Here's a very illuminating short essay I saw on Facebook:
I am a 21 year-old student from Finland.
It makes me sad to hear how Americans are suffering.
Here, our taxes are high but we all benefit from them.
I grew up in the countryside and always had access to the same services that people in the city did.
My university is known around the world in my field and my education is not only free, but my government pays ME to go to university. Everyone has a right to this.
Everyone has a right to the best healthcare, there is no such thing as health insurance.
I am young now and able to take risks and pursue my passion because I will never have to worry about starving if I loose my job or my business fails.
I know that when I am old my state pension will be there for me so that I can enjoy my retirement.
We call this the Nordic Model, and under it we live well and our businesses are among the most competitive in the world. I am grateful to have been born a citizen of a country that cares for its people, and I hope that one day the USA will take example from us.
I am the 99%.
I think no comment is necessary.
~~~
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Your blog reminds me why I get so frustrated with the Democrats. You tell it like it is; this blog isn't about watered-down liberalism. You believe in true progressive values, forcefully, logically, and articulately made.
ReplyDeleteWhere is this kind of talk from the Dem leadership?
It gets harder and harder for me to cast a vote. With each passing election, my desire to stay home only grows stronger.
--Bryan Doug
First of all, Bryan, what you say about the blog means a lot to me. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I do know what you mean about the desire to stay home. I feel that way too. I got so angry with Obama about a year or so ago (I forget the reason now; there have been so many) that I wrote to him and told him he had lost my vote as well as my money.
But, really, not to vote would be an act of despair, I think. And I don't think I'm prepared to do that to my soul (if you can tell what I'm driving at here....)
Also, Bryan, the Supreme Court. Let us not forget the Supreme Court.
ReplyDeleteWe're truly doomed, I would assert, if one of today's Republicans ends up appointing more members of the court.
I hear you. I really do.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I'm seeing. In 2006, conservatives seemed to get frustrated with GWB and Republican leadership. So many of my conservative friends said, "Screw this! I'm staying home." The Repubs got drilled, and drilled again in 2008.
But you know what the result was? The Tea Party. They were single-handedly responsible for electing the most radical (and backward) group of conservatives to the House that I can recall. Love 'em or not -- and count me among the nots -- the Republican base regrouped and got their guys into power. They got the establishment to recognize that they are a force to reckoned with. Is it easy to overstate the importance of the Tea Party? Maybe, but not by much.
But for some reason, the Dem leadership doesn't listen to us, the Tea Party of the left (if you'll allow me to use that borderline offensive term). Health care is just one example. For instance, we know BHO believes in single payer: http://tinyurl.com/lsfrjc
However, he NEVER fought for it! He ran from it. Hell, if it hadn't been for Speaker Pelosi, we wouldn't have even gotten a whiff of the public option. Instead, we end up with a screwed up bill called reform -- one that requires Americans to do business with the insurance entities responsible for 99% of our troubles embodied in our current health care system. John Edwards was a cad, but he was right: inviting the insurance companies to the table was a horrible mistake with disastrous consequences. Indeed, I fear that the individual mandate makes the health insurance companies even more politically connected. We're now REQUIRING Americans to do business with these goons? That thought makes me nauseous!
I could go on, but the bottom line is this: I fear that continuing to support the Democrats will only continue us on our present course. The short term alternative -- the Republican party -- would be truly awful. But in the long term, I dream of a truly progressive party, vibrant with solutions, rising from the ashes.
When reading a political blog, I've learned that what's on the blog is just as important as what's not. Here, I see plenty of attacks on conservative ideas, often in the form of snark. I see quotes from Republican politicians to illustrate their absurdity. But for quotes defending progressive values, they hardly ever come from Democratic politicians. I think I know why that is.
--Bryan Doug
I have your same concerns about the mandate, Bryan, and I was horrified when the single payer option was eliminated even from discussion and then the public option as well. I remember saying to a friend at the time that I did not see how a mandate without an public option could possibly be constitutional.
ReplyDelete