Thom Hartmann: Healthcare: First They Came for the Banksters

[marmar]

Published on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 by CommonDreams.org
Healthcare: First They Came for the Banksters

by Thom Hartmann


With apologies to Pastor Niemöller:

First they came for the banksters, and showered them with money and put them in the Administration in a way that was not change we could believe in.

Then they came for the military industrial complex, and sent more and more of our children to die in faraway lands that had never attacked us in a way that was not change we could believe in.

And now they’ve sold out our hope for a national health care system not run by millionaire gangsters in suits. And who is left to speak for us?

President Obama is playing the Bill Clinton game of throwing people a bone and telling them it’s steak. Perhaps he’s doing it because he thinks it’s his only choice; perhaps it’s because he’s surrounded himself with Bill Clinton advisors (and Hillary as Secretary of State); whatever the reason, while it worked for Clinton, it won’t work for Obama.

It worked for Reagan, and for the first Bush, and even worked somewhat for George W. Bush.

But it won’t work anymore. Here’s why.

From 1929 until the 1980s, most Americans were “high information voters.” They were paying attention to politics. The Republican Great Depression of 1929-1938, World War II, the Korean War, Kennedy’s election, and the War in Vietnam were all Big Events that caused Americans to pay attention. Americans of that era needed to know what was up in Washington, DC, because they felt the consequences directly.

This is why in November of 1954, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote a letter to his John Bircher brother Edgar, “Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.” .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/16-3

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Good read!

Go Thom Go!

[xiamiam]

2. time to get in the streets..March...Obama is not going to kill the bill, its his creation..nt

[chill_wind]

3. K & R.

[dhpgetsit]

4. Comments on the Facebook Barack Obama page are running about 100% against this bill.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/barackobama?ref=nf

[jotsy]

5. I made the mistake of reading following comments.

Thought it was well written and interesting take on how we came to be the kind of society that we are. I was pretty find more critics than fans at a place like Common Dreams. Has he become such a thorn in the side of the right wing that they've sent freepers to heckle?