The success of divide and soften policy

My dear brother, who for some inexplicable reasons fell out of the cradle on the right side and not on the left, has seemed to disagree with every policy ever promulgated by a Democratic politician. He is a bootstraps, stand-on-your-own-two-feet kind of man; and he has walked the walk by making a living in an independent, hard-working way for most of his life. He lives simply but independently, and he has many good personal qualities. If I were to be stranded on a desert island or trapped on a sinking ship, it would be far less scary were he around, because he's incredibly resourceful. But sadly, he has sided with Bush and with the rightwingers on nearly every issue.

We don't talk politics anymore.

Recently, however, I was pleasantly shocked to hear him attacking the Republicans in congress for holding up the health care reform. He quoted statistics about France being rated #1 in its medical system and the U.S. being down around #37 or something like that. He pointed out that the health care reform wasn't even going to cost that much, that we could build one less aircraft carrier or cease these endless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq instead. He's over 55, and on his own (not corporately owned), and I think the idea that there was the possibility that Medicare would be expanded to 55 and over was really appealling. To watch the Republicans act like liars and clowns in opposing it was too much for him.

I agree with him that there are plenty of sellouts on both sides, but that about 20% of the Congress -- only Democrats -- were actually fighting for a Medicare-for-all program, and that it was important to not give up on ALL politicians, but to find out which ones are really looking out for the interests of ordinary people. You've got to find that 20% and support them.

He may never vote again, or he may never vote for a Democrat, but the Republican party lost his allegiance in its irrational, factless charade of just saying no to healthcare reform. I think of it as Obama's "divide and soften" policy. The debate dragged on long enough for it to sink in, for anyone who is suffering due to overpriced and usually useless individual health insurance policies to see that it was the Republicans who didn't want to give them another option. How many other Republican constituencies have been softened?

I wanted single-payer or Medicare for all, of course. And the jury may still be out on the long-term benefits of what was actually passed instead. But I just wanted to share how incredibly nice it is to hear my brother see political issues in a little different light. I don't expect or want him to be a carbon copy of me politically speaking, but I'd love to see him to become his true, good self politically speaking, able to see issues with his own fresh eyes and an opened mind.

anti-market. It's a HUGE unfunded mandate for all business that makes them less competitive internationally and constricts the labor market because it keeps people tied to lousy jobs and discourages them from striking them out on their own.