Comments on: Follow The Money

By: Larry Jones

Larry Jones — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:04:20 +0000

Caravana – Yes, I see now that your plan is much more progressive, and bears no similarity to other “vote every single one of them out” plans. (But they still won’t be legally bound to keep their promise.)

By: Caravana Basura

Caravana Basura — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 04:15:05 +0000

The plea of MY “throw them all out” is a bit more narrow than the typical right-wing plea to throw them all out.

My plea goes like this: “When we are elected, we will accomplish ONE piece of business — we will pass this ONE bill, just as you see it — and we will then sit around for two years to make sure the bill gets put into effect, and then we will retire.”

There’s nothing in this plea that says “everything’s bad on both sides.” This plea says that ONE thing needs to be done and will be done. This plea says that a particular issue does NOT need more study, it needs the specific ACTION you see right here in writing.

Would it be a bad thing to have two years of no other federal legislation, aside from one healthcare bill whose implementation is monitored from day to day for 18 months or so?

I guess that’s the right-wing aspect: the idea that it’s possible to live without the constant churn of new laws and regulations tumbling down every hour of every day.

Like I said, mine is a silly fantasy, but silly in a different way from the typical right-wing fantasy, and not as dangerous.

By: Larry Jones

Larry Jones — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 06:05:18 +0000

Caravana - I like your second idea. It makes the change that we need, but phases it in so nobody gets shocked by the cold water. The Republicans would consider it a Trojan horse, of course, and no one can vote for a horse, of course... (Along these lines, you might want to take a look at Thom Hartmann's Cash For Geezers essay.) But your first idea is just a variation on the right-wing meme that they use whenever they know they are on the wrong side of an issue, or the losing side of an election: "Everything's bad on BOTH sides! Don't vote for anyone! Throw ALL the bums out! Needs more study!" Not to mention that so far it is not illegal in an American election to promise the voters that you are going to do a certain something if they elect you, and then not do it once you're elected.

By: Caravana Basura

Caravana Basura — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 05:22:36 +0000

One way is to vote everyone out of the House in 2010, with people who promise not to run again and promise to vote for a specific bill that already exists for everyone to see.

At the same time, we vote out every one of the 33 or 34 U.S. Senators running, replacing them with new Senators who promise to vote for the bill that already exists for everyone to see.

Yes, it’s a silly fantasy.

Why not start moving Medicare down to younger and younger ages, going month by month until the age reaches 50, say, in 2015? It’s a pussy solution, but it’s something.

By: Larry Jones

Larry Jones — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:30:51 +0000

Ron – Bringing the crazy, as usual.
Wren – A few hundred thousand of us marching on the same day in cities around the country in support of universal single-payer might give our Dem representatives a little breathing room…

By: Wren

Wren — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:44:16 +0000

I wonder what form fighting for our democracy against the corporations will take. Hedges mentions protests, but they don’t seem to help much these days. What a shame this all is.

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:42:48 +0000

Didn’t anybody inherit those shotguns from the Panthers? Wherever they are, Democrats are no more afraid of guns in the hands of voters than republicans are.

By: Larry Jones

Larry Jones — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:49:54 +0000

kStyle – You’re right! The insurance industry is killing one person every thirty minutes by means of refusing to sell coverage, denying the claims of sick people and stopping treatment of insured claimants. I almost wish they would pull a gun and shoot somebody. At least then we could all see they are criminals.

(Please note I said “almost.”)

By: kStyle

kStyle — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:18:20 +0000

In a sense, Healthcare Inc. also has a gun pointed at us. They claim to have the power of bestowing life or death through medicine. Their message is that public medicine would be as good as pulling the trigger on a gun.

By: Larry Jones

Larry Jones — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:25:09 +0000

Bill – Things certainly look bad, don’t they? And yet we really can’t give up. I like Krugman’s advice:

…true transformation, it turns out, requires a lot more than electing one telegenic leader. Actually turning this country around is going to take years of siege warfare against deeply entrenched interests, defending a deeply dysfunctional political system.

It will give us something to do in our golden years.