Sorry, but I don't buy the "But we couldn't have gotten single-payer" defense

[ljm2002]

84. Historically that's a piss-poor way to legislate...

...we might, for example, look back at the Civil Rights Act, where it was also indisputably true that "Conservative Dems wouldn't have voted for" it. Yet somehow LBJ managed to get Congress to pass it. Yes, I know: different time, different forces at play. But that is always the case. It does not change the bedrock principle that in politics, one must fight to promote the issues one supports.

Anyway, whether single payer could have passed or not, is one question; but whether it could have been included in the conversation is another question entirely. Apparently, it was considered too dangerous to even consider. That is my objection -- I am under no illusions that it would have passed at the time. But we don't win by conceding at the beginning, we win when we fight, and when we chip away at the opposition at every opportunity. Instead, we conceded boatloads of policy issues from the outset, and got a contraption of a law, much to the delight of Republicans, who, after insisting on all these detailed provisions benefiting the insurance companies, turned around and gleefully proclaimed "Why, that bill is 2000+ pages long! It's bloated and complicated! It's Big Government at its worst!" and really, what could we say to that? The bill IS long and complicated and doesn't do nearly enough.