by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
March 22, 2010
Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s decision to vote “yes” in Sunday’s House action on the health care bill, although he had sworn to oppose the legislation unless there was a public option, is a perfect example of why I would never be a politician. I respect Kucinich. As politicians go, he is about as good as they get, but he is still a politician. He has to run for office. He has to raise money. He has to placate the Democratic machine or risk retaliation and defeat. And so he signed on to a bill that will do nothing to ameliorate the suffering of many Americans, force tens of millions of people to fork over a lot of money for a defective product and, in the end, add to the ranks of our uninsured.
The claims made by the proponents of the bill are the usual deceptive corporate advertising. The bill will not expand coverage to 30 million uninsured, especially since government subsidies will not take effect until 2014. Families who cannot pay the high premiums, deductibles and co-payments, estimated to be between 15 and 18 percent of most family incomes, will have to default, increasing the number of uninsured. Insurance companies can unilaterally raise prices without ceilings or caps and monopolize local markets to shut out competitors. The $1.055 trillion spent over the next decade will add new layers of bureaucratic red tape to what is an unmanageable and ultimately unsustainable system.
[…]
via Truthdig
Copyright © 2010 Truthdig
Chris Hedges spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. He has written nine books, including Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (2009) and War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2003).
see
House Democrats pass historic health care overhaul, 219 to 212
Obama Inc. Triumphs: Kucinich Folds His Hand on Health Care by Glen Ford
Kucinich backs Obama, II by Michael Carmichael
Dennis Kucinich and Ralph Nader: A Discussion on Healthcare, Politics and Reform
Dennis Kucinich: Left Man Standing by Glen Ford
Party Hack Moulitsas Threatens Kucinich by Sean Fenley + Moulitsas slams Kucinich on Countdown
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we will never forget that you dennis kucinich not only endorsed Obama , but this bill. shame on you .
mike: This bill does nothing to address any of the things you are legitimately complaining about In fact, the bill will result in more denials of care for many people.
Kucinich decided to grab the HMO/health insurer campaign contributions. He’s just as bought a politician as the rest of them.
Have anything to back that up with, libhomo? He said he didn’t receive anything.
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Political pressure can and must be applied outside of the major political parties, and I’m not talking about minor, fringe political parties. The IWW has always employed direct action and economic pressure in the form of labor actions: strikes, slowdowns, working to rule, and constant agitation. For our troubles, we have been jailed, beaten, blacklisted and lynched, and for thanks we have had the AFL-CIO steal our tactics (union of unemployed; factory takeovers) while denigrating our Anarcho-Syndicalism as “red.”
I did not fall for the hype, and still work within the Democratic Party, but I have no faith in any of these clowns above the level of State Legislature, and even that can be dicey. They can’t kick me out, so I can organize, agitate and emancipate those who are willing.
Politics is bought and paid for, from the County Commissioners on up to the President, but economic muscle will be our only viable lever to enact real change. The State serves those who can pay for its services, and the trickle-down is just enough to provide for the local cops’ tazers and dum-dums. I have no illusions about that, but at times, minor victories and incremental change can be accomplished locally.
Mr. Hedges has been criticized as being a prophet of doom, but I believe he is accurate in his assessments, and if he can get the working class riled up at the right people, he has served the cause of social justice, and has my respect.
I applaud your determination …
For myself I see no leverage in being a Democrat. The corruption is too wide and too deep.
The reason I advocate the Green Party at this point in time is that I believe we are facing certain economic and social upheaval not seen since during and before the Great Depression.
When this chaos ensues I see no safe harbour in the Democrats but I do see the need for a political party that will advocate for a left agenda.
I myself was a union member, have seen many strikes and the upshot is that over the years the union I belonged to in the private sector along with most others, have been decimated …
The Green Party offers the opportunity of a focal point for action across issues … anti-war, environmental, social and labor justice …
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“Change will come only by building movements that stand in fierce and uncompromising opposition to the Democrats and the Republicans.” ~ Hedges
Why establish more movements? There are plenty now.
To establish more movements means only one thing … dilution of energy and resources …
Join the Green Party and let’s get all progressives under one umbrella political organization …
We need the political involvement of a party that represents the left …
Here are the Democratic Party accomplishments so far under Obama …
~ Continued and enhanced bankster looting …
~ Mountain top mining and nuclear power …
~ Constitutional rights shrinking …
~ The MIC budget and wars expanding …
~ And Now … corporate health care
Join the Green Party as a moral choice if nothing else …
Corporate welfare certainly does not indicate Representative Republic. It’s not just the insurance industry or the Dumbcrats and Repugnacans, it’s about returning to the ideal that the founding fathers expressed, and limiting the power of corporations and removing their “personhood.” Without corporate personhood, the citizens of the United States of America can start addressing taking back their country from a bankrupt corporate system. It was this bankrupt system that allow for the illegally created Federal Reserve and Income tax. The Federal Reserve has gutted the treasures of the US, and Income tax only exists to feed its swollen appetite.
i respect the right of anyone to disagree but I’m happy that the health care bill passed. I’ve watched both myself and my family be screwed over by insurance companies, who are supposed to represent us for as they advertise “we care”. I’ve seen routine blood tests denied and other tests which may help diagnose an illness put off due to red tape thrown in by the insurance companies. Politics is a nasty business no matter which party is in office. I would rather have a health care bill than none at all and I’m thankful for Mr Kucinich’s vote.
You were “screwed over by insurance companies” and yet you are happy to see a vote by Mr. Kucinich that will give these companies “an more powerful monopoly status within our economy”. That’s just plain stupid. And it’s just that kind of stupidity, that allows the perpetuation of a system that screws people over regularly. As long as you are willing to submit to such injustice maybe you deserve to be screwed over by the companies you are unwilling to stand up against. When we the people, and our representatives have the intelligence and integrity to stand up against the corporate interests that screw us over, perhaps then there will be real change. Until then I hope you continue to respect my right to disagree, while I disrespect your right to be stupid.