as her family friend D.Y. buries Lu..SHE DECLARES SHE WILL VOTE HEALTH CARE DOWN..SHE IS HER FATHERS PUPPIE. -ROD G.
A.E.T. academic economic thinking..Alaska style! we need full coverage..gov sponsored health care with minimal monthly fees!..travel AID to the bush patient, anchorage patients should not complain bout’ the bush livers, there is a cultural meaning to there presaence there..thousands of years. lisa m. knows little..even as her family friend D.Y. buries Lu..SHE DECLARES SHE WILL VOTE HEALTH CARE DOWN..HER FATHERS PUPPIE. -ROD G.
Ah, OT, but quickly so: There’s a long Krugman article, NYT but linked from Huff, that will give you a marvelous overview of academic economic thinking during the last 40-50 years.
Strangelet, having gone to meet with local city council people, sometimes I think the fence sitters are just trying to get both sides to suck up because they like having their a$$es kissed. Certainly saw it on our long fight against the very huge company in my comment in the 40s above. Not saying it is the case here, but maybe other places. I thought your letter was good and others could use it to edit to express THEIR views.
“You can’t turn a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.”
So true and I hope President Obama and the Democrats take heed. I was talking to husband tonight about this. If the Republicans were in charge they wouldn’t hesitate to push their agenda through and wouldn’t give bipartisanship a second thought, much less lip service. I hope the President can get the Blue Dogs on board and I want this thing to pass with the public option with or without 1 Republican vote.
I’m so tired of the Democrats taking the high road and losing. Let’s resort to the Republican playbook and just get this done while we can.
On top of everything else (school indoctrination, birth certificate, death panels, town hall chaos, Beck, Hannity, Rush, and other thinly veiled racist fake issues) I am concerned about the mental state of our nation and the safety of our president.
I do what I can and did again today. Wrote letters again to both my senators, my lame district Congressman and to President Obama. I also wrote letters to some of the Fox programs to plea with them to pull in their rhetoric.
I don’t know if anyone reads the letters, but I feel empowered by writing them and am hopeful that my voice is heard.
Department of Redundancy Department, that’s me.
i heard hartmann for a little bit this morning also. he was playing part of a speech FDR gave in 1936, before he began his second term and seven years into the depression. hartmann reminded us how much 1929 was like 2008 — coming off 12 years of republican domination where, because of greed and rampant deregulation, waste, fraud and abuse the economy was shipwrecked.
and FDR was really slamming the GOP — and the crowd was cheering and stomping their feet!
and he was suggesting president obama should take off the gloves in his speech to the joint session.
sometimes i just roll my eyes and wonder when we’re going to learn.
I wouldn’t call it unintelligible, strangelet, but… over verbose? Isn’t that a bit redundant? 😉
Damn, that was really long and unintelligible on this comment stream. Sorry.
Here is something to lift our spirits after all the fearmongering. It sure made me feel better.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/03/house-progressives-to-oba_n_276808.htm
I couldn’t let well enough alone, so I sent Sen Begich the following over-verbose email:
Dear Senator Begich,
If it is true that you have stated that you cannot voice support for the “public option” until you see how it is to be paid for, I wish to respectfully suggest that you are incorrectly conflating the public option itself – a government-run insurance program — with the concept of government subsidies, to those of limited means, for purchasing health insurance from either private or public sources.
While a public insurance program will undoubtedly require some initial capitalization, I assume that this is not the source of your concern. The ongoing operations of the public program will be paid for in exactly the same way that private insurance plans are – by premiums paid by the subscribers. Indeed, it would be perfectly reasonable to require that the public plan should repay its initial capitalization to the government, over an appropriate time period (say, twenty years). But even without a repayment provision, the likely capitalization requirement is little larger than a rounding error in the Federal budget.
Now, it is certain that some of the subscribers to a public insurance plan will receive some level of subsidy against their premiums. But they could, and some will, apply the subsidy against a private insurance premium. There is no requirement to use the public plan in order to get the subsidy. Such subsidies, of course, arise because of the “free-market” notion that the only allowable way to get universal coverage is to mandate that everyone must purchase health insurance. The notion of subsidy follows from the notion of “individual mandate”. It has nothing to do with a public insurance option.
The vast majority of direct Federal (aka “taxpayer”) spending will be for premium subsidies. I have enough faith in the Democratic Party to be sure that no bill will pass that contains individual mandates without reasonable subsidies. But neither individual mandate, nor subsidy, has any direct connection to a public insurance option.
The purpose of a public option is to provide legitimate, not “one of the guys”, competition to the private health insurers, as well as insurer-of-last-resort for those unfortunates who will be declined by the private companies, no matter how carefully the regulations may be written. The obvious hope is that a public insurance program will be able to provide similar coverage at a lower premium, and therefore prod the private insurers to become more cost-effective. Personally, I think that in the best case it will also serve as a concrete example of quality, cost-effective health insurance; but that belief is not necessary to realize that it is crucial to any actual control over health care costs.
Let me sum up: there is no mystery about how a public option insurance plan will be paid for: by premiums, paid by its subscribers. Virtually all of the Federal spending on “reformed” health care will be in the form of subsidies to help low-income folks comply with the individual mandate. These two things are NOT causally related. If you have a problem with subsidies, say so, but don’t use them as an excuse to diss the public option.
For background, I am not one of your constituents, but I do have some understanding of Alaskan politics as a regular reader of the Mudflats, and other progressive Alaskan bloggers. I am also a life-long Democrat – I have voted in every election (including off-years and specials) for forty years, and I am happy to say that I have voted a straight party-line in state and national contests (and most local ones). While I respect the opinions of those who claim to “vote for the person rather than the party”, I prefer to recognize that we are a two-party nation, that there are real differences between the parties, and that the long-term direction of states and the nation is determined by partisan control of the levers of government.
That said, I understand that it is a difficult balancing act to be a Democratic Senator from a generally Republican-favoring state. And there is certainly nothing wrong with being concerned about paying the bills. I thought I had died and gone to Heaven during the Clinton surplus years. But I think you now confront choices (of which health care is only one) that will determine, in the long run, whether you are remembered as a significant player, or as that guy who was senator for a while.
I will spare you my rant about disproportionate Senatorial power (I live in California), but you do inhabit a quite small electorate (smaller than five or six cities in CA). You got into the Senate on a bit of a fluke, but also on the support of the 30-35% of Alaskans that are solid Democrats. You’ve got over five years left on your term. I assume you are a Democrat not simply for electoral differentiation, but because you generally subscribe to the ideals of the party (I won’t hold you to every plank in the platform ;>). Your mission, should you choose to accept it, should be to change the default partisan preference of Alaskans to Democratic. Hey, they were, once upon a time.
The way to do this is to act like a Democrat when acting like a Democrat is the right thing to do. Health care (or, if you prefer, health insurance) reform is one of the issues where acting like a Democrat is the right thing to do. There must be a lot of Alaskans caught in the “sorry, declined” trap. Make life better for them. They’ll be voting in 2014. Hell, their kids may be voting in 2014.
There was a looong period (in my opinion, from 32 to 80, Nixon was a fluke) during/after the Depression, when the Democratic Party dominated public policy. They did so because most people believed that they stood for making life better (even if it was gradual) for ordinary folks. Like all ruling elites, the party eventually lost contact with its reason for existence, and concentrated on remaining in power, and fell victim to ideological counterattack, because they, collectively, had lost sight of that ideal of which they were supposed to be the champions.
Make life better for your constituents. Be aggressive on health care reform. Support the bloody public option. What can happen?
(1) Obama and his staff botch the deal completely, reform dies with a whimper. You have five years to position yourself as you see fit. NOBODY pays attention to five-year old news.
(2) A decent plan emerges. Health cares cost increases moderate. Many uninsured become insured. Possibly, you’re a hero.
Get on board, or you’re blowing a big opportunity. I hate to use Palin examples, but she skyrocketed to undeserved influence by telling her (small) base what they wanted to hear. There is a much larger group that is eager to hear some kind of progressive (you know, Democratic) leadership. It’s a risk, I know. But it’s also the right thing to do. Do you want to be remembered as Ted Kennedy or Max Baucus?
Best Regards,
The conservatives quote FDR when it suits their self-serving purposes but agree with Albert Jay Nock’s sentiment that Roosvelt’s death was “the biggest public improvement that America has experienced since the passage of the Bill of Rights.”
Not that any of them see anything in the Bill of Rights beyond amendment #2.
The root cause of the problem with health care, and for that matter every other ill our country is currently experiencing, is that we have the best government that money can buy. And, unless and until we as individual citizens stand up to our elected leaders and demand drastic change in the way campaigns are financed, then the Rupert Murdochs, the Sarah Palins, the entire Bush clan, and essentially anyone who by choice spent high school sitting at the back of the classroom will rule the day.
A total and complete makeover of campaign finance reform is the necessary and sufficient step to change health care to a more efficient model, to improve the state of our ecology, to find sane budget policies, to re-educate and employ our workforce, and to permanently turning off the noise machine that is Fox.
Obama deserves a lot of credit for trying to bring about this change. Not sure that our “representative” form of government are the ones to figure out how to do it efficiently.
Letter I submitted at whitehouse(dot)gov
Dear President Obama,
First off, I have no illusions that you will ever see this letter. But I do hope that someone in your staff will and will hopefully make mention of it.
In a few days you are going to speak before Congress about Health Care Insurance Reform. This is something that you know needs to be done. I would like to ask you to go back and revisit some of the speeches you have made over the past few years about Health Care.
In your Commencement Address to the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
on May 20, 2006 you said:
“And so today I ask you to be more than just practitioners of medicine; I ask you to be advocates for medicine. I ask you to be advocates for a health care system that is fair, that is just, and that provides every single American with the best your profession has to offer.”
And
“This can be our future, but everyone needs to stay involved, and everyone needs to put the pressure on Washington, because they sure won’t do it on their own. Just a little while ago, we were told that it was “Health Care Week” in the U.S. Senate. Five days later, we had failed to debate even a single bill that would have fundamentally improved access for the 46 million Americans without health insurance.”
Sir, I ask you to be an advocate for a health care system that is fair. I ask that you keep the pressure on the rest of Washington, “because they sure won’t do it on their own”.
I’d like to remind you of your speech to the Families USA Conference on January 25, 2007 where you said in part:
“The debate in this country over health care has shifted. The support for comprehensive reform that organizations like Families USA have worked so hard to build is now widespread, and the diverse group of business and health industry interests that are part of your Health Care Coverage Coalition is a testament to that success. And so Washington no longer has an excuse for caution. Leaders no longer have a reason to be timid. And America can no longer afford inaction. That’s not who we are – and that’s not the story of our nation’s improbable progress.”
I ask you not to be timid. I ask you for action.
As you said in your Democratic National Convention Nomination Acceptance Speech on August 28, 2008:
“Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don’t, you’ll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.”
These are the reasons I voted for you. I want the same health care that Congress gives themselves or Congress should give up that health care. Any action that does not include a Public Option will not be a true reform. Private insurance will not lower their costs/profits on their own.
You are the President. The Majority of “The People” voted for you. “The People” want this reform. This reform that you promised us. Now is the time for the “No more Mister Nice-Guy” approach. Use the carrot or use the stick. Twist a few arms, threaten and cajole. Do it without the Republicans if you have to. Remind the rest of the Democrats that we voted them into office to help you bring about these reforms.
Anything less and you will have let us down.
Sincerely,
(real name inserted here)
BigPete ……… exactly
I am almost insane. If I hear pablum out of Obama’s mouth next week, I am going to pack it up for him. I have sent some really nasty emails and I mean them. I am an old broad and this is the last chance for me to see this country try and act like it gives a sh** about itself.
At this point the most important thing is that the idiots that populate our congress understand that if the public doesn’t get health care, they and their staff and families will lose theirs. Equality is hell sometimes. Let them deal with preexisting. Who cares about their personal little problems? It should just be fun.
I think the DINOs thought the progressives would be like the fundies. Guess again!
Grassrooter, this is for you. You’re the voice. Make a noise. Make it clear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99P7TTvpO1g
@SameOld
The same quacks who couldn’t care less if we ever manufactured another car (or anything else) in this country, are now deadly worried that their campaign contributors might go out of business! It’s a total disgrace.
Stuck in moderation—not on my computer!
Raleigh, NC rallied for healthcare reform with a MAJOR majority of the 1,100 people chanting for the Public Option!
About insurance companies going out of business ….. consider them buggy whips …. who needs them? Consider them steel companies. Ask Pittsburgh and all the other rust bucket towns that Republicans didn’t give a s**t about because they were union jobs. Who cares? I don’t.
LET THEM GO OUT OF BUSINESS and let something more productive and progressive replace them.
It is a very stupid argument.
Who was FDR’s speechwriter? Because I’d like to hire him to write marketing copy.
We are having a rally in Albuquerque on Sunday, Sept. 13 as part of a nationwide series of rallies to be held simultaneously.
Our event is organized by grassroot volunteers, people just like the ones who worked so hard to get Obama elected.
Our strategy is this:
– Make our collective voices loud
– Declare our absolute wish for a public option
– Show our strength by having the events simultaneously
– Show our non-partisan, collective efforts by banding together with any other group who supports the public option
I, too, heard the Thom Hartmann show this morning as was incredibly moved by the strength of FDR’s conviction to do what is right.
As a grassroots volunteer:
I am committed to fighting as hard as I can, and as long as necessary, for the public health option.
It has little to do with who is with us or who is against us.
It has little to do with the nuances of support we hear being filtered through the media.
It has little to do with reports of straw votes showing passage or defeat.
It has EVERYTHING to do with what is right.
It has EVERYTHING to do with what is moral.
As a grassroots volunteer I will soldier on. I do this side by side with others who wish to join. I do this with a single goal. I do this, perhaps, against all odds.
I do this because it is the right thing to do.
Speech! Speech!
I’m appreciative of President Obama’s oratory skills; heck, I love a great speech. But next week, he absolutely needs to put Jon Favreau into the bullpen and brings out a closer. If we hear forty minutes of rhetorical cheerleading, this fight is lost. Over. Done.
If Obama walks out there and nails the SPECIFICS of the bill, addressing in tangible terms HOW HIS PLAN WILL LOOK AND BEHAVE, then we stand a chance to pass a form of public option.
Specifics = we may win.
Rhetoric = we will lose.
I’d be interested if there is any agreement on this.
the current health insurance system has nothing to do with capitalism…unless you consider the model of the mafia, capitalism
I just got back from our county meeting. It was wonderful because there were no protesters (which is rather odd). At least one of our local news stations had a camera taping the event.
It was so exciting to be somewhere where people were interested in PEOPLE and cared about them. The main speaker (our county commissioner) even mentioned “death panels” and how awful it was that people are scaring people & lying to them. Also, talked about the fact that we are ALL Americans (alluding to the pro-Americans that Palin talked about)! He also talked about Ted Kennedy and FDR.
He asked us to raise our hands if we had health care. I would say that 99% of the people had their hands raised. He looked directly into the camera and said something like, “Do you see that most of these people have insurance? See it isn’t because we care about ourselves it is because we have a moral obligation to see that everyone has healthcare (crowd clapping wildly).”
Refreshing to say the least!
Just got back from the “Organize for America” meet the bus rally in Raleigh, NC.
The bus is en route to DC next with petitions collected from all over the USA.We were about 1,100 cheering, hopeful souls in front of the Progress Energy Performance center in the middle of Raleigh. There may have been 50 anti-somethings there (not sure what they were against, their signs were simply anti everything, with snakes on them and such) but the local police kept them out of our way!
We can get this done, folks, we can do it. Don’t give up and keep calling, writing and attending!
This Huffpo story links back to the CNN Political Ticker story about the Group, CPR, Conservatives for Patients Rights. It says they will go back to running their 30 second commercials Tuesday… one day before the President speaks.
BTW : CPR was founded by Rick Scott… who is a real scumbag in the Heathcare industry. Lots of news agencies have reported on him. CNN’s Rick Sanchez called him out ( on the air in an interview ) about a month ago. I see that Google has a story from 5-29-09 by Think Progress talking about this guy.
{ from their story – below }
“This Sunday, the front group Conservatives for Patients’ Rights will be airing a 30-minute documentary with “horror stories” aimed at chipping away public support for reforming our health care system. Ironically, the leader and financier of the organization, private health care executive Rick Scott, is actually credited with transforming the American health care system into the profit above-all-else culture that is currently plaguing America.””
“Rick Scott is not only known for his efforts to build the “McDonald’s” of the health care industry, but his company was also forced to pay a $1.7 billion fraud settlement, the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, for systematically stealing from taxpayers.”
————————————–
Hopefully MoveOn or some organization is already in place with a rebuttal for what he is trying to sell with his message. ( This guy is truly SCUM )
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/03/conservatives-for-patient_n_276925.html
They have no right to make a profit off my health. They can still sell insurance for all the other risks in the world….but health should be non-profit.
The public option will not put the ins companies out of business. Not only are they going to try to let us believe it, they will fight to the end on this. We all pay for everybody, whether we know it or not. Doctors and hospitals regularly eat the costs of those that can’t pay. It comes back to them with higher costs to the patients that have ins. In turn ins prices go up. It is a circle of inflating costs. No one is turned away at a hospital when in dire need. Somebody ends up paying. Us in the long run. And some decent doctors. Not the ins companies.
Great reading AKM. Good pep talks seems very important today. Many other comments also encouraging us to keep hard at it. Thank you all.
I sometimes need a respite from the bad news, and when I get a foul taste in my mouth after reading about the craziness, I often go to Wonkette and read the comments, they are hilarious, witty and mostly irreverent.
http://wonkette.com/410311/iraq-egypt-whatever-just-make-sure-to-bomb-it-all
“Alexander the Great discovered Nebraska there right next to Saudi Arabia, which was awesome because then he founded the Huskers and they became world champions 5,000 years ago right after Adam and Eve started Eden, so all Middle Easterners are really Midwesterners.”
AKM, Thanks for the great FDR quote and the pep talk.
Amy, Thanks for the MoveOn petition link. Here’s another from Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
PETITION TO PRESIDENT OBAMA: “We worked so hard for real change. President Obama, please demand a strong public health insurance option in your speech to Congress. Letting the insurance companies win would not be change we can believe in.”
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4951/content.jsp?content_KEY=2793&tag=pod_main-email1
I guess it can’t hurt to sign more than one.
Great post, AKM. I am so tired because of weekend company, but I’m enthused again…thanks! I will miss you all this weekend, but will catch up as soon as I can. My love to Austintx, in case you are reading.
each=reach
Grover’s post @13 makes me wonder:
the Republicans and Blue Dogs keep insisting that a public option will put the insurance companies out of business.
Seems to me the insurance companies are just going to price themselves out of business all by themselves. How long until it will be when the combination of policy premiums, deductibles and co-pays reach the point where it becomes completely out of each for most people and businesses?
I missed turning off the bold, sorry.
I hope that that this doesn’t get lost in the news of the day like the storm of the Levi article or any other storm.
After yet another night of troubled sleep, I am fed up. We are smarter than the people with the IQ of a coughed-up hairball. I can have just as much fun or preach to the choir as the next person, but think we could be doing so much more to effect positive change. It doesn’t cost much, either.
AKM went to Netroots Nation and came back with some great info that she’s shared with us. We need to act decisively, on the issues that matter to us. Having spent some time in marketing, I would like to suggest we use some of the tools provided to us and that we go to town with a marketing campaign for what we are looking to change.
HamletsMill created a comprehensive contact list and posted it on the Forum—this is a truly fantastic thing to have from a marketing standpoint. I’d copy it and save it in a word document and periodically check to see if there are updates. There are instructions on how to use it. (Please use the BCC on the email ones. A neighbor sent me something on health care and I was quite horrified to see my email address with everyone else from his NASA contacts on down.)
There are some truly eloquent writers here. I am always delighted by them. We can use their templates for inspiration to use in a concerted effort. Glenn Beck has had 57 advertisers to pull off his show. This is an amazing accomplishment and couldn’t have happened to a more deserving jerk.
When doing a letter campaign, you may want to keep the main body of the letter and customize the intro and closing paragraphs for your target audience, where in the final paragraph, you request what you want.
Here are two ideas from other commenters whom I thought had good ideas (there are others, but I was easily able to find these):
********166 Krubozumo Nyankoye Says:
August 29th, 2009 at 5:51 PM
I just looked at the post immediately preceding my last and I have to say, the crux of this media issue is simple. It is Fox. Murdoch’s whole enterprise is nothing more than a for hire propaganda organ. Like flu or the common cold or for that matter malaria, this is the kind of disease that will probably never be completely eradicated.
However, I think an effort, such as:
Dear Fox Sponsor,
I do not watch Fox, because it is nothing but lies and propaganda, but I do notice that your firm advertises and therefore provides the revenue to support this propaganda. I find that both irresponsible, and reprehensible. You should have noticed the bias of the media you were financing, and having so noticed, should have of your own accord ceased to be complicit.
By all evidence you have not. Therefore, henceforth, I shall specifically avoid the purchase of any of your products and will avidly encourage everyone I know to similarly deprive you of revenue.
Further, unless you refrain from purchasing advertising time from Fox for a period of at least 5 years, I will continue to avoid your products, seek alternatives, and incite others to disdain you in a similar fashion.
Kindest regards, ********
Here is another:
********48 lynnrockets Says:
September 2nd, 2009 at 8:28 AM
On a more serious note, folks. Here is an announcement. Summer vacation is over. It is time to get back to school.
Congress is returning to Washington and we must put the pressure on, as we have never done before, to ensure that a strong “public option’ is included in any health care reform bill. Here in Massachusetts, we have no problems with any of our senators or representatives. All of them are in favor of the public option and will fight for its inclusion. Many of you other states, not so much.
You must implore them to favor the public option. I have gone so far as to contact legs in other states (most recently, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas) to remind them that that they are Democrats and the National Democratic Platform mandates, at the very least, a public option. I am sure that these legs pay little attention to my words because I cannot vote in their states.
Consequently, I tell them matter of factly, that if I do not see a reversal from them on this matter within 30 days, I will begin making weekly contributions to their opponents (even if they are Republicans). The sooner the person reverses his/her position on this issue, the sooner my monetary penalty will stop. My money can still have an effect in these other states.
I understand that many people cannot come up with the money to make donations but I am sure that you can come up with some other incentive to remind these Blue Dogs that they must pursue the Democratic platform.
Go get ‘em, Mudflatters!!!********
I know the following can work from efforts I’ve been involved in locally. A small group of residents organized, protested, used PR and contacts with the media, wrote letters to the editors, handed out information at farmers markets, organized fundraisers, spoke at city council meetings, met with the final arbiters in Sacramento, etc. and built a disparate coalition of activists to beat back an effort by the one of the world’s largest companies from doing something idiotic off our coast. People of all ages, from eloquent great grandparents down to girls in grammar school speaking haltingly from their hearts, worked together top support the effort, and in the end, the state commission decided in our favor.
We had our ups and downs, we organized and persuaded, and WE WON! Some of these techniques are standard stuff, but having it all in one place is helpful for things you can do in your community to fight these whackos in town halls, crazy school boards, insane TV networks and people who are nuts on health care issues.
Using the info below, I have also been successful in getting a what I’ve asked for including $15,000 that my CPA has said never in his entire 35 year career had he heard of that happening. Here is a clean up of what I posted on the PalinGates Toxic Yogurt thread:
From a marketing standpoint, when I complain to people, I tell them that statistics show when a customer is happy, they tell 3 people that they like the product, and when they are unhappy, they tell around 11. I then say I know a LOT more than 11 people. Maybe they’d reconsider what they are doing?
Rather than call, I write this in a letter and FAX it to the CEOs office along with the facts that back up what I’m asking for. Having worked with some CEOs, I know their staff will act when you follow up the fax with a call to the Executive Assistant. They usually handle it by referring me to someone in Marketing, Legal or PR.
Get a list of the equity analysts that cover the particular publicly traded company you are complaining to, (along with their phone numbers or emails or other means of contact if you can) and add the list of them as an attachment to the FAXED letter to the CEO. That will light quite a fire under the CEOs office, trust me. (I’ve given you all my secrets to getting what I want changed, so please use them wisely!)
We can do this. We NEED TO DO THIS. There are times I’ve wanted to hide under the covers because it has gotten so insane, but you all inspire me to get out and fight. We can’t let the crazy ones take over and run this country. There are 1.2+ billion people in China and 1+ billion in India. Think of the top 10% of those two countries. The US population is about 350 million, and we seem to just get dumber and dumber, and with these protests, I can clearly see why.
Please do what you can to stop the insanity. Make a goal of contacting X people, writing Y letters to the editor, contacting your representatives via email or fax and remind them they work for YOU, not a health insurance corporation. The time to fight back against all this BS is NOW!
Thanks AKM! I really needed THAT pep talk!
Obama, is at Camp David, this week, winding up his vacation time. A good read for him would be, H. W. Brands, autobiography, of FDR. titled, “A Traitor To His Class”. Franklin Delano, took his lumps, but he got the job done. Perservered through the toughest of times. God bless him.
23 Bystander Says:
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 PM
Dems need to grow a pair, and remember why they were elected.
Amen. A Pair per each Dim. Also, too.
Didn’t Medicare get passed as a much smaller program than we have now because as it stood, it couldn’t get passed? It was added to over the years to become what it is now, but had to be compromised initially to at least get it to pass, I believe. Maybe something is better than nothing, I don’t know. But it is worth a good fight to get it done; don’t let this die.
Thank you, AKM, for reprinting the “pep talk.” Maybe we have rounded a corner, so that the cry of “Socialism!” is the start of the debate, not the end of it. If the wealthy don’t want socialized health care, they can make it unnecessary by endowing charity funds to pay for health care for those who can’t afford it. When only a few of the wealthy see this as a religious obligation, it has to be made a legal obligation for everyone to pay his or her share through taxation, and it becomes a moral obligation for us to impose the tax on ourselves.
The bottom line is that the RepoTaliban does not want the Dims to get votes by succeeding with their main political plank.
Why?
If the answer is just, well that politic’s and politics is a dirty mean mud wraslin’ match, then that is not an answer that speaks to good leadership, or good husbanding of the needs of Americans or America.
Unfortunately, that is the answer.
Another question is why would the RepoTaliban risk the 2010 by-election on an issue that potentially could alienate so many voters?
And that question I don’t get. Since by-elections tend to reverse the swing of the last election, why risk jeopardizing what would be expected to swing to the Repugs?
But to me the biggest question is why, since health care was one of the three major, indeed only major issues of the last election, would Obama have not been out front pushing this issue from day one. Instead, he and his staff have closeted themselves with the opposition, political and industry, and pointedly avoided reaching out to their voters with leadership or requests for support.
That failure, to my mind, is the failure. Obama has already lost universal, and public option. S there really is northing left that they were elected to do, on this particular issue.
And much the same can be said for the other two major issues, getting out of unwinable, illegal wars in the Mideast, and healing the economy of the middle class.
To me there is no logic to Obama’s approach to these major issues, he has turned away from his promises.
And I’m totally PO’d about it. And frightened that the Dims will loose the support of independent voters in 2010 and they will loose hundreds of seats from the city to the national level as a result.
The RepoTaliban have become increasingly vicious, cold-hearted and now violent. If their brown shirts win in 2010…….
Great letter, Hope! I hope they print it.
Here’s an interesting article on Pfizer fraud:
http://www.allbusiness.com/specialty-businesses/377205-1.html
Hope, you wrote a great letter. Thank you, for going, for writing and for caring.
And by the way I’m really pi$$ed at Mary Landrieu for refusing to go along with the rest of the Democrats.
oops – words create ripples…
I hear ya BYSTANDER…and I’m appalled by the thought of it. I never knew I was a lefty until Sarah opened her mouth and I got 100% on Obama’s side. Now that I’m here it’s bizarre to see how out of whack the right gets over EVERYTHING! Now I’m gonna go scream at my son’s scrimmage game tonight and my endorphins up because they’re pretty darn low right now!
okay, if we don’t have enough Dem blue dog votes to get this passed, then it seems to me that Prez should be negotiating and brokering deals with them, not the Repubs, to get their vote, twist some blue dog arms Prez or throw them a doggy treat so they say “yes”.
the following is a comment from another progressive blog……
“I am curious. We all know deep down, president Obama wants a public option but the problem is that the BLUE DOG DEMOCRATS are holding all of the democrats hostage including obama. Evan Bayh, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, Landreau Ben Nelson, are just a few of the blue dogs who are saying NO PUBLIC OPTION. Without their vote, obama is screwed because he won’t have 60 votes. He doesn’t have enough votes to pass it in senate so what per say should he do? Threaten the blue dogs? He is at the mercy of them unless he and democrats go nuclear with a reconciliation and that will not be law and can be repealed in 5 years. And so if the republicans miraculously take control again in 2010 or 2012 they can overturn it back to nothing. So again, what should obama do at this point?”
Words have ripples…
Hope – you just keep being windy – it suits you just fine, and it gets others fired up! You go girl!
GROVER – That’s deplorable about your premium increase.
What are we supposed to do? All quit and get on disability? Run around without insurance? The people screeching about the Public Option must not know how to do math…it’s insane that our premiums are so costly. Here in LA Scalise had a town hall visit last night and the paper wrote up that he was met with thunderous applause and approval. Are that many people really anti-help your fellow man? I’m feeling discouraged and disgusted.
If your really need a laugh you should go to Wonkette or Jesus General websites. Jesus General posted this several days ago. Worth the read:
Who’s a better Christian?
Who’s a better Christian?
Our Lady of the Holy Wolf Slaughter, Sister Sarah Palin, whose major accomplishments include:
* Fought for and signed House Bill 3001 for awarding a contract to TransCanada Alaska for developing and building a pipeline stretching for 1,715 miles from the Prudhoe Bay treatment plant to Alberta Canada.
* Fired the gubernatorial chef.
* Issued Administrative Order 242 signed August 20, 2008. This order puts together a co-op of the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Revenue to work with organizations who wish to commercialize Alaska’s North Slope natural gas.
* Defended the Constitutional right to use aircraft when executing wolfofascists.
Patriot Pastor Steven L Anderson, who:
* Follows God’s commandment to pee standing up.
* Raises his children to hate “faggots” and Obama.
* Preaches that Barney Frank, gays, and Obama should die.
* Fails to stop wife and followers from persecuting (multiple posts) a family and mocking their twelve-year-old daughter.
Or Ted Kennedy, who sponsored or lead the fight for the following vile legislative acts (stolen from rkref on twitter–follow him):
* The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996
* State Children’s Health Insurance Program (S-CHIP)
* Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act of 2009 (Americorps)
* The Civil Rights Act of 1964
* The Voting Rights Act of 1965
* Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993
* Fair Housing Act of 1968
* Handicapped Children’s Protection Act of 1986 (overturning a SCOTUS decision)
* Ryan White Care Act of 1990 (AIDS care)
* Americans with Disability Act of ’90
* Civil Rights Act of 1991
* Minority Health & Health Disparities Research & Education Act of 2000
* National & Community Service Trust Act of 1993 (Americorps)
* Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1990
* Military Child Care Act of 1989
* The WARN Act of 1988 (60 days notice prior to plant closings)
* Employment Opportunities for Disabled Americans Act of 1986
* Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 (vetoed by Reagan)
* Job Training Partnership Act of 1980
* Refugee Act of 1980
* Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act of 1980
* Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act – 1975
* Title IX of Education Amendments of ’72 (bans sex discrimination by schools getting Fed $)
* Establishment of Women, Infants & Childrens (“WIC”) Nutrition Program at USDA
* Low Income Heating Energy Assistance Act of 1970
* Older American Community Service Employment Act of 1970
* Occupational Safety & Health Administration Act of 1970
* The Voting Rights Act amendments of 1970
* The Bilingual Education Act of 1968
* The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (War on Poverty: Head Start, Job Corps)
* The Mental Health Parity Act of 1996
So sorry! I didn’t realize I was so windy! No more from me!
hope.
Crayons #22 Obama’s encouragement of education represents a clear threat to the far right, whose ambition is to raise another generation of idiots.
oops “they’re headed off the cliff.”
Dems need to grow a pair, and remember why they were elected. The GOP doesn’t want any health care reform EVER and so bipartisanship is a joke.
OMG! Lock up your children! The President wants to indoctrinate them at school! What is this AMERICA coming to? They don’t want the government talking to their kids yet they are in a PUBLIC school paid for by their own taxes. Now if it were the Pope beaming in to every school I’d be offended. But this is the President of the United States of AMERICA. Are you kidding me???? So many people taking that right turn into crazy town and don’t have a clue their headed off the cliff.
Thanks, AKM! I attended Murkowski’s town hall meeting down here on the Peninsula last week, . It was very sad and upsetting, though civil. There was no forum to know how many there were for the change and how many were against, but, as you would expect, the against were much louder and more rude.
The next morning our local paper had the HUGE headline, “Preaching to the Choir” by way of reporting the meeting. I wrote a letter to the editor, shortened it by half, and sent it in. I’ll leave it the way I originally wrote it and put it below, because it will give you an idea of what this meeting was like. Lisa was snide, but subtle, and completely without an ear to anything but making sure those who were angry stayed that way, and that those of us who wanted to talk about actually working to make things better were put in our place. It was kind of a lead balloon.
My son, also wrote a letter to the editor about this blatant headline. I doubt either will do much good, but I do think we as a nation will make this happen even if Alaska drags its collective feet. We need to have the courage of our convictions, and keep moving ahead.
My letter:
Dear Editor:
I was very unhappy to see the extra big headline on Sunday’s paper, “Preaching to the Choir” as a way to report on the town hall meeting with Senator Murkowski. True, Senator Murkowski made it very clear in her opening remarks that she was there to speak to people who agreed with her. Couched in rhetoric and economics referring to the general topic, she made it clear that we were not going to be discussing the difficult questions of how to bring about the needed changes that will answer the myriad fears and tragedies and injustices of the current system, but why she would be voting against reforming anything, and if we didn’t like it, (i.e. if we were not part of that choir) we just didn’t “get it.” So in the sense that the “choir” was the only audience she was interested in engaging, the headline may suffice. But as much as I love singing in harmony, the implication that the audience was unified in our views on these reforms is highly erroneous and insulting.
My take on the meeting, and on the general subject, is that when the young woman stood up and explained how it feels to have a sick child and not have the money to get help for that child, that’s when we all became a choir! Just for a moment. Because that was real. That is what I had come to discuss: How are we going to get this thing balanced back out so that Americans can get the health care they need when they need it?
This is the question that is being urgently pressed, and the answer to this question is not being addressed by Senator Murkowski or by those of us who are afraid that we might have to give up something so that child can breathe. For many of us there that day, giving up something would be a joy if by doing it we could know that child can get the necessary help when it is needed without hassle! I know there wasn’t a single person there who didn’t feel that this situation should be fixed somehow. And it’s one of tens of thousands of similar problems. This needs to be fixed
Senator Murkowski spent a lot of time pointing out how inefficient, flawed, obviously-inferior and failed any system is bound to be that is run by the government. We don’t want that banana-slug GOVERNMENT impeding OUR health care! Isn’t it her job to get in and fix that? Isn’t it OUR job to let her know how we feel about that and how we might help?
We all know the problems of government programs. And we all tend to forget that we would be hard pressed to find any aspect of our lives that is not made safer, even made possible at all, without government. Instead of using these musty fears of governmental intervention to mask a purely political end — i.e. get “my” party back in control and keep kowtowing to the rich and powerful and let the “little people” worry about their own breathing — why are we not talking about how we, as intelligent, can-do and compassionate Americans can fix this imbalance together and figure out a way in our mutual interests to turn back this wildly chaotic instability and find an equilibrium that serves us all a whole lot better?
Until this discussion begins, and not the one where what really matters is whether you’re red or blue, none of us will be singing. We’ll all just be shouting and weeping, and wondering whether any of us can breathe. In America things are the way they are because we make them that way — if we take the time to bother. I want to see us taking time to work for a harmonious America where all the voices are heard, the counter-harmonies and syncopation, because we are actually all real people. We do care about others, when we are confronted with their reality. It’s only when that is obscured, and we are allowed and encouraged to group-think, and see things as “us and them” that we forget that and start attacking each other.
Working together, singing freely in harmony, listening enough to find a balance, that’s what makes America special and beautiful and profound to me. We were not a choir on Saturday. It’s been a long time since we have been. Maybe we never have been. But I believe that’s what we have always aimed for in this great nation. It’s time we start working on that, rather than on finding ways to defend our inability to find solutions to our problems, and widening the gaps that keep us from moving forward together.
This is such a great post AKM – perfect to read while I’m watching the Ed Show – getting fired up here.
AND I think the news from Peter D at post 11 is HUGE. The big boys of NASCAR supporting President Obama. It is HUGE.
Give the Prez something to mull over the weekend, write to him, write to Michelle.
“Last month, five dozen House liberals wrote a letter to Nancy Pelosi ruling out support for any bill without the public option. While today’s letter doesn’t bear all those signatures, it signals that House progressive leaders intend to try to maintain a united, potentially confrontational front even as the president prepares to make his case in a major, make-or-break address to Congress.
Should Obama jettison the public option, progressives will come under tremendous pressure to back the plan anyway. White House advisers will likely insist that liberals mustn’t deny the president a historic victory and enable a defeat that could cripple the first African-American presidency.”
And btw all of us, this is more important than stupid crazy lady.
I just signed this petition:
http://wewantthepublicoption.com/p-auto-email
Time to stand up and be counted!
thank you AKM, this wishy washy bipartisan attempt has me a bit ‘steamed’, I want what I worked and voted for, dangnabbit, no political funny business.
that is “signed” my fingers do not follow my brain.
I sign the petition and told him that I voted for him and now is his turn at the plate and to swing for the bleachers!
Please sign this petition from Move On.
News just broke that President Obama will give a major speech on health care before Congress on Wednesday where he’ll lay out what he thinks needs to be in the health care bill.
What will he say? This morning, The New York Times reported that the president remains committed to a bold reform plan, including a robust public health insurance option. But the reality is that he is under immense pressure from conservatives in both parties—and some advisers—to drop it.
This is a critical crossroads and our President needs to hear from you right away.
President Obama ran a campaign based on real change—he talked about challenging the status quo, breaking the stranglehold that corporate lobbyists had over our politics, and standing up to special interests.
We know that change does not come easily. But in difficult moments throughout our history we have always looked to our leaders to push beyond politics and do what is right for our country. This is one of those times.
Can you sign this petition and let President Obama know that you’re counting on him to fight hard for a bold health care reform bill which includes a public health insurance option? We need to show him we’ll fight right alongside him if he does. You can send him a personal message at the link below too.
http://pol.moveon.org/hcobama/o.pl?id=17132-8064101-c0boJjx&t=3
My health insurance premium will increase 32.14% next month. No, I have not misplaced the decimal. There must be an alternative to for-profit insurance companies.
Thanks AKM, I have been getting so discouraged by the behavior of the right.
You help me to see there is HOPE!
It sure does not hurt to have friends in pro sports. President Obama friends at NASCAR have stepped up to the starting line with there big hitters. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Carl Edwards, Juan Pablo Montoya , Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart. The good old boys made a public service announcement supporting the Presidents September 8th message to students. NASCAR, now a giant in TeeVee rating will air there PSA Sunday during the race on ESPS.
The President Speaks to America’s Students
Sept 8, 2009 at 12 noon ET
Watch on WHITEHOUSE.GOV or C-SPAN
http://www.nascar.com/video/cup/2009/09/03/nascar.education.psa.nascar/
NASCAR drivers PSA message in support.
If Obama, wants to emulate FDR, he better get it right Weds night. He needs to remember the electorate who put him there, in the oval office. There will be no second chance. I pray for this guy every night, as do so many others. I hope he hears us.
Well done, as usual. Just went to Planned Parenthood to pick up papers for volunteering.
This evening at 7:00 pm my Local (D) Congresswoman for this District will be having a Tele-conference TH style meeting. I am not sure of the format or how this will take place but I will try to sort of do an outline and take notes of the questions being asked and the answers as well.
Should be interesting. I need to call the office to see how or if they take questions from people on the lines.
I would describe this area as heavily Blue, so it should be fairly civil but then how can you really be disruptive on a phone.
Thanks again AKM! We will not be intimidated! We will not be frightened! We will not compromise our principles! We will not sit down! We will not be quiet! This issue is far too important.
We have to stand up for our principles and not allow anyone to intimidate us for wanting a better life for all of us, even those who are calling our President the most vile of things and wishing the worst on him. They seem to forget this should be about Us or Them hence the United States of America.
United we will demand the public option and United we shall receive.
I’m yelling:
“WAY TO GO AKM! DON’T GIVE UP, DON’T BE AFRAID, DON’T BE A WHINER!”
I’m sewing my own arm back on as I type this.
amen
Tiger? I think it is the Wizard of Oz and somebody should pull the curtain aside…..
Thank you AKM
And also sign the petition at Act Blue. Donate money. It’s not over until it’s over!
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=ag5G9ym8V8GHSd3QarEpPDJH2ZE6Ok%2B6
Great commentary. It is a sad time when for-profit companies control the delivery of health care, when we allow the bottom line to determine who should be healed.
The continued mantra of “most are satisfied with their health care” is a crock. All it takes is one serious illness, and the inefficiencies and inequities are glaringly obvious.
Excellent article! Thanks for sharing. How can people ignore the many things that are wrong with our current system? Especially being the compassionate Christian folks that they are?