Gaius Publius at AmericaBLOG is running a whip count on Social Security and Medicare cuts, and you can help. I suggest you do so, because it really sucks feeling depressed and helpless. You’re not, join the fight:
Get ready for the battle of 2013
So gear up, folks, and gird up as well. First fight, the lame duck itself, the last session of the old Congress before new members are sworn in. Sen. Sanders is leading this fight to make sure the bad deal doesn’t pass. Your help is needed:
- Sign Sen. Sanders petition at www.signon.org/nocuts.
- Call your senators and representatives. The phone numbers are here and here. Be polite but firm, seriously firm.
- Report your results to lameduck@
socialsecurityworks.org .- Watch the whipcount page for updates.
Then prepare to fight through the next six months. The good news is that we’re not only right, we have huge majorities of people behind us. In addition, if the Democrats do attempt this — driven by god-knows-what combination of Rubinesque wickedness and complicit Dem leadership (did someone mention Open Rebellion?) — they will likely write their party’s epitaph with it (scroll down to the Krugman comment). Obama will never again stand for election — his next job is to take million-dollar thank-you money for speeches and to tour the world in an endless victory lap — but most Democrats now in office will try to return.
My advice — tell them now, early and often, that cuts to the safety net are a bridge too far. Call them — again, the phone numbers are here and here.
Try this. Tell them you’re cancelling your vote for them — right now, this time, next week — if they don’t agree to the No Cuts plan. (It’s a secret, but I’ll tell you. What you actually do in the voting booth is your business, not theirs. If the threat is credible, you don’t have to pull the trigger if you don’t want to.)
Soften them up with a scare. Then call them again after November and keep it up.
Stay optimistic on this one
I’ll have more on this phase as it develops. You’re not alone; many good people are working to win this as well. Cuts to the safety net, tax cuts for the already-too-rich — the Grand Bargain really is a bridge too far. Stay optimistic; this one is winnable. Ultimately, only the hyper-rich (Our Betters) — and their eager enablers — are not on our side. We just have to learn to use our leverage. Time to learn that is now.
Vote a straight Democratic ticket. Getting rid of every Republican in office, federal, state and local, will help us win this fight.
Bull. You are just setting the table for the grand feast. Once again your voting fealty leaves you zero credibility with Democrats. I am going to inform Senator Klobuchar that if she signs on to this I will form a “Democrats for Whomever” Committee and fund and support her Republican opponent. The difference between us is that I will do it. A Democrat that votes to cut Medicare or Social Security while the wealthy just skate along ain’t worth warm spit.