From Doug Henwood’s excellent article, originally appearing in Jacobin Magazine (a publication that’s done a lot to earn my respect in recent years):
“Health-care stocks rallied on the release of Warren’s plan…
“Warren’s defenders say the scheme, to start with a ‘moderate’ Dem plan and wait three years to push for the full program, is politically realistic, given congressional and other political constraints on ambitious social programs. That argument never made sense to me.
“If the success of the Right over the last few decades has taught us anything, it’s that going for maximalist demands gets results. You might have to make some concessions along the way, but you get some wins and also push the political center of gravity in your direction. If you start out already compromised, you won’t get anywhere.”
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Correctamundo!
Warren’s approach sounds like the worst of Bill Clinton’s “triangulation” combined with Barack Obama’s “pre-concessions” to the GOP, negotiating with himself, rightward, before he even approached the Republicans (a party that was in utter disrepute after the Bush/Cheney years — a party that sounded like deranged psychopaths, completely unhinged, blathering about “death panels” and “socialism” when President Obama was working to pass their fucking legislation, RomneyCare, an industry-enriching scheme birthed by the right-wing Heritage Foundation!).
Don’t misunderstand me: The Affordable Care Act has helped many people, including some dear friends of mine, but it helps the insurance and pharmaceutical industries even more and leaves tens of millions of Americans without insurance of any kind, resulting in over 40,000 unnecessary deaths each and every year.