Jim writes: If I understand Shane correctly, I agree with him. The key thing is that if the left pushed even harder for a better alternative (such as single-payer) to the Obama/Congress plans rather than allying with O/C, it would _weaken_ the right (all else constant). =============================== I don't think this is the issue. Of course, the left should be pushing single payer - in fact, pushing for socialized medicine, but the latter is unfortunately not part of the public debate in present circumstances. In any event, my impression is that most health care campaigners inside and outside the Democratic party are already resolutely for single payer and are only grudgingly accepting of an (authentic) "public option" in preference to no reform at all.
The issue raised by Shane, as I understood it, was whether to rally and join with those campaigners against the right-wing offensive, as Julio suggested, or to ignore them and the counter-campaign of the right in favour of public criticism of the Obama administration. Based on my own experience in other settings - and I'm certain this is true of most everyone on the list - criticism of a leadership's failed policy and strategy is both necessary and possible, but is only effective when it occurs within the context of a struggle rather than outside of it. From here it seems to be as though the town hall meetings served as the focal point of that struggle, and for anyone on the left to have gone to those meetings and joined in the clamour against the DP politicians who were coming under fire from the right, rather than taking on the right's arguments against any form of public health care, would have been suicidal in terms of working with the liberal constituencies whose political consciousness the left has always tried to further develop. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
