Comments on: Was The New Deal A Disastrous Sellout?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 00:39:17 +0000

Rather than the people they supposedly represent, and who can send their asses home if they don’t agree with the vote?

By: larryb33

larryb33 — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:24:11 +0000

Well, you do have a point.

By: zak822

zak822 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:21:25 +0000

While it’s true that we can’t do large scale progressive things right now, I think it’s important that we get the ideas into discussion.

Sure, the media will treat them like it does every other progress ideas, but with repetion the ideas have a chance to percolate through.

Look at the success the right is having by simply repeating the core mantra’s, no matter how disconnected from truth they are.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:20:52 +0000

While it’s true that we can’t do large scale progressive things right now, I think it’s important that we get the ideas into discussion.

Sure, the media will treat them like it does every other progress ideas, but with repetion the ideas have a chance to percolate through.

Look at the success the right is having by simply repeating the core mantra’s, no matter how disconnected from truth they are.

By: Scott Lemieux

Scott Lemieux — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:51:48 +0000

Since when did the objectively bad performance of the American health care system bother Republicans or moderate Democrats? With these groups about to gain more power for a while, what makes you think better legislation is coming anytime soon? What president is going to invest his political capital in health care anytime soon if Obama fails? People assume this for good reason, and people whose argument depends on rejecting it assiduously avoid explaining how the 60th most liberal vote in the Senate is going to become much more liberal in the next decade or two…

By: RobW

RobW — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:25:06 +0000

Why must we assume this to be so? Everywhere I go, I hear this stated as a given: it’s now or never, if we don’t pass this crap, it’ll be a generation before we even address it again. This isn’t even a prediction, it’s an assumption, accepted as a given.

So, the status quo won’t continue to get worse? The aging population won’t become both more in need and more vocal? There will be no increase in popular pressure to achieve real reform? Nobody can predict what will be the political climate on any other issue over the next 2-4 years, but we can say with absolute certainty that nothing will change on HCR issue over the next 20? It dies in this Congress, and nobody ever brings it up again?

Yeah, I know, that’s what happened in the 90s. This ain’t the 90s.

By: Brien Jackson

Brien Jackson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:49:02 +0000

“Really, where in this is anyone actually getting anything that will help them? Where is the government program being created here?”

Also, this. I know a lot of people who will be helped greatly by the Medicaid expansion, and last I checked, Medicaid was a government program. I also find it hilarious that the people who were obsessed with a new public plan, but were willing to accept Medicare buy-in as a substitute have basically ignored Medicaid expansion. In fact, I can’t help but notice that pretty much everything the FDL crowd has been focused on disproportionately affects the middle class, and the fact that the bill would be a great improvement for poor Americans has been systematically ignored.

By: Brien Jackson

Brien Jackson — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:45:54 +0000

I’d find some of the complaints from the FDL crowd much more credible if they could actually maintain consistency on them. For example, for all the complaints that the current bill cements private insurers, nothing does more to prop up private insurers than the massive subsidy that is the employer health benefits tax exemption. Yet who was protesting the loudest when Democrats decided to put a modest roll back of that into the bill? FireDogLake, Marcy Wheeler in particular.

Any way you slice it, I think te simplest answer for most of this opposition “from the left” is just pique from people realizing they aren’t as important as they thought they were.

By: Scott Lemieux

Scott Lemieux — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:22:05 +0000

Even that 5k fine won’t ever actually be levied if the regulation of other industries is any clue.

Really — you think there’s would be no difference between in the amount of pollution emitted if the Clean Air Act was “repealed”? “Imperfect” is a far cry from “meaningless.” At any rate, if you’re going to assume in advance that no regulation will work than no viable policy can ever work, so we might as well go home right now.