There’s a frenzy of messages out right now trying to shape public opinion and get you to view the health care bill as a huge victory not only for Obama and Democratic party, but for all Americans. Like me, you probably are crushingly disappointed in this bill, and suspect that we could have done better. Unlike me, however, you may not be willing to actually bring yourself to say “I oppose this bill,” either because you aren’t sure about all of its provisions or because you believe something is better than nothing. I have some good news for you, and a warning. You don’t get a vote. Actually on your own, your opinion about this bill matters very little. Collectively, our opinions do matter, which is why the Democrats and insurance companies are trying so hard to shape it. The signs should be familiar by now: emotional appeals with little-to-no substance (“this bill HELPS real people”), scare tactics (“this is our only chance, and terrible things will happen if we don’t pass this”), and the systematic discrediting of the “crazy” people who oppose it (almost exclusively directed towards the left flank, have you noticed?).
This bill hands over complete control of the health care system to corporations and provides taxpayer subsidies to those corporations with the ostensible goal of providing people with insurance, which it must be repeated, is not the same thing as medical care. It bans exclusions of pre-existing conditions but doesn’t regulate how profits will be sustained on those more-expensive patients. It spreads the insurance net to more people but doesn’t put enough controls on how those plans function. It makes it illegal not to buy insurance and creates new taxes on some middle-class people to pay for this insurance company giveaway. The idea that we will pass this now and “fix it later” is so absurd on it’s face it’s amazing how many people buy it. It’s true that Social Security and Medicare were altered after passage, but in those instances they created a new government programs that once accepted were then strengthened. This bill does exactly the opposite by strengthening private corporations and giving them 100% market share, institutionalizing their monopolies, and handing them taxpayer money to pay their lobbyists, CEOs and shareholders. What exactly do we think we’re going to “fix” later?
The reason we get such bad bills like this one is because there is enormous pressure being exerted on members of Congress from lobbyists and the media, almost all funded by industries standing to profit from the outcome. As a counterweight to that, there is a small but growing band of progressive bloggers, what’s left of organized labor, and public opinion. Guess who wins? One of the most puzzling features of this tug-of-war is that somehow they’ve convinced most of the Democratic base that they too are in Congress, and that they must be pragmatic and compromise their values. So at all steps of the legislative process, increasing as we near the finish line, Democrats throw up their hands and think, “well this is the best we can do and I think I can learn to like it!” And off to the right the country goes.
In no successful political movement do people accept compromise so willingly and even enthusiastically. Politicians compromise; people have ideals. If you aren’t opposed to this health care bill, with no pressure on you and no reason to compromise, WHAT KIND OF PROGRESSIVE ARE YOU? You and I are private citizens. Who is pressuring us to sell out our ideals? Why can’t we oppose this bill and be angry? If people who care about achieving universal health care can’t even hold the line against the insurance industry in their own personal opinions, how can we possibly expect our representatives to stand firm for progressive ideas? I am calling my Representatives and telling them how I feel. They need to hear from me and be reminded of my values so they can weigh that against the other pressures they’re under. After all, they’re the ones that have to govern, not us.
Senator Joe Lieberman has refused to support Healthcare reform in the Senate if it includes any provision that actually reforms healthcare. Cue the outpouring of liberal grief… and then the resigned helplessness of better-this-watered-down-bill-than-nothing that will inevitably follow.
Listen guys, I hate Joe Lieberman as much as the next guy but if you’re upset about him, you’re a dupe, and you’re being manipulated by characters in a holiday pageant. He’s not the problem; he’s the designated villain. His seat is perfectly safe, he can’t be recalled, and you’ll all forget about this in three years when he’s up for re-election. It’s much more fun to be angry at him than the real villains, because the truth is really depressing. President Obama and the Democratic leadership are handing billions of dollars to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and have scripted a drama to carefully shape public opinion to believe that this was the best they could do.
The Senate does not need 60 votes to pass health care legislation. The Republicans wielded power like a bludgeon when they controlled the Senate and weren’t concerned with what anyone thought of it. The Democrats could pass a single-payer national health plan if they wanted to and they could do it in the Senate with 50 votes plus the Vice-President if they really wanted, either by using a budget reconciliation process or by changing the rules. Medicare passed in 1965 with only 55 votes; if the Senate had observed this fictional 60-vote threshold we wouldn’t have that program today. The idea that somehow Joe Lieberman or Ben Nelson, or any one of these Senators is so important to this process is simply political theater. The bill that we are going to be left with is exactly the bill that the insurance industry wants, the bill that was agreed to in secret meetings at the White House earlier this year. And being upset at and blaming Joe Lieberman is a vital component to the manipulation of public opinion. If public opinion were to suddenly shift, and Democrats directed their anger at Obama… well that is the only thing that might stop the giveaway to the insurance industry. Rahm Emmanuel reads polls; it’s the only thing besides emails from lobbyists he reads in their entirety.
I do not support this health care bill. Call your Senators and tell them you oppose it too. It is a bad bill, and the Democrats want this so badly they are likely to try again with a slightly better version. There is nothing left in this bill but a mandate to force people to buy insurance and a law banning the exclusion of pre-existing conditions. Given the choice between sending a message that the liberal base of the Democratic party will not be taken for granted and abused and giving up on one lousy tiny piece of insurance reform (this is not a once-in-a-generation chance) it should not be difficult for anyone who cares about this issue to oppose the President.
President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress are abandoning their party’s base. The media is busy congratulating them, and the base is patiently watching the strategy unfold and letting them get away with it.
President Obama is reversing himself on civil liberties, he is failing to deliver on campaign promises to gays and lesbians, and the bank and auto bailouts are continued giveaways to big business. Congress is failing to do it’s job: the Democratic caucus is unable to unite to do much of anything, from investigating the lawlessness of the previous administration, curbing the expansion of executive power, or providing meaningful oversight of the billions of dollars of bailout money you and I provided to banks. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently told reporters the the truth about Congress, that the banks “frankly own the place.” It is time to put a stop to the endless compromises that the Democratic Party makes with powerful business interests who pay for their campaigns and the increasingly bold minority party, whose power to block legislation and nominees paradoxically seems stronger than ever. There is one way, and only one way in our power to break this cycle: we must work to defeat Democrats in Congress.
This might seem crazy to you, or it might seem self-defeating. There are any of a dozen arguments that you might make against this. But consider this: there is a tremendous amount of pressure on Democrats to cave to the right, or bend to the will of powerful lobbies. There is absolutely no pressure on the Democrats to listen to their liberal base – in fact, it’s considered politically savvy to ignore or even antagonize the base of the party. Any Democratic politician is viewed as a “centrist” or a “pragmatist” when he or she opposes the faithful progressives who worked hard to elect him. Because they know the truth – that the base will grumble and whine, but there will be absolutely no real consequences for caving to the right.
Progressives, it is time to get help. We are in an abusive relationship with our party and it’s time to stand up and threaten to leave them. There are no excuses left to be made – the Democrats are playing “smart politics.” It’s time to learn to play hardball, it’s time to pressure them to do the right thing and stop waiting around for them to suddenly wake up and decide to listen to their hearts and not their campaign finance directors.
AccountabilityNow PAC was formed by a coalition of progressive bloggers to bring accountability to the Democratic party for this very problem. There biggest target next year is going to be Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican who now pretends to be a Democrat in order to save his seat. Although he still blocks much of the Democratic Party’s agenda, Harry Reid and the leadership are supporting his re-election and trying to block real Democrats from challenging him. This is exactly the type of behavior that needs to be stopped, and it will require time and money from regular citizens like you if we ever expect to have a working democracy again. I urge you to donate to AccountabilityNow.
In Los Angeles, Congresswoman Jane Harman is a Blue Dog who votes with the conservative Democrats from the South. She was the Bush Administration’s staunchest Democratic defender of its illegal wiretapping program — until she was caught on a (legal) wiretap in an influence-peddling scandal allegedly agreeing to intervene in a federal investigation on behalf of lobbyists. She once called herself “the best Republican in the Democratic Party.” She is being challenged by Marcy Winograd, a school teacher and the founder of Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles. Her district, the California 36th, is often described as “conservative” in the media, but it voted for Kerry in ‘04 and Obama in ‘08 by huge margins.
Primary defeats for Specter and Harman will send a powerful message to the Democrats. We’ve had it — we’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore! Taking our money and running can no longer be a winning strategy for Democrats. There must be powerful consequences for ignoring the liberal base and from now on, doing so must be a grave political risk. Any more excuses from us are just an invitation to be ignored.
Accountability Now PAC
Winograd 4 Congress
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AN EQUALITY MANIFESTO
At a defining moment of a new equality movement, in a nation rediscovering democracy, certain values have brought us to the unmistakable need for action. Here is one articulation of a path towards change.
CORE BELIEFS:
We believe that all human beings, and all consensual loving relationships between them, should be honored equally under the law, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, national origin or legal status.
We have discovered that the laws which discriminate against us have not kept pace with the times, and that we now have the social power to change the laws to protect ourselves and others from state-sponsored discrimination.
The path ahead has many forks but all roads lead to gay marriage. The question before us, as we work to secure that right, is how high are our hopes for this movement, this moment, and our country? Who are we and what else are we fighting for?
Proposition 8 was a catalyst and a new beginning. Although it is the first time that the right of gays and lesbians to marry has been eliminated by a bare majority vote, this right will soon enough be regained in California. We must recognize that this was the spark that lit a powder keg, and that California is at the center of a movement that is not just about marriage, and it takes place in the middle of a part of a democratic renaissance in our nation’s and that is not limited to gays and lesbians. We are at the heart of defining rights and freedoms for ourselves but that many others want to help and need our help. There is power in organizing our own communities for change, and we must build the society that we want to live in and ask ourselves what we’re willing to do to get us there.
A CALL TO ACTION:
- Convene a group of ten of your friends. Lead or participate in your own “cell,” and together we will make up the organs of our movement.
- Come together and express your common values and identify shared goals. We are many people with many views – there is not one gay community, we do not speak with one voice. Shake out into groups of ten people who share your values and goals. Don’t consider this group of ten a fixed group, people who don’t share your goals should be encouraged to find ten who do, and if your group starts to hit 15, break off and make more groups! Focus on what you agree on.
- Set rules for your meeting. Decide how long meetings will last, how they will be run and how often you will meet.
- Air your grievances. This is healthy and people need to be heard! POST-GAME ANALYSIS IS PRE-GAME STRATEGY. A lot of people in California worked very hard to fight Prop 8, and are feeling very attacked by the anger that has erupted from a grassroots level at the way the campaign was run. This is healthy, and it shouldn’t be personal! Analyzing the campaign and trying to understand what was done and what went wrong is not a bad thing – we will continue to make mistakes and we must use them all as learning experiences.
- Make a commitment. Say what you are willing to do and to give to make change.
- Equality for all also means equality for whom else? What are you willing to do for others? How will we step outside of ourselves and our own communities? What kinds of people unlike ourselves are we willing to lend a hand to help in exchange for their support of us?
- Understand the big picture and work to find your place within the movement. Look at the leadership, funding and structure for the fight on all levels.
- Study the issues. Gather information and educate yourselves about what other people are doing and how you can help. Understand the complexity of the issues and learn what you can and cannot accomplish.
STUDY TOPICS:
NATIONAL POLICY
- Legislative
Do my Congressperson and my Senators support the repeal of DOMA?
- Executive
What policies can the Obama Administration change by executive order and what constituency is going to pressure that agency to make those changes?
- Judicial
What is happening in the federal courts that could alter the rights of individual states to provide unequal protection to its citizens?
STATE POLICY
What is happening with the fight over Prop 8 in the California courts?
How do we use our resources to reframe the battle over hateful anti-family laws like the adoption/foster parents initiative that passed in Arkansas?
How do we provide support and our resources to equality movements in all 50 states?
PUBLIC OPINION
How can we move public opinion towards greater support of equality?
How do we reach out to our neighbors who are not yet our allies?
How can we use our own role in the media industry to impact the messages of equality for a mass audience?
How do we harness the power of the internet and community media to tell our stories and re-frame the debate?
LOCAL COMMUNITIES
What role can local government initiatives and laws play in increasing equality?
Do we want to run for office? How do we make our local elected officials more responsive to citizen’s concerns rather than business concerns?
What community groups can we participate in that are already set up to address concerns like ours and get things done.
A FEW LAST NOTES:
Don’t hate. Building a community and a movement is hard work and can be frustrating. Always remember that you are all there to make a difference. The political left in the United States has been at war with itself longer than it has been at war with the right. One key reason for this is the battle between moderates and radicals who insist that the other is the reason for their overall failure. MODERATES NEED RADICALS and RADICALS NEED MODERATES! Radical actions are not “unhelpful” or “counter-productive” – civil disobedience and political anger are essential to social movements. People who “work within the system” or who aren’t “thinking big enough” are on the frontlines too. DO NOT SPEND ANY OF YOUR TIME OR ENERGY FIGHTING YOUR OWN SIDE OF THE ARGUMENT. Engage in actions and organizations that share your values and win the battle by accomplishing your agenda. We will never speak with one voice and that is our strength.
Respect our history. There is so much to be learned from the generations of LGBTQ activists who have come before us. From Stonewall to Harvey Milk, from ACT UP to HRC, many people have come before us and it only makes us better to learn our history and honor our elders.
“WHAT IS THE POINT OF ALL THESE PROTESTS? THESE ORGANIZERS SUCK. WE SHOULD BE DOING X, Y AND Z!”
The protests that are erupting all over the United States are the spontaneous result of a group of people who are angry and now demanding change. They are achieving three concrete results!
- Visibility on the streets and in the media and ongoing attention to the injustice committed against us.
- Tremendous validation and solidarity for the community –seeing people like yourself, who feel like you do and are willing to go to the streets for it, builds a strong foundation for a community and a movement.
- New leadership and new organizations are being created right now. We are witnessing the birth of a new movement, and leaders are being born in the streets at the very moment that other people are listening to and following them.
“I WISH THOSE OTHER PEOPLE WOULD GO AWAY!“
Political movements are only successful if they are coalitions of different people. Where there is political energy (a rare thing in this country) it will attract idealists of all stripes. People with differing agendas are ALWAYS a part of EVERY movement. Remember that these people have SHOWN UP and they care. Embrace them as allies, do not think of them as parasitic. If they succeed in overshadowing you momentarily, consider it a lesson in helping you find your “A” game – and next time do it better! Gain control over your message and how it is disseminated. DO NOT HATE! This cannot be stressed enough. Check yourself, and check others for attacking our own flanks, no matter how “crazy” or “fringe” they might seem to you.
BELIEVE IN YOUR OWN POWER! This is your movement and you are going to change America.
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The passage of proposition 8 in California may be the best thing that’s happened to the gay community in a long, long time. Since last week, I have seen friends and acquaintances transformed, outraged, angry, and determined to do something about the injustice we have suffered and to try to change the way things are. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen groups of white gay men organize around anything besides parties, sex, or fashion, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
When I came of age in the early 1990s, the gay and lesbian movement was just coming out of the ACT UP years, marching on Washington for the first time, and looking beyond the AIDS crisis for the first time, trying to figure out how best to fight discrimination and attain equality. Marriage was not a cause any of my friends or I embraced at the time, why would we squander our political power fighting for the right to participate in an oppressive heterosexual institution? We were a large and disparate community, made up of many races, many genders and mostly outside of the mainstream. But a funny thing happened as we achieved visibility and political success on a wide scale: we went mainstream. As more people came out all over the country they came of age in a period where there wasn’t as much to struggle against and it became widely seen as okay to be gay. Certainly I do not mean to suggest that it became easy, but I have met so many gay boys and girls who had the freedom to decide who they were at a very young age, and came out into a world where they could see themselves on TV, in magazines, and in a popular culture that validated their choices.
As time went on, the scrappy grassroots gay organizations that had formed in the early years turned into institutions, and shifted their focus from activism to fundraising, targeting and servicing the wealthiest of our community, who tended to be white men. Gay men in popular culture quickly assumed the fastest path to mainstream acceptance: becoming early adopters and hyper-consumers, using their innate “queer eye” to be the arbiters of taste for a society that was told the most patriotic act it could perform was to go shopping. Gay events became a parade of corporate sponsorship, with audiences dressed up in designer clothes to applaud the latest corporations to lend their logos and a few dollars to try to win loyalty from gay consumers. Gay media sprung up, magazines, blogs, festivals and television networks, and struggled to find their voice and relevance.
The gay and lesbian community became complacent. When a landmark non-discrimination bill came up in Congress last year, the community divided on the inclusion of transgender protection in the bill, even though neither version (with or without trans-inclusion) was ever going to become law. The uneasy coalition began to fracture – activism was messy and impolite and the privileged white gay men I knew didn’t want to tie their fortunes to people they didn’t think they had anything in common with. We lost our way in politics; we stood alone and insisted that it was our way or the highway. A prominent gay media figure publicly proclaimed that he “tore up his check” to Obama when the candidate refused to back gay marriage. This typifies the gay community’s lack of understanding of politics. We can’t go this alone, and if we don’t reach out and build these bridges, nobody is going to build them for us.
We were rudely awakened by a brilliant campaign against us. Being right, just, and moral does not win elections. Money, hard work, organization, and coalition-building win elections. The “No on Prop 8” group ran a poor campaign, with bad messaging, bad advertising, ineffective organization and a baffling focus on our own community. The “Yes on 8” campaign ran a brilliant campaign with simple, poll-tested messaging, an energized base, powerful fundraising and brilliantly effective outreach and organizing to communities all around the state. They almost deserved to win.
This is a very important lesson in politics and democracy for the gay community. Our anger is a gift, use it the right way and we will get what we work for. Use it the wrong way and we will make long-term enemies and prolong our own struggle. We are not victims! Our anger must not become hatred for other minority groups that have been divided from us in our common struggle. We must not attack the Mormon Church but understand that religion is playing too large a role in our civic life and work for the repeal of tax-exempt status for churches that engage in political campaigns. We must not get angry at black churches and assume that CHANGE means the same thing to them that it does to us. We must understand that we are divided by forces which profit from our division. We must understand the common struggles that we share with everyone who faces challenges and discrimination from the state. We must look past ourselves and frame the debate in a way that includes other people. We must stop whining for our rights and organize to secure them. We must not be afraid of our enemies but we must win the argument with them. We must find our common purpose and change this country together. Civil and human rights and liberties have never been automatic in the United States, nor have they ever been under such attack. Our constitution guarantees us the chance to fight for them, it is not a blanket guarantee that they will never be trampled.
It is time to turn anger into action, to build bridges and to go work for the changes we want. Welcome back to the struggle.
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