Dennis is fighting for every one of you. He is the one showing courage

mmonk

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Tue Mar-16-10 08:16 PM
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Dennis is fighting for every one of you. He is the one showing courage

Edited on Tue Mar-16-10 08:18 PM by mmonk

despite the slight made. Is he being lobbied and given money by the heath insurance industry? He is being lobbied, but in a different way I am sure by party insiders and strong men. He is being vilified, blamed, accused of grandstanding etc. But he is fighting for you whether you believe it or not. This piece at http://trueslant.com/zaidjilani/2010/03/16/kucinich-to-announce-his-position-on-health-care/">TRUE/SLANT sums it all up as follows:

Kucinich has for weeks been maintaining that he won’t vote for a bill that, essentially, gives away the store to various medical industry players — the pharmaceuticals, the insurers, doctors, and hospital chains. Indeed, Kucinich has long been an advocate of a Medicare-for-all, single payer health care system where the government covers everyone under a low cost, efficient plan that would allow us to have universal health care for less than we’re paying now. Without a network of inefficient private insurers tangling up doctors’ offices with paperwork and gouging consumers for profit, money the system is redirected and people are able to get health care without an insurance company bureaucrat standing in the way. Sounds simple and effective, right?

That’s probably why Congress didn’t choose to go that route (simple and effective seems to not be their thing). Instead, the House passed a bill that would allow for a weak, watered down public plan that’s optional and open to very few citizens, which is one of two reasons Kucinich voted against it. The other reason was because for some bizarre reason, the final version dropped an amendment he had passed in committee that would’ve waived ERISA regulations and allowed for states to pursue their own single payer options. So, given the watering down of the public option plus the dropping of Kucinich’s amendment, the Ohio congressman voted against the House’s bill.

also,

I know for a fact Dennis, in that situation, would vote for the bill. Because Kucinich is not an egotistical maniac as so many in the pajama-clad blogosphere misunderstand him to be. He’s a man who believes in his country, and loves his fellow human beings, because unlike many of his critics, he grew up homeless, sometimes living in the back of a car, dealing with a family without health insurance, knowing the worst of sickness and strife in America. Kucinich does not have it in him to stop tens of millions of Americans from getting health insurance.

So while I think this bill is an atrocious example of how unresponsive Washington has been to what Americans want, I do hope that Dennis will reconsider his position if he is the deciding vote. Because what this bill would declare — other than our government is far too beholden to the very industries it’s supposed to be standing up to while making legislation — is that we aren’t going to let people die anymore because they literally can’t afford to live. It’s a gigantic blow against the idea that we’re on our own, that we aren’t our brother’s keepers, and that we should all pick up copies of Atlas Shrugged and simply look out for ourselves. While this entire health care process doesn’t seem to have created a decent bill that forges a decent health care system, it may have done something very important instead: it will prove that we can be a decent country. And I know that Dennis Kucinich is a decent man.

Bottom line if he doesn't hold the line and vote against it, I understand. And if he sticks to his guns, I understand. That being said, it's too bad the correct convictions can get you vilified when politics are involved. I'm not convinced this bill is good enough to turn the tide of the shame of this country of its lack of basic human empathy which allows people to die from the preventable. But if it can save half, I guess it's better than nothing. But I want better for my sons.