What do we want?...HEALTH CARE!!

When do we want it? NOW!

I just got home to see this outside my apartment on 22nd street:


A group of labor unions is joining together today for a protest/rally organized by HCAN (Health Care for America, Now) to support a strong health care bill. The rally is taking place outside of the Ritz Carlton on 22nd street, where insurance companies are gathering for a meeting on how to kill health care reform. The message from HCAN is that they're here to arrest the insurance industry! I saw shirts for AFT (American Federation of Teachers), AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and SEIU (Service Employees Industry Union).

While labor is often a strong demographic for Democrats and progressive issues such as health care reform, this particular policy debate has been problematic in terms of gaining labor support. Obama's proposed "Cadillac Tax" on the most expensive health care plans would be a hard hit on some well negotiated labor health care plans. Labor is out here showing support for passing reform, and pressing the congress to make it as strong as possible.

If you don't have classes or midterms to study for, come up to 22nd and L and work on your rally cries!

Welcome

The last seven years have led this country in the wrong direction.  This blog is dedicated to the party that has the potential to turn this country around.  It is liberal thinkers that hold the key to our future.  It is important to understand and discuss where we are in politics today.  With the '08 election on the horizon, it is a combination of grassroots support for the party, along with holding our democratic leadership accountable that will bring about true change.  The country will be faced with a difficult question in '08, and democrats have the answers.  My goal is to inform readers of what's happening in the party, and to hold the party accountable, because simply put, democrats are the future of this country.  Our liberty, our constitution, and our values depend on it.

What Democratic Senate?

President Bush, considered by most competent individuals to be one of the worst presidents we've ever had, currently boasts an approval rating of 32%.  Abysmal, but let's be honest, not as low as it should be.  It was this type of presidential approval that skyrocketed the democrats in the 2006 midterm election to take both the house and senate.  The excitement after the 06 election was huge.  Here it was, we had just taken back both chambers of the congress and we were ready to throw 6 years of digressing right back in the presidents face.  Then why does it seem to me that we've been moving in the other direction?  The current congressional approval rating is actually LOWER than the president's.  We have taken this golden opportunity and let it slip away one threat of a filibuster at a time.  In the last four days the senate has voted to:

1. Ignore Habeas Corpus

2. Reject voting rights for the District of Columbia

3. Deny move-on.org freedom of speech

4. Reject a minimum period between deployment in Iraq

(Check out the poll on the right)

Wow!!!  It's no wonder a higher percentage of republicans approve of the current congress than democrats.  We continue to fund the war without any attempt to begin withdrawing troops, but we can't get the votes necessary to uphold some of our basic constitutional rights.  We need to start holding the democrats more accountable.  This is not what we elected them for, and this is not what is going to get them elected in '08.  Of course it's tough to get anything done with republicans threatening to filibuster everything, but if they're going to play like that than the democrats have to fight back.  They have the majority, they should be making the agenda.  There are so many great things that liberal policy can do for the U.S.  We just need to fight for it.