Just a little open letter to our friends in the DLC here.
Ladies and fellas, I hate to bring you down from your pedestals of centrist self-importance, but somebody needed to let you know that you are now in what I like to call a real bind. On the one hand, you've got your old friends in the insurance lobby, keeping your palms nice and slick for lo all these many years. And on the other, you've got the people who do the actual lining up and voting that keeps you in a job.
Now you may be thinking to yourself, "Those folks are Reagan Democrats, they'll vote for me but they aren't interested in any big government program." I got news for you... before Reagan, they, or their parents, were New Deal Democrats. Your anti-government pro-business voters are already voting against you, for Republicans. You're not going to win those votes even if you paint yourselves red and endorse Ghengis Palin for President.
Meanwhile, those "Reagan Democrats" you don't want to lose... well they're losing their jobs, their pensions, and something else... I forget so easily... oh yeah, THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE. Unemployment is about to run out for these folks, H1N1 is bearing down with a deadline that won't slip, and frankly people out here are tired of a government that bends over backward to help Goldman Sachs but can't seem to figure out a way to help people see a doctor even with 60 senators in the Democratic caucus. Without Teddy, that number is now 59 and the blame for not getting anything done before he died is on your heads. I know it must seem so unfair but that's how it looks to the Great Unwashed.
So, dear DLC friends, how are you going to explain to your constituents that you would have voted to get their family members access to all the flu care they needed, but you just couldn't because... well, I don't even know what reason you're going to give, they're not going to care. People are going to DIE in this epidemic and they will have NAMES and you will be asked to explain why the government could find so much money for Goldman and Halliburton and every other corporate welfare queen lined up at the teat, but none to help working people in their time of need. Don't kid yourself that this Great Recession is over just because the Dow is up. People in need don't go to bed at night less hungry because of the stock ticker. This thing is coming home to roost, now, in your home districts.
How on earth can you possibly think that a few checks from your pals in the insurance industry are going to save you now? It's too late. If you guys fail to sign off on real reform and the people come up empty-handed again, it'll be you who pays, with your jobs. If you think the August town hall meetings were angry, think again. That was a dying gasp of a dying movement. The real popular revolt happens when Congress defies the popular will one too many times. As your friend, I advise you to get on the right side of history before it's too late to save you.
Your bestest buddy,
chris