. . . We’ve brought the economy back from the brink of the worst economic condition since the Great Depression.  Heck, we’ve even already been paid back some of the bailout money so many people, including myself, are generally upset over.

. . . We’ve articulated a plan to withdraw from Iraq.

. . . Our standing in the world has dramatically improved.

. . . We have plans for Afghanistan that help focus [ more . . . ]]]> Let’s not overlook what’s been accomplished over the past year.  Yeah, it’s not sexy.  Yeah, it’s not the kind of thing you want to work on.  But it’s progress nonetheless.

. . . We’ve brought the economy back from the brink of the worst economic condition since the Great Depression.  Heck, we’ve even already been paid back some of the bailout money so many people, including myself, are generally upset over.

. . . We’ve articulated a plan to withdraw from Iraq.

. . . Our standing in the world has dramatically improved.

. . . We have plans for Afghanistan that help focus the tip of the spear on eliminating the real threat of future terrorism (hopefully).

. . . We’ve responded to a near pandemic with regard to Swine Flu (granted, it has not been as bad as it could have been, but we marshalled our resources to be as prepared as possible).

. . . We’ve kept teachers and police officers and firemen and others in their jobs when states were about to effect (sizeable) cuts last year.

. . . We’re helping the people of Haiti.

. . . We’ve done a lot of work toward actual Healthcare Reform.

Don’t be surprised if part of President Obama’s State of the Union speech is framed as having ‘taken care of some (very) serious business’ and that we’ve now ’set the stage’ for a great year of getting the People’s business done.

Why do Democrats think the People want to put them in charge if — on the big issues — all Democrats do is compromise and seek bipartisan support when they’re in near total control?  After all, Democrats can just as easily play that role as the MINORITY as opposed to the MAJORITY party.  Lead, Fight, and Get the Things Done that Need Getting Done!

Simple — If it’s right, and you can make it happen, DO IT!  Once done and done well, the People will love the [ more . . . ]]]> This is my one, fundamental complaint with Democrats and the Democratic Party . . .

Why do Democrats think the People want to put them in charge if — on the big issues — all Democrats do is compromise and seek bipartisan support when they’re in near total control?  After all, Democrats can just as easily play that role as the MINORITY as opposed to the MAJORITY party.  Lead, Fight, and Get the Things Done that Need Getting Done!

Simple — If it’s right, and you can make it happen, DO IT!  Once done and done well, the People will love the result (and you).

I’m convinced Republican leaders are as close to mortally afraid as they can get over Healthcare Reform, not for the sake of budgets, the deficit, or anything of the sort, but rather because of how enormously popular they know Democrats would become for delivering actual Healthcare Reform that actually DID something for each and every American.  That possibility scares the bejesus out of them, and that’s why they’re fighting tooth-and-nail.

So, Fight, Democrats, Fight!

Not fighting for fighting’s sake.  Fight for the person who wants and needs Healthcare Reform after having been denied care over a pre-existing condition they didn’t even know they had when they enrolled.  Fight for the People, who need more of their money spent on actual care than health insurance company profits.  Fight for competition and measures that help reduce or hold-down costs over the long haul.  Fight and the People will appreciate the hard-fought battle on their behalf.

Fight!

But let’s be honest and fair — I’ll start.

Scott, it may be a disappointment, but I’m not voting for a truck. Just like I always thought it was a bad idea for people to vote for a guy you could have a beer with (George Bush), I’m voting AGAINST you on the issues.

First and foremost, you, Scott, gave a television interview where you prided yourself on hopefully being the 41st Senator to [ more . . . ]]]> I’d like to suggest that everyone in Massachusetts band together for the sake of informing the General Public exactly who the hell this guy Scott Brown really is.

But let’s be honest and fair — I’ll start.

Scott, it may be a disappointment, but I’m not voting for a truck. Just like I always thought it was a bad idea for people to vote for a guy you could have a beer with (George Bush), I’m voting AGAINST you on the issues.

First and foremost, you, Scott, gave a television interview where you prided yourself on hopefully being the 41st Senator to vote against — and, by virtue, block — Healthcare Reform.

Mr. Brown, there’s a lot of people out there with what we call ‘pre-existing conditions’. The bills before the House and Senate would finally make it illegal for health insurance companies to discriminate — and deny — coverage based on those finicky pre-existing conditions.

The stance of Republicans — and you — is to deny the People that basic right they should have already long had. That’s a dick position — What the hell do you have against sick people, Scott?

After all, Scott, you did say you would vote against the Healthcare Reform bill if you were to be given the chance. So what’s your beef with sick people, Scott?

Oh, and I’m voting for Martha Coakley on Tuesday, January 19 because she does not have a beef with sick people and actually wants to help those in need.

The immediate reaction was, “Huh”, followed by, “Gee, that’s a really interesting opportunity.”  It took only about a day to figure out it was a great way to do, i.e. achieve, something really pretty simple and straightforward.

You see, my health insurance just went up this past month, [ more . . . ]]]> So, an interesting opportunity sprang out of nowhere as I was returning home on Sunday following a really pretty wonderful, long Thanksgiving Weekend with Family . . . A friend out of the blue called me, asking whether I’d be interested in driving his new wife’s father’s car down to Florida for the winter.

The immediate reaction was, “Huh”, followed by, “Gee, that’s a really interesting opportunity.”  It took only about a day to figure out it was a great way to do, i.e. achieve, something really pretty simple and straightforward.

You see, my health insurance just went up this past month, and it went up by 25+%, meaning one month I’m paying roughly $471 and the next (this month, actually) I’m paying $590 . . . per month from here on out.

Now, at the micro level, meaning me (LittleDEM), that’s a lot more money to have to pay one month to the next.  In fact, it’s not really in my budget, which — Thanks to the George Bush Economy — is pretty darn tight these days.

And while I’m having this struggle in my own little world, it would seem to mirror the ongoing and often heated debate we’re having at the macro level as a Nation over Healthcare Reform.

What all this is getting at is that I’m looking for ways to make a living . . . and to pay for health insurance . . . on pretty much equal footing.

My rent is $650 per month and there’s food and incidentals, but quite frankly when you look at my monthly expenses, it’s pretty much ‘Living’ and ‘Health Insurance’ . . . with even less set aside for ‘Food  / Other’.

It’s squirrely to me — I’m paying nearly as much for health insurance as I do to put a roof over my head?!?

And I’m paying more (a lot more, in fact) for health insurance than I do to actually feed myself for a month!?!

So what am I doing about it?  Well, I’m driving my friend’s wife’s father’s car down to Florida because — for saving my friend’s wife’s father the effort of driving down himself — they’re willing to put money into my pocket.

And that money’s going straight to my insurance company.

[Don't interpret any of the above as a gripe or complaint -- It's not meant to be.  The simple fact is this system of how we both care for and insure ourselves when it comes to Healthcare is broken, utterly and thoroughly.  I'm a resourceful and capable consultant and entrepreneur that, thanks to the economic situation, is way underutilized and not making nearly enough money at the moment.  I have to do what I can to cover my costs -- at a minimum -- and factoring into that equation is a very real question of how to pay for something as costly and generally necessary as health insurance.]

If you go to the Senate website and take a look at the Senate’s Legislative Process guide (.pdf link), you’ll see pretty clearly exactly what happened last night . . . and why what happened last night is so extraordinary.

For starters, what happened last night was not a vote [ more . . . ]]]> There’s been a lot of debate on the topic (no pun intended, well, actually I think it’s a fantastic pun so, I’m going to use it!), but what exactly happened last night on the floor of the Senate vis-a-vis last night’s vote on Healthcare Reform is something worth investigating and explaining.

If you go to the Senate website and take a look at the Senate’s Legislative Process guide (.pdf link), you’ll see pretty clearly exactly what happened last night . . . and why what happened last night is so extraordinary.

For starters, what happened last night was not a vote to end debate per se — Rather, it was merely a vote to “lay the bill before the Senate”.  The bill had already been placed on the Legislative Calendar (that’s how we knew there was something going on last night), and the Majority Leader, in this case Senator Harry Reid, essentially made a “unanimous consent request to lay the bill before the Senate”.  The thing is — and this is where the exact details may or may not matter much — he either knew he wouldn’t get it (unanimous consent) or didn’t get it (again, unanimous consent).  That’s what led to debate . . and a vote . . on whether to officially “lay the bill before the Senate”.

What makes what happened last night extraordinary — and incredibly embarrassing to Republican Senators and the Republican Party as a whole in the long-term in my opinion — is that this step in the process, if you’ll excuse casual use of the term ’step’, is more a formality than an important step in the legislative process.

When you see things that typically occur by ‘unanimous consent’ you’re not looking at where the sausage is made.  And it’s certainly not where legislation is typically blocked – The actual acts of blocking legislation are a) never allowing something to come up for debate in the first place, b) preventing a final vote through Filibuster, which can be overcome in the Senate by a 3/5 vote for Cloture, or c) simply defeating a bill by an up-or-down vote.

That’s what happened.  And it explains in a roundabout way why they, meaning Democrat and Republican Senators, were debating all day yesterday — They were essentially debating on whether to debate . . . and that pre-debate process, which normally either never occurs or is bypassed by unanimous consent, was what they were doing.

And it’s also why I think — long-term — this will be so embarrassing to Republican Senators and the Republican Party as a whole.  What they were doing is saying they didn’t even want to talk about, i.e. debate, Healthcare Reform . . . and it’s that reality that I think will stick with voters should Healthcare Reform be passed (and ultimately judged worthwhile by the People).

As an aside, I’ve heard that if you go back and look into this exact part of the process the last time Healthcare Reform was attempted (under President Clinton) that this step actually did pass with unanimous consent — It was not until actual debate that reform fell apart.

I say ‘weirdly enough’ because it’s actually a really simple procedural vote that has since become perhaps THE most contentious vote of the year.  Simply put, NO Republican wants to even talk about Healthcare Reform.  And that’s embarrassing to us as a Nation and to the Republican Party, in particular.

Again, NO Republican actually wanted to formally talk [ more . . . ]]]> It’s past 8PM on Saturday evening on November 21, 2009, and the United States Senate just voted — weirdly enough — on one of the most critical votes of the year, if not perhaps a generation, that of proceeding with debate on Healthcare Reform.

I say ‘weirdly enough’ because it’s actually a really simple procedural vote that has since become perhaps THE most contentious vote of the year.  Simply put, NO Republican wants to even talk about Healthcare Reform.  And that’s embarrassing to us as a Nation and to the Republican Party, in particular.

Again, NO Republican actually wanted to formally talk about actually doing anything about the problem represented by Healthcare Reform on the floor of the Senate.

But it doesn’t end there.  There are a few Democrats (plus Senator Joe Lieberman) that — if it weren’t for steadfast Republican roadblocking — are consistently skating the thin ice of providing just enough drag that any and all Healthcare Reform could fail.

Well, if LittleDEM has any ability to say something about it, we’re launching a #PledgeNow campaign that — for starters — pledges $10 or more against any United States Senator seeking reelection that voted against debate on Healthcare Reform.  If it’s of any help, every Republican in the United States Senate voted against debating Healthcare Reform.

To recap, the #PledgeNow campaign is simple — Anyone reTweeting #PledgeNow commits $10 to the opposing campaign of whichever candidate they specify in their reTweet (or all of the Republican Senators seeking reelection if their pockets are deep enough).  It’s both a promise and an immediate signal of a future commitment to getting people elected that are determined to make Healthcare Reform a reality.

These people, albeit actors, personify real people — Watch.

First of all, look at the Republican Party’s infrastructure and what they currently have in place, starting with the Republican National Committee.

There isn’t anything there, at least very little of any actual value. The RNC is a piece of junk and, led by Party Chairman Michael Steele, as apt to say something palatable as it is to say something that gives most Americans the heebie-jeebies. Heck, in a [ more . . . ]]]> Yes, I know — It’s been said before. But I don’t think it’s ever been truer than it is right now, and now is the perfect timing to do it.

First of all, look at the Republican Party’s infrastructure and what they currently have in place, starting with the Republican National Committee.

There isn’t anything there, at least very little of any actual value. The RNC is a piece of junk and, led by Party Chairman Michael Steele, as apt to say something palatable as it is to say something that gives most Americans the heebie-jeebies. Heck, in a Republican stronghold like New York’s 23rd district, the Republican Party couldn’t win, even after fielding and endorsing two candidates. And at a national level, it’s so inept it couldn’t even keep a black man from becoming President of the United States. (It truly bothers me to say that second point, but let’s at least admit that — for at least some portion of the Republican Party — that was their only mission with respect to the 2008 election.)

Moving on . . . In an age where most people — even if they don’t quite believe in Climate Change — at least believe that we should control ourselves, in an age like the one we’re in, Republican’s best chant at the Republican National Convention was “Drill Baby Drill!” morning, noon, and night. Is there some grand scheme I’m not getting?!?

How about the Republican Party’s legacy? There’s not much point in hitching your trailer to a legacy of things like Ronald Reagan if you can’t do anything with it. (Wasn’t Abraham Lincoln the first Republican president!?! Lot a’good it’s doing for the Party right now, huh.) And hasn’t the far Right so twisted whatever was any good in most of that legacy that it doesn’t mean much anymore?

Oh, the Republican stronghold on National Security? That’s even worse. How about starting two wars, one of which a Republican President walked away from (Afghanistan) in favor of starting a second one we never needed to fight in the first place (Iraq)? That’s a blunder of, dare I say, biblical proportions that raises yet another issue of the Bush Administration having actually started one of these wars under veiled religious pretense. (Remember the original Iraq war name, Operation Infinite Justice?)

And domestic issues? Republicans best stance on the leading topic of the day, Healthcare Reform, is to do nothing and obstruct progress, all on an issue that’s only gotten much, much worse over the past two Republican administrations (and largely Republican-held Congress). Huh, I’m supposed to do what?!? Beg my neighbors and bake brownies to raise the $600 / month my health insurance is going to cost me starting December 1st!?! I don’t think so — I think solving problems like this one is exactly why we have government to begin with (and most Americans get that).

But let’s look on the bright side of moderate Republicans breaking away and forming their own Party. Perhaps most important? The amount of credibility, attention, and plain-old Oomph! moderate Republicans would most certainly get would be amazing, if just to see it. We’d all here stereo concussions of both Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh’s heads exploding. Think about it . . . A new party borne out of fiscal conservatism, laissez-faire economics, small government, and responsible spending. Heck, throw in strong military.

Moderate Republican would throw Tea Baggers into a tizzy — Tea Baggers would probably be confused whether ‘laissez-faire’ is something of a hidden agenda of Gay Marriage that they should be opposed to. I mean, c’mon, how hard would it be to confuse and circumvent people who stand there yelling at their Representative or Senator saying, “Keep your hands off my Medicare!”, not quite seeming to get that Medicare is a government program to begin with.

And, get this, moderate Republican would finally be able to stand for some actual values and civility. You know what would catch my attention? How about actually calling out the Birthers, acknowledging Barack Obama’s election, and making it a point to call him President Obama. If for nothing else, do it just for class.

I’m not sure it would work nationally, but it certainly would work in certain regions, and much more importantly, it would reclaim a true set of principles that have been so watered down, abused, and tortured as to put the current Republican Party on the same track as the dodo bird.

As encouragement . . . There actually used to be Republicans that I liked and respected, even agreed with. They’re virtually all gone now, and that’s not because I’ve changed — It’s because they’ve simply ‘left the building’. The door’s open, moderate Republicans — Walk back in.

But what’s the best reason? The United States faces serious challenges at the moment . . . and we need every reasonable-minded person we can marshal to help solve them. While we’re better off without a Crazy Republican Party, we would be much better off with a Moderate one.

Look, this isn’t some Kill Bill: Vol. 2 sequel — This is real.  It’s unacceptable to hold Grandma hostage to such tactics, virtual or otherwise.  It’s an wholly unintelligent tactic to gain notice and make people afraid, made all the moreso pathetic by the simple fact those behind DontKillGrandma.com know [ more . . . ]]]> The Right’s next best effort at fear mongering, this time on a domestic issue, is DontKillGrandma.com.  It looks like they’ve started only in the past week or two (late October or very early November).  What’s stunning is the website’s basic premise, that someone — anyone — wants to Kill Grandma.

Look, this isn’t some Kill Bill: Vol. 2 sequel — This is real.  It’s unacceptable to hold Grandma hostage to such tactics, virtual or otherwise.  It’s an wholly unintelligent tactic to gain notice and make people afraid, made all the moreso pathetic by the simple fact those behind DontKillGrandma.com know full well that every red, white, and blue-blooded American would stand shoulder-to-shoulder in defense of any Grandma.

And yet they somehow confuse wanting to make healthcare better with the thought of actually killing someone.

Here’s a few precious things DontKillGrandma.com followers advocate right there on the website . . .

“Can we hold sit-ins across the country in the middle of America’s busiest highways. That might get their attention.” – rachel says on November 2, 2009 at 1:23PM

“Stop the communist take over of America and our grandmas, kill the bill!” – Mark Gunson says on November 4, 2009 at 11:06AM

Real rocket scientists, huh!

For the record, DontKillGrandma.com is sponsored by the South Florida Tea Party, FreedomWorks, and Tea Party Patriots, all highly partisan, questionably funded organizations claiming to be ‘grassroots’ but showing clear signs of being no such things.

Health insurance companies don’t possess money by virtue of their very existence.  They get it from You, the people who buy their health insurance products.

So when you hear that, by many estimates, the health insurance companies spent EACH DAY, at least during the latter portion of the summer when Congress was in recess (and all those wacky Town Hall protests were going on), approximately $1,000,000 EACH DAY lobbying against healthcare reform, how does that make you feel?  Is that how you want your money spent?

Wouldn’t you rather that money go to pay for your care (if you [ more . . . ]]]> You, of course.  Isn’t it obvious?

Health insurance companies don’t possess money by virtue of their very existence.  They get it from You, the people who buy their health insurance products.

So when you hear that, by many estimates, the health insurance companies spent EACH DAY, at least during the latter portion of the summer when Congress was in recess (and all those wacky Town Hall protests were going on), approximately $1,000,000 EACH DAY lobbying against healthcare reform, how does that make you feel?  Is that how you want your money spent?

Wouldn’t you rather that money go to pay for your care (if you needed it)?  Or to pay for someone else’s care (if you didn’t and they did)?  Isn’t that why you pay for health insurance to begin with?!?

What troubles me is that health insurance companies are lobbying to protect their profit, not increased efficiency and / or efficacy of the products we buy.  It’s not about putting more money (or value) into our pockets — It’s about putting more money into theirs.  And their using your and my money to do it.  That’s not how I want them to spend my health insurance dollars.  Is it how you want them to spend yours?