Time For the People To Light a Fire Under Biden’s Butt
The Covid-19 crisis is a perfect opportunity for Americans to demand a more just, less financially punishing health care system
The Covid-19 crisis is a perfect opportunity for Americans to demand a more just, less financially punishing health care system
During the last major crisis that impacted America (and the world), the 2007–8 financial crisis, a Democratic politician ran an amazing campaign based on talk of hope and changing the culture in Washington. He won with a clear mandate and had both houses of Congress to work with.
Unfortunately, whether it was because his vision was limited, his will was weak or because he wasn’t the person he said he was in his campaign, Barack Obama didn’t capitalize on both the timing of that crisis and the goodwill of the American people to address the issues that the financial crisis revealed.
And over the years, the narrative that many Democratic supporters began to believe was, “Look, he tried, but he had opposition from Congress.”
But did he?
Well, I’ll let you ponder that. Your answer is likely different from mine. My answer is: Yes he had opposition, but no he didn’t really try to fix the fundamental issues that the financial crisis revealed, nor did he try to help the average American who was so damaged by it.
I can give all sorts of reasons and evidence of why I believe that but will just say this: Not one of those responsible for that financial crisis spent any time in jail, the banks were bailed out and the blame was cast upon those who had the gall to trust those very institutions that gave them such great mortgages in the first place.
They said the people were the greedy ones for trusting, for not reading the fine print, not the institutions and individuals working for them that knew their promises were lies.
And yet, we wonder why there’s been a breakdown in trust in our country? Oh certainly, the reasons for that breakdown are myriad. Still, I grow weary of how often the People are blamed for actually having the intelligence to, based upon their direct experience, determine that perhaps it might be a wise move going forward to be less trusting of things like financial institutions and the politicians who support them.
Flash forward to today: One of the reasons I couldn’t get behind a Biden/Harris ticket is because of my concern about Democratic Party ties to the medical-industrial complex. Big Health, Big Pharma, well, those institutions are some of the Dems biggest funders and while Covid-19 has wreaked havoc with the economy, they certainly aren’t hurting.
As this report from Krystal Ball of The Hill’s Rising indicates, not only have we seen obscene cases of people being given outlandish bills to cover expenses incurred by contract COVID-19, but a leading nurses union has released a study showing that the biggest offender in the price gouging by the medical-industrial complex are the nation’s hospitals, with some charging customers up to 1,800 percent more than the cost of the services they are being provided. nurses are calling out hospitals for the amount of money they are charging people. (CK)
And so here we are — another Democrat is coming into office during a major crisis. So, what can he do about it?
Turns out, an awful lot as the clip reveals. Existing laws in the Affordable Care Act already allow the Executive to give people in areas amid a public health crisis access to single-payer coverage. It’s already happened in Montana. Why can’t such a rule be applied nationally during a pandemic?
The answer is, the only reason such a law can’t at least be tried is a lack of willpower by the president.
In addition to that law, there are likely other ways the executive could act that I’m not aware of, ways that would allow him to bypass pesky, meddling Congress. We’ve watched all fall as Nancy Pelosi has offered excuse after excuse for not providing economic relief to Americans in the form of another stimulus check but each excuse is the same: The Republicans are the bad guys, not us!
Umm, no. If you’re not making a good faith effort to do your part, then you can’t blame the other party.
Yes, there may be court challenges and such but the point of this essay is that the Executive can try. And by doing so, he’ll get the backing of a whole heck of a lot of people, people who are suffering without insurance, people who are afraid to go to the hospital even after contracting COVID-19 because of fears of the costs they’d incur. Yes, there are many who would want him to succeed.
Which means even if fails, he’s started the ball rolling to succeed the next time. To pressure Congress — including Republicans — to get on board.
You see, ultimately, it comes down to will. Meaning, what does the new administration want to do? What is their will? What will they do? (Those two words are the same for a reason).
This time around, the American people can’t accept the excuse from the Democrats that the Republicans are the problem. That’s been their go-to for decades now and meanwhile, the infrastructure, life expectancy, and standard of living for most Americans has been going down.
I’m not raising this issue for me me, or my family — -we are in Japan and are settled here. We have universal health care. And I can tell you, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper and a lot simpler and, importantly, less stressful than what you’ve all got in the U.S. I was able to quit my job in March and not even worry about it.
No, I’m writing because I want to light a fire under your butt. I want you to feel the passion from the get-go that will perhaps cause you to be a force for changing the way the Biden administration proceeds.
You see, usually when I write about politics, I’m wishing for things to be better in my home country because I know too many people are suffering under current conditions. And in my life, I’ve watched as no matter which party is in power, things seem to be getting worse and both parties blame the other side for it.
No, there’s lots a president can do, but they have to want to do it. They need incentive to do it. Right now, their incentives are mostly being provided by donors and the donor class has no desire to change the System because they are profiting from that System.
The System is not going to change because Joe Biden is some sort of groundbreaking visionary — he promised his wealthy donors that “nothing would fundamentally change.” No, the System is going to change because enough of you, the People, start acting as though you expect it to change … or else.
I’m pulling for you and I’ll continue to write things like this that might light a fire under a few butts. Let’s not let Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the Democratic Party off the hook merely because we dislike the Republicans. Let’s expect them to be better and then show them that expectation through our actions, whether it’s through protests, letter writing, community organizing, media creation, etc.
As one of their more despicable members, Rahm Emmanuel, was fond of saying, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” Well, Rahm, that same philosophy can be used by the People to demand more of their leaders.
Now, let’s get to it!