Short takes again. Damn, I’m lazy! Lie down, dog, you are tired.
Bread heel. We’re always told that it’s better to settle for half a loaf than no bread at 
all. Well, that may work for bread. I’m not so sure about anything else. I mean, if you need a car, and you ask your spouse to go out and find one for you, and s/he comes back with one axle, a steering wheel, three tires, and a seized engine, you still are not going anywhere. Same deal, it seems to me, with health care. For all the cautionary comments about “not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good,” we really do not have a whole car here, so far as I can see. For one thing, they stripped out the most popular provisions, namely, the public option and Medicare expansion – features that would benefit people immediately, save money, and make for a much more reasonable system.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m for single payer, always have been, always will be. It’s the only thing that makes sense in an enormous, complex society such as ours, contrary to what many have tried to suggest (i.e. that our nation’s complexity somehow makes a Medicare for all type system impractical – it most assuredly doesn’t). But if they can pass an insurance reform bill that provides access to a Medicare-like option (or Medicare itself) to anyone who can’t get decent coverage in the private market, that’s a good first step. Why the hell can’t people have that choice?
Well, let me tell you why. Because too many people would opt for it. That doesn’t work for the money-drenched cretins that the insurance companies have sent to Washington to represent us. I’m afraid I have to include my own congressman, Michael Arcuri, in that number. He has thrown up his hands on health care, and while I wouldn’t blame him for not supporting the Senate bill, he should join with progressives in trying to pass some reasonable version that has a strong public option. They put the scare into him, and the insurance lobby is buying lots of T.V. time in our market telling people to call Arcuri and have him vote against the bill (which, ironically, he has already said he will do). Don’t just sit there and vote no, Mike – pull together with some of your colleagues and make it better.
Did I say short takes? Maybe I was thinking “shortcakes” – am getting a bit hungry, as well as tired. Oh, well… Here’s my pitch. Call your congressmember and senators and tell them to support a strong public option if they’re going to support the health bill. There were plenty of people who supported it last year when 60 votes were needed in the Senate – they should be able to get 51 now, if people find their spines.
Work the phones. I’m going to bed, damnit.
luv u,
jp
