Reply #5: Remember this vote March of 2005

[TayTay]

on horrendous vote on the Bankruptcy Bill, that made it more difficult to discharge even debt caused by medical bills?

These are the Democrats who voted FOR that abomination of a bill:

Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE) No longer in the Senate
Bingaman (D-NM)
Byrd (D-WV)
Carper (D-DE)
Conrad (D-ND)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reid (D-NV) Senate Majority Leader
Salazar (D-CO) No longer in the Senate
Specter (R-PA) WAS a Republican, has never recanted this vote
Stabenow (D-MI)


They did not get worse in 2009. They did not get better. They are the same people who thought that bankruptcy bill brought accountability, responsibility and toughness to our bankruptcy laws. They believed that stuff. They are still there.

This much has not changed. These now 17 Democrats are still there. They are moderate to conservative Dems. We have NO CHOICE but to deal with them. They can form coalitions with the Republicans and pass or block legislation.

Who didn't know this about them going into 2009?

Progress is painfully slow. The other side only has to play to block. We have to play to win. That is the difference.

Change does happen. It almost never happens in big strides, it happens in little ones that take place across wide swaths of time. But change does happen.

If we give up, the bad guys win. There is no one else to speak up for our causes. We are it. Imperfect, tired, incomplete and frustrated as we are, we are it.

I am a huge fan of taking breaks from politics. This stuff breeds burnout because it is hard, frustrating and meaningful. But come back. We need your perspective. Even if it is not applicable in your area or state, it is a balm for the soul for others in other parts of the country.

Two years ago, if you told me the absolute worst we could get out of health care reform was a disallowal of pre-existing conditions and the prevention of imposition of higher premiums on the sick, I would have been astonished. How did we move the discussion so far left in the face of so much money in opposition? That is not nothing. That is a huge, massive, big deal for one hell of a lot of people. It is progress. It is not single-payer and maybe not a public option, yet. But we moved the ball down the field and have a chance to do a huge "good thing." That also needs to be noted.

I have said this before and I will say it again: Progressive lose 99 times out of 100. We have to slog up the hill countless times just to get a hearing on something resembling change. It takes long, careful hours of endless discussion from patient people who get that change, real change, takes time.

It's difficult to watch the "sausage" of legislation being made. I know that, I feel it too. But this is how our system works. We try again, it's what we do. Otherwise, they win.