One of the most fundamental promises the Democratic Party made to voters in 2008 was that, if only the Democrats had control of both houses of Congress, including a veto-proof majority in the U.S. Senate, and a President in the White House, then America would finally see meaningful health care reform. Well, all those things are finally in place. So, have we got meaningful health care reform?
No, we don’t, and Democrats in Congress are the reason we don’t. In the House of Representatives, the Blue Dog Democrats wrecked health care reform. In the Senate, five right wing Democrats joined the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee today to vote against a public option in health care reform. These five Democratic turncoats were:
Max Baucus
Blanche Lincoln
Kent Conrad
Bill Nelson
Tom Carper
Progressive organizations agree – without a public option health care reform is rendered virtually meaningless. Now, these right wing Democratic senators have killed the public option. They’ve ripped the heart out of Barack Obama’s reform program.
So what are we going to do about it? Sit around and mope? No. We’re going to teach these anti-progressive Democrats a lesson about what happens when leaders break promises made to progressives. The progressives get organized, and they fight back.
In Arkansas, John Gray is leading the charge. He is challenging Blanche Lincoln from the left, asking why Lincoln is abandoning Democratic Party promises and voting like a Republican instead.
Today, Gray responded right away when he heard that Blanche Lincoln had voted against Barack Obama’s public option. Gray linked Lincoln’s anti-reform vote to the large campaign donations she receives from insurance companies and other commercial entities that make a profit from the broken status quo. “She has a rather large campaign chest, almost half of which is from the medical industries,” Gray said. “The fact that she is loyal to her sponsors is not at all surprising.”
Gray pledged to support single payer health care instead of the pro-industry sham promoted by Senator Lincoln. By eliminating the commercial inefficiencies created by insurance companies, the Gray Health Plan would enable savings that would pay for health care coverage for all Americans.
Universal health care coverage – remember that promise? John Gray has not forgotten. That’s a darned good reason to vote John Gray for Senate in 2010.
