Sudden appearance of backbone

Good news from the Senate, according to OpenLeft:

A progressive bloc in the Senate has given the Democratic leadership a blunt choice: pursue a strong public option, or lose 10-15 left-wing votes on health care.

As Chris Bowers wrote in his OpenLeft post,

This has happened because the Progressive Block strategy is starting to manifest itself. Rather than Democratic leaders voluntarily turning legislation into a warm pile of corporate mush in order to appeal to a center-right business, media and political status quo, and then having those leaders browbeating the left into supporting said warm pile of corporate mush because that is just “political reality,” now progressives are determining the limits of political reality themselves. Progressives are offering the leadership a simple choice: pass a strong public option, or you don’t get a health care bill.

Let’s hope they keep up the pressure.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.
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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

2 thoughts on “Sudden appearance of backbone”

  1. But, but, but it's socialism, it's against the bible, it's against God, it's un-American, it's pro-terrorist and it's Chinese communism. Huh? Oh wait, I was just kidding.We really need single payer but I guess, under the circumstances, we will have to live with this compromise, a strong public option and it better be strong. The private for profit insurance companies are the problem, the needs of the American people should be more important than the greed of the profit driven health insurance companies. All the other industrialized democracies have some form of universal health care except the USA. Enough, it's past time to have universal health care in this country.

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  2. Don't worry. If you get your wish, with the \”public option\”, that will eventually (imho very quickly) drive all other insurance from the marketplace. Why buy what you can get for \”free\”! Then, you will really have to worry because the ONLY way it has to control costs is to ration! You will have existing facilities inundated by the \”newly insured\”. Lower reimbursements to docs and hospitals will eventually reduce the supply of docs and hospitals.It will be a real mess. While the existing system has some problems. They are nothing in comparison to what will be problems in the future.

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