Evolution of Consciousness

I’d like to elaborate on something I wrote last week: for years, polls have reported that a majority of Americans want National Health Insurance in this country (like Medicare for All). 2009 was supposed to be the year that Washington finally addressed the issue. So what happened? The influence of big money in Washington completely perverted and derailed the effort. We the People are just not being represented in Washington anymore, only money is.

There are some minor exceptions. In the Senate, Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed a single-payer bill (S.703). Thus far, no other senator has bothered to cosponsor this bill. On the House side, John Conyers (D-MI) put up H.R.676, which has a total of 86 cosponsors (see thomas.loc.gov for the list). So that’s a total of 87 representatives and one senator on our side, and 99 senators and 348 representatives against us.

What to do? Vote accordingly. Elections are coming up next year. If your congresspeople aren’t behind either of these bills, tell them they will lose your vote. For example, those of us along California’s northern coast will be asked to re-elect Representative Mike Thompson and Senator Barbara Boxer in November of 2010. Both have chosen to represent the insurance industry in this fight. Tell them if they don’t switch sides, pronto, they will lose your vote. 

Then, keep your promise. Don’t be a no show, that doesn’t help. Instead, vote Independent: not republican, not democrat, but for some third party candidate. The time has come to abandon the two major political parties in this country, as they abandoned us a long time ago. It’s time for the people to rise up and take this country back. Vote Independent.

A couple little victories in Washington last week…

On July 21, the Senate voted 58-40 to amend the $680 billion ($680,000,000,000) military bill to remove $1.75 billion ($1,750,000,000) for seven more F-22 fighter jets (the Pentagon already has 187 of these Cold War relics, isn’t using them, and didn’t want any more — Congress initially ignored this advice and insisted on paying for and making more).

Credit for this glimmer of sanity goes to Defense Secretary Gates, who urged the repeal, and Obama, who threatened veto (goes to show what good leadership can do). Jeers go to local senators Boxer and Feinstein, who porkishly voted against the cut (in fact, the amendment would not have passed without the support of 15 Republican senators).

This is, hopefully, a first baby step away from the unbridled military spending that we’ve undertaken in this country for far too long. We’ve got more weaponry than is good for us, or any other living thing on this planet. It’s time to tack left.

On July 17, the House Education and Labor Committee voted 27-19 to approve a Kucinich amendment allowing states to create their own single-payer healthcare plans (again, without 13 Republican ayes, this amendment would have perished).

If our federal government isn’t going to muster the integrity and courage to do what is sensible and right on healthcare this time around, this amendment will make it easier for states to lead the way to single-payer in this country.

The California legislature has twice passed a single-payer bill (SB 840) the past few years, only to watch the Governeggar veto it down both times (goes to show what bad leadership can do). Meanwhile, other states — Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington among them — have active single-payer efforts before their legislatures.

Single-payer began in Canada at the provincial level. Saskatchewan is where it started. Other provinces saw how successful it was and joined in. By 1971, Canada decided to make it federal. Contrary to all the blatant disinformation streaming from FOX News, Canadians (and all the other single-payer nation citizens) like their National Healthcare. Why shouldn’t they? They pay less for superior results (Americans pay the most, by far, yet rank near the bottom).

Remember, folks, Rupert Murdoch is not your friend, he’s just another tax-dodging zillionaire, taking advantage of what America has become (a shooting range for avaricious free-marketeers). Don’t believe everything he and his minions tell you. Read, investigate, circulate, and draw your own conclusions. Until a majority of Americans learn to think for themselves, we will remain, collectively, fish in a barrel.

This brings to mind the letter in last week’s AVA urging Ukiahans to relax and let the “big boys” (in this case, the developers DDR) do whatever they want, so that we might save pennies on our next widget purchase. That is exactly the sort of narrow, short-term, non-thinking that leads straight to the long-term disaster we’re presently caught in (and it is exactly what Rupert and friends want you to think, which is why they purchased most of the media in this country). We’ve got to think a little deeper than that, people, we need to be more aware of the bigger picture. There is a lot of cause-and-effect going on out there. It’s called connecting the dots. Those “pennies off” come at a huge social cost, and many of us don’t want to pay that price.

Survey the landscape before you nibble the cheese.

I had dinner with our representative, Mike Thompson, last night (July 11). An intimate affair with a hundred others.

The good news is that Single Payer advocates showed up in force. There were activists outside with flyers and placards, and many more paid their way inside. I think Mike knew we were coming, as he closed his speech with a big healthcare-reform finish. Then he opened up the Q and A session. The subject of Single Payer dominated that last half hour, and everyone that spoke was for it.

Mike’s rhetorical tautology against Single Payer is that we just can’t have it. (What that really means is that he is unwilling to take on one of his primary donors, the medical industrial complex.) He’s just another off-the-table democrat. One of Mike’s favorite excuses is the mythical American unicorn who “likes his healthcare plan” and is “terrified of change.” Mike is terribly concerned about this person, and doesn’t want to scare him.

Look, we can always find some kook out there who believes anything, but should we base our public policy decisions on the fears of the most uninformed and ignorant among us? Non-kooks would say no. The real reason Mike keeps trotting out this aberration is it is about all the industry has left to fight with. Imaginary fear. This unicorn is the 2009 version of Harry and Louise.

The bad news is that Mike Thompson was pretty much as expected, a career politician who has become comfortable in his position. Let’s just say this blue dog spends a lot of time curled up by the fire, at the feet of Master. 

The most disappointing aspect of the evening, for me, was the high level of prevarication that is tolerated in such a forum. The whopper of the evening was when Mike told us that money has absolutely no effect on legislators. Imagine that! “Attention, lobbyists and PACs, your money has no effect on Mike Thompson and friends. Attention, Health Insurance Industry, your $1.4 million spent every day is being wasted. Go home. Your money is no good here.” 

Folks, I’m here to report that Mike Thompson isn’t about to represent us in congress. He has other priorities. Twelve years of this is enough. We need to find another representative come 2010. Preferably, a progressive independent. Anyone out there?

P.S. It’s a shame Christina Aanestad wasn’t available to cover the event. It was a real public disservice to dismiss such a competent local reporter. Here’s an example: Christina’s report of Mike’s previous appearance at a local business luncheon (last month) caught some of his reactions to the Single Payer protest outside the venue. One of his statements was (paraphrase), “Look, there’s only twenty people out there, and the numbers go way down from there.” At Mike’s dinner, last night, he told the crowd he never said that. It would be harder to refute that if Christina hadn’t recorded it.

Congressman Mike Thompson attended a business luncheon in Fort Bragg a week ago Friday. About twenty healthcare activists stood outside with placards, encouraging drivers to honk for Single Payer. Christina Aanestad, from KZYX radio, covered the event. I happened to catch her report the following Tuesday.

Mike Thompson’s basic response to the question of why he refuses to support Single Payer was that there are just too many Americans out there who love their health insurance and are terrified of change. Huh? Who are these people? Where are they? (Dick Cheney’s man-sized safe comes to mind.) The truth is they don’t exist, at least not in the vast numbers that Mike is suggesting. This inane excuse is nothing more than a sound bite cooked up by the insurance industry.

Another talking point the spinmeisters came up with was the phrase “quality, affordable health care.” It doesn’t really mean anything, but they found, through focus groups, that some voters salivate when they hear these words. So any time you hear a politician or pundit use the phrase “quality, affordable health care” you know they are on the industry payroll.

They have also co-opted the term “universal healthcare.” It used to mean everyone is covered, but the industry (and their shills) now use it to mean that government will force everyone to buy health insurance from the for-profit outfits that have wrought this crisis.

Note to Mike: when people use the term “crisis,” that means something is wrong. Polls in the real world, where many of us live, indicate a solid majority (more than 60%) of Americans support Single Payer, with a similar percentage of physicians and nurses concurring.

Congressman Mike, on the other hand, dismissed the twenty folks that appeared in the middle of a workday to stand along Highway One promoting healthcare for all. He said something like, “Look, there’s only twenty people out there, and the numbers go way down from there.” (Sweet Jesus, give me the strength….)

Petra was right, Mike Thompson is an embarrassment. As Mike rambled on, he started doin’ that pseudo folksy shtick that Republicans “flat out” perfected during the Bush era, where they start droppin’ their g’s (providin’, payin’). Apparently, this makes voters want to have a beer with you. It is all so stupid it makes you want to cry. 

With Democrats like this who needs Republicans?

It’s time to give Mike an ultimatum: either co-sponsor HR 676 (Single Payer) or lose our vote. That’s all the leverage we have with this guy. He’s coming up for re-election next year, and the medical industrial complex is already busy featherin’ his nest (see opensecrets.org). Twelve years of non-representation is enough.

Nancy Pelosi says, “Over and over again, we hear single payer, single payer, single payer. Well, it’s not going to be a single payer.”

How do you like that? Nancy’s tired of hearing what the people want.

It sounds to me like Nancy’s getting a little too complacent. As Republicans drift further into irrelevance, Democrats, spinelessly filling the void, are beginning to feel invincible. What we’re left with is Republican Lite: Compassionate Corruption.

Max Baucus, the Democratic senator given charge of healthcare reform, pounds his gavel and calls for the police to arrest citizens asking why single payer remains absent from the discussion. It’s a good question: Why is the best answer to the healthcare crisis being completely ignored? Most politicians won’t tell you the real answer, which is money. They are bought, and they do as their masters tell them. Master says, “keep single payer off the table,” and they do it. Max, like our very own Representative Mike Thompson, has been well greased by the health/insurance industry.

The parable of the financial meltdown is illuminating. Wall Street implodes in unregulated greed. Government bails out Wall Street with taxpayer money. Wall Street uses that money for retreats and bonuses (“rewarding excellence”), and hands some of it back to government. Government takes the bribe and continues legislating on Wall Street’s behalf.

Somebody’s getting screwed (see mirror).

We need to remove money from politics. Let’s outlaw all political contributions, period. Public servants earn a salary and that’s it, no more bribery. While we’re at it, let’s scale back some of their perks (remember, we’re supposed to be the boss here). For instance, I propose that public servants receive the exact same healthcare package that any newborn gets in this country (currently, bubkes). If this were the case, healthcare would get reformed in a hurry.

Now the reason politicians feel compelled to raise endless amounts of money (besides greed and corruption) is to finance their campaign commercials. The 30-second ad has become the essential campaign tool for the television age. The more money you have, the more ads you can run, the better your chances of winning. These short ads are marketing pieces (commercials), usually negative, whose primary purpose is to manipulate, not inform. We need to outlaw all these campaign commercials, which only serve to elevate the candidate with the most money and the least scruples.

Instead, media outlets should be required to donate a certain amount of airtime during campaign season to intelligent political debate, where all candidates can openly discuss the issues. This way, any competent citizen could run for office, regardless of wealth, and have an equal chance at winning. Money should not be the mitigating factor in politics.

If we let greed continue to run things in this country, I don’t think we are long for this world. Greed is selfish in nature. Money has no conscience. The “invisible hand of the market” does not consider consequences beyond profit.

We can do better. We need to do better.