Letter to My Senator: Massachusetts Doesn't Mean What You Think It Does
The results of the Massachusetts election are so disgusting that I feel compelled to write. Please do not misinterpret the results as a referendum on health care reform itself. What they are is a referendum on how badly Congress and President Obama have handled health care reform. I am writing to beg you in the name of all that is holy to get your act together.
I voted for you, despite the fact that I’m as strongly pro-choice as you are pro-life, because you were an early supporter of President Obama—to me that meant you had vision. And I voted for you because you see health care as a fundamental right; as the daughter of a quadriplegic single mother, I have seen first hand what a sorry mess our health care system can be.
But where is the vision on health care reform? Where are the great inspiring principles? I am a litigator—I argue for a living—and I am the truest of the true believers in health care reform, but I can’t argue for your plan because I don’t know what it is. The news changes every day; there are no overarching principles, no clear messages, no leaders. Your message should be simple, clear and inspiring—but the only concrete thing I can say about it is that it’ll stop insurance companies from excluding pre-existing conditions, and there will be some kind of subsidy to make insurance somewhat less unaffordable. That’s great, but does it stir the soul? NO. It’s just two clear details in what’s otherwise a mangled, blurry mess.
Let me sum up the problem:
1. You have no message. “Health care reform” is not a message—it’s too vague. And “insurance for the uninsured” is too feeble: it doesn’t speak to the 5 out of every 6 Americans who are insured. “Keeping insurance costs from rising quite as fast as they otherwise would” is not exactly inspiring. Do you folks even have so much as a marketing intern on board? Why is it that Coca-Cola can sell tooth-destroying sugar water to 300 million Americans, but Congress can’t even sell us something that’ll make our lives better and that every other developed nation on earth recognizes as a birthright?
2. You abandoned your base. We really care about the public option. If you can’t give us that, don’t call this health care reform—it’s insurance reform, which is great, but you need to be honest about what it is or we will feel betrayed. Either give us what we want, or give us insurance reform and explain that you can’t do true health care reform yet because you don’t have the votes. We’ll work to help turn that around.
See, Democrats need to quit complaining about how the Republicans pander to their base. They do it because it works: the base is passionate and will work unbelievably hard for you. I raised and/or donated thousands of dollars for President Obama’s campaign, and alongside me as I knocked on doors, watched the polls, etc. were fellow progressives, social justice-oriented Christians, environmentalists, die-hard union members, gay rights activists, ardent feminists and so on. We dedicated months of our lives to him because he stirred our souls; he spoke to our ideals and made us feel they could be made real. Centrists go to the polls if you give them hope and have a decent economic plan, but the base is who actually does the work. We lay the groundwork—or if we feel betrayed by you, we don’t, and we also either stay home on election day or show up only to vote for third-party candidates.
Sarah Palin understands that. The Democrats apparently do not.
3. You waste time on needless arguments. What’s the fight about abortion? So pro-lifers don’t want their tax dollars to fund abortion—that’s fine; abortion coverage can be an optional rider. How much could it possibly cost to buy a rider for an operation that usually costs about $500 and tops out at $3000, and that most women, if they ever have it, have only once or twice in their lives? Not much. So let it be a ten-buck-a-month (or whatever) rider, administered and paid for separately from the subsidized plan. Some people will still be mad—I don’t want my tax dollars used to fund the slaughter of Iraqi civilians, so it bugs me that pro-lifers get to control their tax dollars when I don’t—but it’s far better than spending months battling over this.
4. You gave up on the simplest solution before you even tried. Here’s a simple message: “People should have the option of buying into Medicare.” When the GOP starts ranting about a government takeover, here’s your response: “Not at all—everyone who wants to keep their existing coverage can do so, and we’re passing some other measures that’ll make your existing health plans work better. But for those who want a low-cost, no-frills option, here it is.” Of course the system would be swamped if you let 40 million uninsured people buy into Medicare immediately—so phase it in incrementally, and set premiums on a sliding scale so people have little incentive to replace private “bells & whistles” plans with no-frills Medicare. Would this idea have made it out of committee? I don’t know, but it would’ve had a chance if you had sold it to the American people first. At least it’s a simple message that makes sense, which is what you don’t have now.
And that is why a popular Massachusetts attorney general just got trounced by a former nude model. The reason she couldn’t get out the base is because she’s the January 2010 Democratic party in microcosm: no message, no inspiration, just a vague centrism that doesn’t even remotely stir the soul. The message of the Massachusetts disaster isn’t that you’ve moved too far left, it’s that since those first glorious months after President Obama was elected, you’ve forgotten why we elected him.
Remember it now. Please.
posted by Daleth Hall @ 8:37 AM
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