Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Healthcare: The Defeat of a Common Enemy

(Revised from a reply on Ian Welsh's blog. Ian Welsh is a prominent progressive blogger who objects to progressives rejoicing at the passage of a deeply-flawed health care plan.)

I think the progressive blogosphere and congresspeople are rejoicing in the defeat of an enemy

Yet that defeat is also a defeat of progressives. Fighting among ourselves will only make the defeat worse. One thing that wasn’t clear to any of us last August is just how bad a defeat for the Democrats would have been: it very likely would have put the radical right back in power. So I think standing on principle is both ill-mannered and poor tactics. Sure, we can blast the Congressional progressives for not keeping their promises. We might even be able to get some of them replaced. But would this strengthen our position? It would not. Long term, I think, conditions have rarely been better for major reforms and perhaps the formation of a new major party in the USA, and that is where we need to focus our efforts.

2 comments:

sparky said...

(found you via BJ)

oddly i think i am more inclined to agree with your conclusion than the beginning of this post. IMO the party people celebrated because they got something done. whether that something is good or bad is irrelevant. (i think it is horrible with a few bon-bons stuck on it to fool the unwary.)

what it does demonstrate is that if you buy off the private sector, party discipline is actually not that difficult. no wonder the Rs did so well for so long.

Raven Onthill said...

That's an interesting point, and a good one.

Thank you for dropping by.