Reply #37: Okay, I'm a bit war weary and battered by that fight, as well. [View All]

[leveymg]

But, since you bring it up, BC/BS is a "non-profit" which is different from a cost-contained, publicly administered agency.

Personally, I am uncomfortable knocking doors for candidates and causes I don't believe in. I understood in 2006 and 2008 that the guys we were sending to Congress and the White House were not a perfect reflection of myself, and that progressives would be somewhat disappointed by the policies. I did not expect Single Payer, nationalization of the big NY banks, an immediate withdrawal of all US Forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, a big expansion of social safety net like the Great Society, etc.

But, what I did not expect was that the most crucial symbolic votes and issues would be handed to Max Baucus and Joe Lieberman, and that we would end up with so much continuity of existing policy and so little real reform. I can go into the details about that at length, but I think you understand what I'm getting at.

And, I think we could have done it without the wholesale loss of Democratic seats in the Senate, if there had been a sterner, firmer hand from above driving real reform. But, that's not what we got, so we'll end up paying for that failure to seize the opportunity to remake Washington in another way, starting next January.