“What Can I Do?”
Someone recently approached me at the cheese counter of a local supermarket, asking “what can I do?” At first I thought the person was seeking advice about a choice of cheese. But I soon realized the question was larger than that. It was: what can I do about the way things are going in Washington?
People who voted for Barack Obama tend to fall into one of two camps: Trusters, who believe he’s a good man with the right values and he’s doing everything he can; and cynics, who have become disillusioned with his bailouts of Wall Street, flimsy proposals for taming the Street, willingness to give away 85 percent of cap-and-trade pollution permits, seeming reversals on eavesdropping and torture, and squishiness on a public option for health care.
In my view, both positions are wrong. A new president — even one as talented and well-motivated as Obama — can’t get a thing done in Washington unless the public is actively behind him. As FDR said in the reelection campaign of 1936 when a lady insisted that if she were to vote for him he must commit to a long list of objectives, “Maam, I want to do those things, but you must make me.”
We must make Obama do the right things. Email, write, and phone the White House. Do the same with your members of Congress. Round up others to do so. Also: Find friends and family members in red states who agree with you, and get them fired up to do the same. For example, if you happen to have a good friend or family member in Montana, you might ask him or her to write Max Baucus and tell him they want a public option included in any healthcare bill.
This is a nice way of saying you can't just turn up in Election Day and set your government for Autopilot. A democratic republic depends on the energy and efforts of the people to provide permission for public policy passage and execution. So get off your ass, you'll always get the Health Care System, Environment, and Economy you deserve. There are barriers to public will, the lobbyists dolling out campaign cash for stupidly expensive TV age campaigns gives lobbyists more leverage to be listened to then you. That's wrong, and needs to be corrected with a system of campaign finance that meet the SCOTUS requirements for free speech through a voucher or credit allocation system. Still, people have to remain educated, vigilant, and involved, otherwise this isn't a democratic republic but a plutocratic republic, and the 10% most wealthy don't suffer, the other 90% do. In our system of government we all have an extra job, government for, by, and of requires sometimes uncomfortable and difficult applications of time and effort by the citizen.
From PW,
The pressure for a public option grew in the House as well, with Roll Call reporting that House liberals "are warning the Senate, Democratic leaders and President Barack Obama that a government-run insurance option must be included in any health reform bill, or else the powerful bloc will vote it down."
I understand the argument that something is better then nothing, but If the Democrats and Obama produce a Health Care Reform Bill that doesn't please the American People, they'll not receive credit anyway, but the inverse. The House Progressives are saying, "get it right the first time, or we'll all be voted out anyway." Doing "something" isn't enough, getting is right is the only way Obama and the Democrats should receive credit. If Obama doesn't receive credit for effective Health Care Reform it will taint his capacity to enrich the legislative process for the rest of Presidency, and he'll lose the trust of his base and voters who sent him to DC to make progressive, real, reforms. The House Progressives are warning the Senate Blue Dogs for their own good, don't let the Health Industry: those who profit by limiting, delaying, and denying best care practices that reward outcomes, write this bill.
"But do you want to be non-partisan and get nothing? Or do you want to be partisan and end up with a good health care plan? That is the choice."
-- Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), quoted in the Charleston Gazette, expecting little Republican support in passing health care reform.
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