BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Jacqueline Marcus
http://blog.buzzflash.com/contributors/2069

The lunatic Republicans claim that because of the Tenth Amendment, which states that any power not specifically delegated to the Federal Government belongs to the states or TO THE PEOPLE. They're making this 10th Amendment claim to prevent Federal legislation on health care reform. GOOD! Let's put it on the ballot so that the people can vote on EACH PROVISION directly without having to go through a sold-out corporate conduit called the Congress.

Let's begin with the fact that with very few exceptions, members of Congress work for the big energy industries and insurance/drug companies that pay for THEIR campaigns AND advertisements. The idea that we have a "Representative Democracy" is a joke. It's worse than broke -- it doesn't exist. Our Congressional representatives may give us the usual lip service when it’s election time, but after that -- it's back to cocktails, limousines, and lobbyists. We know that we could have had a single-payer (expansion of Medicare) system a long, long time ago. We know why it hasn't happened. President Obama is, in all honesty, doing his best to accomplish the nearly impossible task, but the corporate media, the corporate Republicans, and sold-out Democrats will continue to block legislation AND slow the process down to a snail's pace, even Obama said that it may take four more years to get action.

Representative Democracy is DEAD. With few exceptions such as the Progressive Democrats who demand a public option, members of Congress are corrupt to the bone; there's no chance of getting what we want through them.

So let's get the job done ourselves. As P.B. Shelley put it: "We are Many, They are Few." National Polls show that A VAST MAJORITY support a public option. Before you roll up your eyes, think about how the right-wing bigots managed to pull off the anti-gay marriage legislation (Prop 8) in California through petitions. For something as popular as health care reform, it will be easy to get the signatures.

Yes, it's hard work, but we have a much greater chance of getting decent health insurance reform by voting for it than through the Corporate Congress. My guess is, according to the high approval polls for a health care option and enforced regulations on the greedy insurance companies, we can get millions of votes across the country. Yes, it would take a huge organized and unified effort on the part of liberal grassroots' movements, from Obama supporters to political organizations such as MoveOn.org, you name it, and they have to join the effort across the country.

Obama has already worked out the general requirements. Let's put them on the ballot:

1) Public Option (simple way to do this is by making Medicare a universal, single-payer health care option).

To borrow Bob Herbert's summary of Obama's requirements:

2) Prevent insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

3) Prevent insurance companies from engaging in the perverse practice of canceling policies when the policyholder gets ill.

4) Put an end to arbitrary caps on annual or lifetime coverage and limit what policyholders could be charged for deductibles and out-of-pocket expenses.

Yes, the insurance companies have billions of dollars to spend on TV ads that will hammer the same lies, fears, and distortions. Nevertheless, the vast majority of the people see right through those lies. Such distorted advertisements would only appeal to the same old, white, Southern morons that believe every corporate lie in their sleazy book. They represent the minority. The corporate media will also create the illusion that those who oppose health care reform are the majority, and, predictably, they will give all the media time to the crooks.

In response: They pulled the same propaganda during Obama's campaign and we won because WE ARE THE MAJORITY. The corporate media represents the insurance companies and they will do everything in their power to encourage defeat. But now that the lies and distortions have been exposed, we can roll up our sleeves and get those petitions SIGNED. Yes, we have to make absolutely sure that our votes are protected from secret corporate manipulations of Diebold cheating. However, Obama's victory proved bigger and stronger than corporate attempts at cheating in the last election.

Do we want real change? Okay -- let's change the system from a so-called Representative Democracy to a REAL DIRECT Democracy. Screw Congress! Let's bypass the sold-out Congressional politicians and the Lunatic Republican Media Stars and do it ourselves!

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

Jacqueline Marcus' book of poems, Close to the Shore, was published by Michigan State University Press. She is a regular guest contributor to BuzzFlash.com. She taught philosophy at Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, California, and is the editor of http://www.ForPoetry.com. She is currently promoting green technologies (solar & wind) on the island of Maui. www.GoSolarMaui.com. She is currently working on a new book: Corporate Media and the Erosion of a Civil Society.