The Democratic Party leadership in Congress is to the right of the public on health care [View All]

[Better Believe It]

Some posters have suggested that liberals and progressives are out of touch with middle class and poor working people, that we are pushing too hard, too fast and are way too left on issues like universal health care.

This idea is pure nonsense, or should I be less diplomatic and call it pure bull shit?

Polls have shown that most people want a strong public option and also support an expansion of Medicare, Medicare for All.

One wouldn't know that by looking at the weak ineffectual health care bills proposed in Congress, bills that appear to have been written by the private health insurance industry and big Pharma, legislation that amounts to a huge handout to the "for profit" health care industry.

The Democratic Party leadership in Congress has demonstrated once again that they are to the right of the general public and closer to the Republican Party on the big issues like health care and the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan.

How many times in past American history have conservative political forces urged the people to take it easy, go slow and accept "incremental" changes that might result in meaningful changes that you won't live long enough to see or benefit from?

The anti-war Vietnam movement was urged to shut up and stop marching by Republican and Democratic leaders in the 60's and early 70's because the public allegedly supported that war. What a lie that was! And nearly 60,000 U.S. troops and over 1 million Vietnamese died as a result of bi-partisan support for that criminal war.

During the late 50's and early 60's civil rights activists were urged to take it easy by alleged supporters in Congress. These politicians insisted that legislation proposed by civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King could only be achieved incrementally, one tiny step at a time. But, the civil rights movement and protests grew and involved millions until the Civil Rights and Voting Right acts were passed in a single year!

And we've always heard these political conservatives (now called moderates or centrists) urge the labor movement, women, minorities, gays and anti-war activists to shut up, sit down and let the politicians work on our behalf without any mass pressure for change.

But, that's not the way change, real change, change we can believe in is actually achieved.

It's time to build progressive mass movements again. The politicians, Democratic and Republican, need to feel the heat.