Reform won't happen without us

To be honest, I haven't had the heart today to read all of Matt Taibbi's latest Rolling Stone piece on health care. I just read the last page and he makes a very good point.

In the House, Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York refused to support the bill passed by the commerce committee unless he was allowed to attach an amendment that will enable Congress to vote on replacing the entire reform bill with a single-payer plan (Bernie Sanders is working on a similar measure in the Senate). On the labor committee, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio took a more nuanced tack, offering an amendment that would free up states to switch to a single-payer system of their own. [...]

Then again, some of the blame has to go to all of us. It's more than a little conspicuous that the same electorate that poured its heart out last year for the Hallmark-card story line of the Obama campaign has not been seen much in this health care debate. The handful of legislators — the Weiners, Kuciniches, Wydens and Sanderses — who are fighting for something real should be doing so with armies at their back. Instead, all the noise is being made on the other side. Not so stupid after all — they, at least, understand that politics is a fight that does not end with the wearing of a T-shirt in November.

In a way we should be ashamed that we're letting the tea party shouters show us up, because they may be so very wrong, but they are out on the streets making their voices heard. I understand the dilemma of having nothing to really support so far from the administration, but all the more reason we should be shouting from the rooftops to listen to the Congressfolks who are working for the reforms we want.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]