DK: Bringin’ Hopeful Back

Dear Rep. Kucinich,

I am not in your district. I am not even in your state. But as the leading progressive in the House, I do consider you to be my congressman. Although my own congressperson is a strong advocate of many liberal causes in her own right, and I do support her, you, ultimately, are our progressive bellwether. Like you, I have had a difficult time supporting the historic, but deeply flawed, legislation currently pending. Yes, to have a health care reform bill at all is an amazing thing. It represents, finally, a small but profound step forward in our national ethos. The state does have a responsibility to protect the welfare of its citizens. Indeed, this is its primary responsibility because without health- without life- all other rights are meaningless. And too long have we allowed the state to abdicate this responsibility to a system whose raison d'être is the accumulation of capital, not the well-being of we, the people. But, I am preaching to the choir here, I know. I am not writing to you today to school you on something about which you know intimately well, and infinitely better than I. You made a difficult decision yesterday, one for which I am sure you are enduring considerable criticism from those of us on the left who look to you as our champion. I am writing to you today to thank you for that.

Across the full spectrum of progressives in this country there has been much argument, debate, lamentation over whether or not to support the health care reform bill as it is. If it goes through without the public option providing some check to Big Insurance rapaciousness, with provisions giving insurance industry CEOs loopholes big enough to drive a Bentley through, with restrictions to reproductive rights that will effectively negate Roe v Wade for most poor and middle-class women, have we really changed anything? On the other hand, if we do not support it, are we- to paraphrase President Obama's paraphrase of Voltaire- making the perfect the enemy of the good? Will we be killing the one real chance we may ever have to take the next step towards keeping the promise made at the beginning of this great Rube Goldberg Experiment of a society- the promise that life will be protected as the first, and most inviolate, of our unalienable rights? The hyperbole-obsessed media is correct for once. This is a big, frickin deal.

The real fear, of course, is that passing this particular bill could derail the momentum of reform. What we as progressives most worry about is that instead of "passing something now and fixing it later", as the leadership keep promising, what we will hear is a collective 'Whew' as they all settle in, thinking "Ok, that's done. What's next?" We are not, contrary to what the more moderate Dems would have one believe, holding out for that illusive, indeed unattainable, perfect piece of legislation. Even with the public option, the bill would have been far from perfect. But it would have been something most of us could have lived with much more comfortably. So most of us on the far left cheered you on as you stubbornly held out, fighting for that critically important protection against the institutionalization of health care industry greed. And I, personally, thought I would feel betrayed if you gave in and voted "yes" without having won that fight.

I watched your statement yesterday, earnestly hoping to see a recalcitrant hero, shouting no! to the devils of American politics and vowing to fight on; yet secretly hoping to hear the concession that would help ensure  this historic moment wouldn't die a premature death. Although you may not be the charismatic rhetoricist our President is (is it wrong to include such a backhanded compliment in what is supposed to be a letter of support?) your passion and commitment to this issue came through loud and clear. So when I heard that dreaded 3-letter word, I was happily surprised to find the neoprogs were wrong- no yawning chasm had opened in the earth, no great tidal wave had come and washed California into the sea, the world had not- in fact- come to a grinding halt. Maybe, just maybe, the fight will go on because you will still be leading the charge. So instead of worrying that passage of HR3200 will mean the death of the health care reform movement, I can look upon it as the potential watershed moment in our national consciousness it could be, comfortable knowing you will not let it end here. Two years ago, President Obama gave us hope. Yesterday, Mr. Kucinich, you gave us something to hope for.