Andrew Sullivan has decided that Obama and his supporters should take recent events not as a signal to give up, nor even to make concessions, but as an occasion to fight all out against the politics of lies and nihilism. If a recent convert (if such he be) from libertarianism says this, can long-time Democrats say any less?
Yes, this will be another hook for the RBC to say that the House should pass the damn bill. All of us who still believe that getting sick shouldn’t mean going broke should call our representatives to tell them, as bluntly as possible, to pass it. The claim that the Senate bill “can’t pass” the House, even with the prospect of huge modifications through reconciliation, is a giant act of evasion from people pretending that votes are inanimate objects rather than choices. If all the congresspeople saying this decided simply to say “aye” instead, it could pass. But they will only say aye if we say “or else.”
The grading rules of politics do not include partial credit for good intentions, nor the excuse that the Senate ate your public option. Weber was right: politics means taking responsibility for your choices, and for the foreseeable consequences of acting or failing to act. The consequences in this case involve tens of thousands of lives. Tell the people who claim to represent you that you will not stand for politics in the passive voice.
Instructions on calling your representative, copied from a post at Balloon Juice:
Keep up the pressure! The more the debate continues, the more seats the Republicans pick up in the fall!