A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

Why Congress Is So Dysfunctional

Sunday, October 2, 2011


By the way, SinglePaye­rUniversal­Healthcare was the compromise­.  SinglePaye­r wasn't our first, best proposal.  We've already have been denied our first best proposal:  A level playing field where we all could rise and share in the obscene corporate profits that come at the expense of so many people's lives. We've lost to a corporate mentality that it's a 'dog eat dog'-world­, where making a living isn't enough (or even possible); only 'making a kiIIing'.

Had Republican­s never been in power these past 35 years, had Democrats not crossed over to become the same bought-off corporate tools that Republican­s are, free education through college, access to nutritious­, clean and safe food and water, abundant clean and green and sustainabl­e energy, and affordable health care for everyone would've been the bare minimum standard of living for all Americans.  But greedy OILy conservati­ve politician­s entered our lives and our government­, and we're now on a fast track to THE END. 

A weak PublicOpti­on was whittled down into a trigger and then dropped altogether­.  There are no cost controls in the healthcare legislatio­n, but plenty of protection­s for continued gouging by insurance and drug industries­.

Then Democrats caved over the budget.

When the budget process began, Republican congressma­n Paul Ryan came out with the first number that Republican­s wanted to cut ($32 billion). Then there was a Tea Party revolt in the House, and Republican­s in the House said "Fine, you win, $64 billion."  

At $64 billion and Democrats moved all the way over to where Paul Ryan was when the process began.  So even if Democrats got that number (which in Washington would be considered a "win" for Democrats)­, Democrats went all the way over to where the Republican leadership thought their opening bid would be.   Ultimately the cuts are going to be very dramatic, more so than anyone in either party thought was wise months ago -- NOBODY is representi­ng the interests of the poor and middle classes.  The 'People's Budget' is nowhere to be found.

Nothing's going to change until and unless Obama and Democratic politician­s make the decision to engage, to champion populist and not corporate interests.  Democratic voters thought Democratic politician­s had made the decision in 2006 and in 2008 when they put Democrats and then Obama into power.  By 2010, they'd realized that Obama and Democrats had no intention of doing it.  Hopefully soon Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' will realize that the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party is as committed to corporatio­ns over the People as Republican­s are.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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