unless you were compromising with yourself. I'm sick of hearing the "public option was the compromise". No, it wasn't. You can't compromise on something when it's the only policy for which you have advocated. The public option, not single payer, is the demand. A compromised public option is likely to be the compromise. Improved and Enhanced Medicare for All, or single payer, was never on the table. It was never part of the negotiations, thus it was never a policy up for compromise.

What frustrates single payer advocates the most is how they have been sidelined from the national health finance reform debate. People who support single payer, or enhanced and improved Medicare for All, have long waited for the chance to present their case to the American people for real health care reform via a single payer method. With the ever increasing cost of care, and the growing number of uninsured and under insured Americans, single payer advocates view inclusion of proposals that support a one payer system for financing health care an essential part of the debate.

Before the primary it had been so long since Democrats held power I never noticed how much Democratic philosophy and policy advocacy had changed.  But during the primary I started to note what I would call a split in the Party between those who sought economic justice for the middle class, and those who sought social benevolence for the poor.  I'm always on the side of helping the poor, but in policy terms, I've always thought what helps the poor most is to empower the middle class.  Policies that target only the poor through subsidies and welfare programs, and sort of ignore the plight of the middle class over the last several decades, don't leave those on the bottom with anywhere to move up to.  Further, often the needs of the poor can only be met throu

Nice guys do finish first sometimes.

"Paul Krugman, a professor at Princeton University and an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science on Monday.

Mr. Krugman received the award for his work on international trade and economic geography. ..."

On his blog, The Conscience of a Liberal , he says:

"A funny thing happened to me this morning …"

No, I'm not talking about the Klan, or even the Republicans "southern strategy."

But I do want to place this post in the context of much of the back and forth that is going on here at Corrente and through-out the liberal blogisphere about race and racism, what is it, when is it, and who is playing with it.

Mary-Beth at Wampum reminds us of an even wider perspective that liberals have as much difficulty even remembering exists as do right-wingers.

For anyone who doesn't understand why the national discussion of race needs to address more than just African-American concerns, here's exhibit one, from today's LA Times editorial page:

Are the Tibetans doomed to go the way of the American Indians? Will they be reduced to being little more than a tourist attraction, peddling cheap mementos of what was once a great culture? In Tibet itself, that sad fate is looking more and more likely.

What makes it all the more remarkable is that aside from its placement in a major American newspaper, the piece in question is by Ian Buruma, a regular contributer at the NYRB, and as Mary-Beth points out, "the Henry R. Luce Professor of Human Rights and Journalism at Bard College."

Here's a question I'd like to ask our readers. Have you already been able to spot what it is in this quote that deserves to be considered within our discussions of American racism?

For those of you who might be distracted by Buruma's tip of the hat to the "once great culture" of native Americans, which, in fact, was actually multi-cultural and multi-lingual, Mary-Beth has a second post up today that will help you see through these apparently innocent bows to a conception of Native American past greatness.

You see, it seems there was another writer/journalist back in the 19th century who bemoaned the tragedy of exactly that past greatness, in terms remarkably similar to Buruma's take today.

Corrente will not be cowed.
  Read more…

Ok, so I'm a tad nervous this morning. Coffee probably wasn't a good idea this morning, but it's going to be a busy day. I'll be at several election parties tonight, and running around between blogging today, and chewing on my fingernails. But I wanted to say:

Thank you, Fremen warriors. And: I'm sorry for being such a Bitch.

Long Live the Fighters!

I recently got an email from a liberal friend, complaining about how librul organizations are, well, kinda fucked up. And they are. I could tell a silly story about my canvassing experience this weekend, but rather than do so, I want to thank the utterly clueless man who at least tried to put in some time and effort in the cause of justice. Not everyone is so good with maps, ya know?

The slightly verbose Mr. Newberry has put up a charmingly romantic response to a new and bold declaration by a group of unabashed liberals, and the short version is, “we’re liberal, we’re angry, and we’re going to save Constitutional Democracy whether our conservative detractors like it or not!”

The comments there are also endearingly typical of the disorganization and disunity of the left, in which I find myself agreeing with ‘both’ kinds of posters- talk is cheap, but this kind of talk is great. It’s got me thinking about the future, and what progressives should be doing.