Reply #22: What "deal" are you talking about? Who mentioned a "deal"? [View All]

[BzaDem]

The fact that we currently have a progressive minority is not due to some sort of deal that was made. It is because progressives were elected in a minority of Congressional districts. Our minority in Congress doesn't all of a sudden become a majority just because you don't particularly like the fact that we are a minority.

The Blue Dogs that are preventing a robust public option don't necessarily stand for nothing. I think they do stand for something. They stand for defeating a robust public option. The only way to make the Blue Dogs irrelevant is to elect more progressives. If the base decides to stay home for the 2010 elections (which might very well happen), that is certainly their right. But that will end up making it harder for progressives to get a majority, not easier. After all, liberals who stayed home in 1994 didn't really accomplish much. 15 years later, we are not even going to come close to enacting the reform that progressives actually want. Maybe if progressives went to the polls in 1994, we would have expanded our majorities and have been able to enact a better healthcare bill in 1995.

But that would be too rational. Instead, I bet many progressives will stay home because their minority in Congress couldn't enact its policy agenda. And we will come even farther from being able to enact progressive healthcare reform. And the cycle will continue -- whenever we get close to a majority of progressives in Congress, progressives stop going to the polls and bring the cause back 15 years. And the cycle will repeat.