January 25, 2010

The one thing that seems to be missing from the discussion of whether the House Dems will vote on the bill already passed by the Senate or will simply agree to kill health care reform for the foreseeable future, is what "health care," as an issue, means to the left in American politics. As an abstract issue, "health care" is an issue that tracks very well in the polls when there is nothing concrete about to be passed by Congress. For Democrats, it is a handy issue for when it is in opposition, something it can use to establish its populist bona fides, since the issues involved (coverage, cost, access, etc.) are concerns that affect the great mass of people. And as a matter of rhetoric, it is something that even a Blue Dog/Dixiecrat can support, at least on the campaign trail.

But when progressives actually attempt to do something to match their rhetoric, they find that it is nearly impossible to pass anything. Public opinion is easily fooled, especially when powerful business lobbies are involved, and on those few occasions when liberals have all their ducks in a row and can actually enact something, they discover that an issue that works pretty well when they are out of power, is more of a cancer when they have to take the reins.

So the fact that progressives in the House are abandoning the bill shouldn't be much of a surprise. As an issue, calls for universal health coverage are to progressives what opposition to abortion rights is to the right: something to advocate, not enact. Because once something like the Senate bill actually becomes law, the issue, and its usefulness as a vote-grabber, disappears. Not getting a bill enacted isn't the big surprise; the big surprise is that progressives went through the motions in the first place.

4 comments:

Warty said...

The real surprise, my dear Sasquatch comrade, is that you have managed to suppress your simian rape instinct with nearly 90% effectiveness for an entire week. Bravo, old chum! I promise I'll bring you a reward. I think this time it shall be the moldering corpse of a young boy, into which you can release your long-semi-supressed unholy desires in relative safety to the surrounding community.

Until we meet again, O gentle forest ape.

Steve Smith said...

I take offense at the notion that Sasquatchs possess a "simian rape instinct," or that we have a preference for necropederasty. Such stereotypes are outdated and vulgar in the twenty-first century.

STEVE SMITH said...
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Episiarch said...

STEVE SMITH PUT TWO INEXPLICABLE PICTURES ON WEB PAGE! WHY STEVE PICK THESE? STEVE NOT KNOW, BUT STEVE THINK THEY FLATTERING! STEVE MOM SAY SO! MOM ALSO SAID STEVE NOT RUN LIKE GIRL!