Progressive Democrats- A Case of Political Acne?
Last Saturday, I read an article in the Opinion Page of the Tampa Bay Times entitled WITH FOES LIKE THESE... by moderate conservative Peggy Noonan that echoed many of my concerns as a frustrated liberal. As I watch in horror, so many progressives, so full of themselves with righteous indignation, but devoid of any rational agenda, seem to race around like selfish adolescents, complaining about all of the indecencies inflicted on them by their parents. And, in doing so, they are attempting to fulfill all of the worst intentions of the Citizens United fueled pseudo Republicans, raising unconscionable amounts of money so much of it wasted on relatively inane issues such as gay marriage ( vs. civil unions), abortion on demand (vs. some acknowledgement of a fetus’ right), tuition free college for students who have in no way proven themselves worthy (as opposed to special low interest loans or a more European style merit based education system stressing non academic as well as academic skill sets).
Progressives have been slow to acknowledge that there is a problem with sky high corporate taxes, abusive regulatory agencies and our rush to legitimately avert climate change without bothering to worry about those most direly affected by the consequences of our proposals. We have a penchant for substituting sob stories for easily available hard physical and fiscal facts. Yes, we are stuck defending the Affordable Care Act for now because the Congressional Budget Office legitimately calculated that it was more economically feasible than Tom Delay’s virtual “screw the sick people” excuse for a “system,” but we know it’s not the answer to healthcare.
Why then are we not proactive, hammering at the Republicans, constantly, daring them to evaluate a single payer system replete with negotiated drug prices, negotiated prices for durable goods, oxygen, and medical labwork? And, why the hell are we not touting the blatantly obvious economic advantages by tying it to the huge savings that would accrue to employers and the ensuing ability to raise wages while, at the same time enjoying lower corporate taxes? What’s more, a single payer system could virtually eliminate the need for Medicaid as well as alleviating so many of the unmet needs of the Veteran’s Administration.
This approach has appeal for conservative, centrist, and liberal voters alike for goodness sake, but it also entails hammering it into voter consciousness until it cannot be ignored as well as the embarrassing challenge to both Republicans and Democrats who refuse to cut the umbilical cord with those lobbies that have so far shown a penchant for so gladly encouraging sick people go to their graves both literally and figuratively. Meanwhile, probably nothing Republicans can do is as abhorrent, as arrogant,and as self serving as Progressives driving pro life Democrats from under the umbrella of our party. In fact, acting like equally adolescent Republicans is never the answer to our problems and it won’t cure the political acne smeared across the pimply face of our current party.
Al Finkelstein, 5/1/17