A quote from Ezra Klein's column today that has me goggle-eyed with despair:

[Demoiselle]

I read his whole blog in the Washington Post thanks to Grytpype's post earlier asking us to "Read this Q & A from Ezra Klein" re the health care reform bill in the Senate.
I'm grateful to Grytpype, for posting it, although Mr. Klein, intelligent and knowledgeable as he sounds, does not convince me. What caught my eye in reading it (and made me very sad) was the following exchange:
----
"Brooklyn: Looking back, how much of the backlash right now is attributable to having framed private insurance as the biggest bogeyman? Was there an option? Should Pharma have been brought out in front as well?

Ezra Klein: It's hard to say, but inside the process, people worked hard to keep Pharma on board because they have so much more money than any other interest group. The thinking was that insurers don't really have enough to launch a lethal attack. Pharma does, and did. So I'm skeptical that picking a direct fight with them would have been appealing."
-----

This is presented as realpolitik. Mr. Klein appears to say that we just better go along with (insert the name of your favorite massively rich and powerful interest group here)
because there's no way we can ever beat them.

Are we really that lost? The comment infuriates me. Am I simply being "childish, ranting, giggling" or any of the other adjectives used on this forum today to describe disgruntled Democrats?

What do you think?

[tabatha]

1. Money has supplanted rights.

[lapfog_1]

2. It's an admission, at least in the author's eyes, that we now live

in a fascist state. And, sadly, his acceptance of same.

[suffragette]

3. It infuriates me, too.

I distrust arguments that are trying to persuade me from the stance that we are already disempowered so we might as well submit.
The whole too big to fail or too big to fight meme is wearing old.
Government has no problem dismantling corporations if they feel they are too big and dominate too much. Remember Ma Bell?

Contrast this with Tommy Douglas fighting for health care in Canada. He faced some of the same opposition. For example, the AMA fought him tooth and nail. And, from what I've read, it wasn't easy, but he never gave in and his winning that battle for the people of Canada cemented his legacy.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. That he is saying Congress is beholden to Corporations at the ratio

of how much money they have.

Not much left over for us plebes...

[BanzaiBonnie]

5. I could find a big stick if I need to

Perhaps it's time to beat them back.


meme - "Beat them back"

If someone was really clever that might be a good one for a campaign to kill the for profit health insurance companies.

Kill the insurance companies, not the bill