I think CMike might be onto something:

Time for the Republic itself is running out. Single payer advocates have to take over the Democratic Party fast. We should band together as a bloc of voters and commit to voting for all pro-single payer Democrats and against all Democrats who do not support single payer. That means we should publicly commit ourselves to vote for the corporatist Republican in any general election if the Democrat on the ballot is not a supporter of single payer. At this point Job #1 for center-ists and leftists is to wreck the careers of the office seekers in the Democratic Party who hire themselves out to the corporatists.

And the last thing rank-and-file Democrats, who would commit to this one small step to make America a better place to live, need to listen to is some Democratic ditto-head telling us the savvy political move is to rededicate ourselves to supporting our party's sold-out leadership. Political realism, my ass. "Where do they teach you [ditto-heads] to talk like this?...Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here."

And before I get the "they're better than Republicans" talking point, let me just say maybe, but they're not better enough to be willing to do anything to stop 22,000 Americans from dying every year. Or put it another way, if it's a choice between your life and the Health Insurance Industry's profits, you lose.

These are the people who deserve your vote? Why? Because they'll pretend to care about you as they let you die.

So here's my thought* why not simply organize in your community a petition drive aimed at all Democrats running for elective office. See how many people you can get to take the following pledge:

Dear [Insert Name]:

We believe the health and welfare of the American people should be the top priority of any elected official. If you pledge to support single payer healthcare, I pledge to support you in the upcoming election. If you don't, I pledge that I will vote for your opponent in any primary and/or general election.

Signed,

American Voter

Work your neighborhoods, collect the pledges, mail them to the subject politician and then keep your promise. Do not vote for any Democrat who does not support single payer healthcare. If enough voters sign these pledges, that should get someone's attention. We need to make them unsure about their future.

This seems fair to me. Politicians are asking for your vote, the least they should be willing to do is sign onto a policy that can save 22,000 Americans a year, not to mention the added bonus of $400 billion.

What do you all think?

* I posted this because I'm not nearly smart enough to talk about Rawls and Kant and all those folks. Not that I don't agree with the need for more policy and less politics. But this, IMO, would be policy based, something that I agree has been missing too much from liberal politics. The GOP have been doing this to their folks for years and over time, it works. And we have something going in our favor, the Democrats are weak.**

** which isn't an excuse for their lameness. To paraphrase Bob Sommerby, they are corporate tools and they are weak. See how easy that is?

NOTE - I confess I can't quite decide which is the better strategy, to try to re-take the Democratic Party or to run third party candidates in a few contests, i.e., the Indiana and Montana Senate races. Of course, both could be done. Run a few well-placed third party (National Healthcare Party) candidates and in other districts pressure Democrats this way.