LTR to Pelosi & Reid: No public option would be a victory not for bad policy but corruption

[yurbud]

I sent the following letter to Harry Reid, and a slightly nicer version to Nancy Pelosi and Obama:

Sen. Harry Reid
Senate Majority Leader
522 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510

Sen. Reid,

I am very concerned that in the health insurance reform debate, the Senate has been too concerned about the profit margins of insurance companies and not concerned enough about the economic and physical health of average Americans and our very ability to stay alive when we get sick.

Poll after poll shows solid public support for at a minimum, a strong public option that anyone can buy into to escape the abusive practices of private insurance.

It has been disturbing to hear even Democratic congressmen and senators complain about the potential cost of a public option and use that as an excuse to weaken it, when they voted for blank check after blank check for the Iraq War, and the biggest insult to taxpayers ever, the Wall Street bailout that had no strings attached and was used for bonuses, parties, mergers, and posting profits. Any of those dwarf the potential annual cost of a public option.

Instead of scrambling for token Republican votes, you should do everything in your power to rein in the Blue Dogs. Tell them they can line their pockets and screw their constituents on other issues.

If the final bill fails to deliver that minimum reform, it will not appear that an inferior policy has won a debate, but that Congress is so corrupt that they can’t put aside their lust for campaign donations and future private sector jobs with fat salaries as lobbyists, CEO’s, and do-nothing board members even when it means your constituents will be bankrupted, die, or probably more important to most in DC, not vote for you again.

If you don’t get this right, you will strip away any remaining hope the American people have that those we elect to Congress represent us and prove that your only priority is to move money from the taxpayers pockets into those of the already wealthy beyond comprehension.

The Republican Party is dying, and the Democratic Party will join it unless they can deliver more than the pretense of reform.

Sincerely,

Feel free to plagiarize it and send it:

Pelosi
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

Reid
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Obama
http://www.whitehouse.gov/CONTACT/

[yurbud]

1. thanks for the rec

[Kansas Wyatt]

2. Thank you

[yurbud]

3. de nada