I’m an unemployed software developer who’s worked four months out of the last 18. I’ve exhausted my 401k and my savings, and have filed bankruptcy to try to save my home. As tough as things are, I made a small ($25) donation to Bill Halter.
My reasons are simple: I said I would help any Democrat who would run against Blanche Lincoln, and I believe in keeping my word.
Mrs. Lincoln is the wrong kind of Democrat for these times. Her stand against the Public Option, her threat to filibuster her own party, to stand in the way of one of the potentially most effective ways to rein in the cost of health insurance, was the wrong thing to do. Despite a majority of her constituents wanting the Public Option, despite over 80 percent of Arkansas Democrats wanting it, despite the American people needing it, she went against it. She must go.
There are millions of Americans who are suffering, who are walking a tight rope where they are one push, slip, misstep, or wind gust from what’s become a disaster in this country: getting sick. Millions of people who work everyday can’t buy the health insurance that will allow their kids to see a dentist, or their mother to see a GYN. There’s almost no one in this country who will say we don’t need health care reform, but we need more than that. If we have to have mandated insurance, we deserve a Public Option, and Mrs. Lincoln is committed to not giving us one.
Working class people need more protections, not less. Being for Big Business is not “centrist”, it’s corporatist, and considering the increased strengths the Supreme Court has now given them, there’s no good reason to support any candidate unwilling to fight against corporations, particularly those as well monied as the insurance cartel. Working class people don’t need Democrats who are against EFCA, and who see their base as loons and extremists. A Democrat who’s not willing to fight, day in, day out, from cause to cause, for middle-class and working-class families has no business being a Democrat at all. Such people offend our traditions and history, and we should never be reluctant to turn them out of office.
There are other Democrats, particularly in the Senate, who are paying close attention to this situation. What’s going on here lets Democrats who can’t pull a Lieberman know they will be called to account when they fail to uphold the most basic tents of being a Democrat. What’s going on here may be the impetus bringing the Public Option back into serious discussion and hopefully allowing it to pass. What’s going on here is necessary if we are to be taken seriously.
I remain optimistic about my own situation, and I’m fighting like hell when it comes to that, but also I believe there are times and cases when we must stand strong, as progressives, liberals, and Democrats, against those who don’t work to uphold our values, even when we are personally having the most difficult of times. This is one of those times and cases. I feel real good about what I’ve done, and I intend, with money or not, to do much more. This is that important.
Tags: AR-Sen, Arkansas, Bill Halter, Blanche Lincoln, Democrats, Health care, public option, Unemployment
