I ask you this: Have we forgotten how to see the good in things?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

I realize that the HCR is not perfect, is actually far from being perfect. That it is indeed flawed.

But there is much to be happy about, much to see that is good.

Are we now so unable to see that good?

Are we blinded by what we see as evil?

Let us take what we can that we like, and go forward to fight to fix what is not.

How about it?

Let us choose, just for today, to be happy...

I ask you...

[timeforpeace]

1. Maybe we HAVEN'T forgotten how often "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" has backfired.

[kestrel91316]

12. Wow. Do you ALWAYS post RW talking points here?

[Sebastian Doyle]

26. Yeah...

he pretty much has for the last 5636 posts or so. :rofl:

[DevonRex]

38. The one where he said Obama might be an anti-semite was

when I started paying attention to all the RW talking points he spouts.

[Ocracoker16]

2. Recommended and Kicked

[WilliamPitt]

3. Fighting is more fun

:hug:

[NightWatcher]

9. :flings poo:

[NJmaverick]

4. The short answer- Yes

[joeybee12]

5. Sorry, I don't see the good these days in nearly anything our

politicians do...I would have liked for Obama to have started out honestly saying he was going to trash the public option any chance he got, instead of baiting and switching...instead of lying to the opposition, which in his case, is the base of the democratic Party. I would have liked to have known that he was dealing with us honestly, so that other options could be put forward instead the constant lying lying and lying and us ending up with a crappy bill that will do more harm than good. It's better that this bill never pass.

[Prism]

6. I think it is precisely the opposite

I think we desperately want to see the good in things, which is why we repeatedly accept so much less than what we need and deserve.

We keep hoping, we keep thinking "This time, things will be different." We're still a very optimistic people. After eight years of the Bush administration, when we had every right to feel beaten down and beaten up, tens of millions of Americans said "This isn't us. We can do better. Yes we can."

You want to be happy just for today. I cannot be, because our hope and optimism have once again been taken advantage of. The politicians are counting on that feeling, that hope, that desperation for something - anything - better. They have done the very least they could do, and now we're getting the hard sell that this is a great leap forward.

But it isn't. Millions will still declare bankruptcy, millions will still lose their homes, millions will still be out of work, and many - far, far too many - will not get the health care they need and lose their lives.

I don't want to be happy "just for today." I want to be happy for tomorrow. Because today we have gotten very little, but tomorrow we might yet do better.

[ShortnFiery]

7. I don't know, have the multi-national corporations through The Ministry of Truth given us

permission to "feel good" about any damn thing?

[countingbluecars]

8. K&R! n/t

[daleanime]

10. Like everything, it's relative....

free haircut-good, losing ear during said haircut-bad.

[kestrel91316]

11. 97% of Democrats DO know how to see the good in this bill.

The 3% who post here are troublemakers, IMHO.

[daleanime]

13. 97% seems about right....

of course seeing the good items doesn't stop many of us from seeing the bad also, why would that make us 'troublemakers'?

[kestrel91316]

17. It's the endless inflammatory and even hateful POSTS that make some of you

troublemakers.

If you want me to consider you a paid troll, go ahead and participate.

Frankly, it would make more sense to let the bill pass, and then use ALL THIS ENERGY to improve it, rather than waste it on maintaining the status quo.

[daleanime]

25. I would agree if I felt it was possible....

but this bill, if they include the mandate, will be hard to run on. And the flood gates open this fall for corp spending. This was the time to do it right and it's leaving us behind. I can understand the frustration that many are feeling.




Why would I call you a troll, paid or otherwise?

[Hello_Kitty]

20. Dirty fucking hippies! eom

[kenny blankenship]

14. Let us choose, just for today, to be happy... the point of view of a skag addict.

Let me be happy today! I want this!

[NYC_SKP]

15. I try always to remember that DU, taken as a whole, is representative of nothing...

nothing in particular unless taken with a huge chunk of salt.

All sorts of people with differing points of view post here.

I'm friends with many, if only in a discussion board way.

Some come here just to disrupt, and on a busy day for this group it can seem that the whole world is collapsing.

We have to remember that some here advocate revolution and a full-on end to free enterprise, nationalizing all economic enterprise, and more.

No small number of people are quite nasty, but I think most are kind.

DU is just a big mixed up place with lots of characters.

I pay a lot of attention to those whom I respect, like you, CaliforniaPeggy, and sort of ignore the rest.

Just like real life.

:hug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. Thank you...

:hug:

[DesertFlower]

16. i try to be happy every day.

[Mari333]

18. I like my dogs.

[Bluerthanblue]

21. it's easier

to be negative. imo
Too often, complaining and negativity are ruts that suck people in and help no one.

:hi: Thanks for this post.

K&R'd with pleasure~

:grouphug:

[deaniac21]

22. I like sipping a glass of whiskey then skipping through the

neighborhood handing out fresh cut flowers.

[Better Today]

23. No, but we are no longer naive enough to willfully dismiss the bad.

[Sebastian Doyle]

24. I simply do not believe that there is any intention to "fix" it, once the corporate mandates are in.

One needs to only look at the history of the DLC to know why. Their history is one of corporate-enabling, deregulation, and privatization when and where ever possible, and damn the consequences for the American people. And despite the proven failure of that worldview which has now thrown this country into an economic sewer, they continue to pursue this corporatist path. Aside from the health care scam, we're seeing it right now in education as well. Privatize it, let the Orwellianly named "free market" decide. It's not working, and this won't work either. But they no longer care.

[derby378]

32. They may not care - but you and I do

Most of DU already knows how I feel about this bill, so I won't go into it here. But this is exactly why I've been encouraging DUers to get more involved in the political process en masse instead just as a few scattered individuals. If you don't like where the Democratic Party is headed, then maybe enough of us working together can change it. But it has to be done from the ground up.

[zipplewrath]

27. Um, how about in total?

One turd in the punch bowl kinda kills the whole thing. This has so many turds I can't keep track. But I'm supposed to be happy because they used all natural juice to make the turd filled punch?

[Lilith Velkor]

28. I never learned how to see the good in BAD things, sorry.

Maybe if people who accurately perceive reality were not constantly smeared as "unhappy" or "negative," we wouldn't be in this here plummeting handbasket.

[tom_paine]

29. Once one's eyes are open, it's difficult to close them again, Peggy.

In 2000 we asked, "Why didn't Gore fight? Why did he send people home who showed up and not call anyone out before (while the Bushies sent in their bought and paid for Brooks Brothers mob to subvert the recount - and punch up a Democrat or two)?"

In 2006, with Democratic majorities, we kept giving Bush most everything he wanted when he wanted.

In all that time in between, we watched a fearful and cowardly Democratic Leadership kiss Bushpublican ass time and time again. In all that time we witnessed the Democrats getting tough...with Liberals - over and over and over again.

In 2008, like so many others, I allowed myself to be seduced by Hope and Change, when even as I was going under I knew it was a lie.

In 2009 and now 2010, I have watched time and time again as Obama has puled and grovelled before the Bushpublicans. Who does he get tough on? You guessed it, the Liberals.

Which is like the 1933 German Social Democrats getting tough on the Jews while sucking up to the Nazis- how brave! Hey, a guy could get hurt talking back to the Nazis - so best "kiss up" to the Nazis and "kick down" on those with no power to strike back.

How much are we supposed to take? How many times must we screw on our happy face and swallow not just a shit sandwich, but a shit sandwich thrust contemptuously and laughingly in our faces?

10 years - but it's really been much longer than that. I'm glad I wasn't paying much attention before that.

From Day ONE, single-payer advocates were shut out. Hell, they were even arrested as "our Democrats" laughed with the contempt of the Aristocracy for the Powerless Peasant.

Now, we get a handful of crumbs from Master's Table, in exchange for which the Aristocracy gets a MASSIVE expansion of power and a massive influx of cash. And I bet you we won't even get the promised crumbs, when the Gordon Geckos and their lawyers get through with it.

Why would they bother? It's not like the American Subject Populace is going to do anything about it.

Except fall for more and more BushoCorporate History-Erasing Psyops that force us ever more rightward into either a Far-Right Corporate Neofeudalism or an Uber-Right Nazi-like State. And if you think that is hyperbolic exaggeration, Peggy, then I don't think you've been paying much attention to our clinically insane infantilized National Dialog lately.

I wish I could screw on my happy face one more time for you, Peggy. I really do.

[mulsh]

30. look, if something doesn't go exactly like I want it to I have to

trash it mercilessly. I thing\k that's part of the constitution. If people disagree with me I have to call them trolls or paid corporate lackeys. You see, my opinions are the only truly valid opinions that exist.

sarcasm over.

I believe, from what little of the bills I've read,there is much that is beneficial to us all. I believe there is a lot that will need to be adjusted, jettisoned or strengthened. I think it is important to pass what we can and then continue improve on what we have.

At some point one must be willing to compromise and get what they can out of any piece of legislation. I want single payer health care for all, I want public options if that euphemism applies. I knew at the start of this round that neither of those ideas would succeed. I don't think mandating the purchase of health insurance will be an enforceable option. There are lots of things I have an opinion on. I think it is foolish to abandon all the gains we'll achieve being rigid over ideas that were never going to be an option. this gives people like me something to continue to lobby and fight for.

thanks for the post Peggy.

[earth mom]

31. Sorry but pretending everything is sunshine & lollipops is what's wrong with DU and America too.

The b.s. of "hope & change" mislead everyone and now we will ALL pay the price.

The cold hard fist of reality is coming to knock ALL of us on our asses because the mandates the health care industry is just about to win is going to squeeze everyone BUT the rich.

edited to add:

I see the good in things like watching the Hummingbird cam that was posted here a few days ago, but I refuse to pretend that we all haven't been screwed over and I'm sure others here agree with me. Your thread has ZERO recs.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

33. I hear you, and I understand.

But I'm not pretending everything is sunshine and roses. I'm just asking can't we see what is good here?

We must build on what we have. And let the rest go.

I don't care about the recs.

[PA Democrat]

34. I choose to wait and see what actually transpires.

I don't think I can stand to build up my hopes only to have them smashed... again. I have sincere doubts based upon my own research that this bill will provide much of the touted benefits. Too much is dependent upon the insurance companies being honest brokers. I know from personal experience that they are not.

I pray I am wrong.

[JNelson6563]

35. Sadly, many have.

There is good out there, all around. I remember, years ago, slogging through a day, hauling laundry and feeling like crap. I happened to glance out the window and t here were two little girls holding hands and skipping down the street on a sunny day. I sat down a second and watched them go by and smiled. Nothing like a couple of little kids to give you a little perspective adjustment.

Julie

[yurbud]

36. I will celebrate the good when the dust settles. Until then, we should try to make it BETTER

[Lasher]

37. OK I'll try.

Yay team.

[Cal Carpenter]

39. I ask you this: Isn't there some new age forum

you could post that in? (yes that was snarky, sorry, I'll try to tame it from here on out but boy does your post touch a nerve)

Please don't take what I am about to say personally, because it isn't about you, or me for that matter.

People are struggling really bad right now. Hungry, sick and broke. Scared and suffering. This is not hyperbole, this is not to tug at your emotions, this is the basic material truth.

Millions of people in our very own country are struggling in a way that makes your comment here look like paternalistic, feel-good garbage. A pat on the shoulder while their wallet is being stolen. A bandaid for their paper cut while their leg is being sawed off.

It's right up there with the new agers who believe in the law of attraction and if that little Iraqi had just believed more in her future she never would have been blown up by a bomb.

So no, I will not take your suggestion.

In fact I would encourage the exact opposite of what you are saying. Now is the time to be pissed off, now is the time to take to the streets in screaming rage. There is nothing to feel good about here, not if you believe in justice or fairness or equality in any meaningful sense of the word.

There is a battle going on right now. It's been going on for a long time and this HCR bill is just the next wave of attacks AGAINST the people who need it the most.

They only call it class war when the poor and working class people fight back - but the war against the people has been in full force for a long time in this country. Maybe the latte liberals are getting afraid of the people. That's what your post says to me.