When people ask what is conservatism, well modern American Conservatism (not sure if the Canadian or European variety is the same now or not), one gets answers like "freedom" or "patriotism" and of course "limited government."  They are trying to convey a sense of awe in their ideology, as if it were what the Founding Fathers of this republic wanted.  Listening to the propagandists, one would gather that American Conservatism came from a divine source, as if it were the true calling for each citizen.  But as someone who was an American Conservative and a Republican, I can safely tell you that this is all a red herring. Indeed, in a way, the words spoken by Right is almost akin to Ingsoc's "Freedom is Slavery."

It's being said that the left needs a story - a myth - to explain what it stands for and to counter the right-wing myths which have been so successfully propagated over the last thirty years. That's true. And there's a story within reach which perfectly suits the need. More ...

Mary makes a well-written case for Single Payer health insurance at Pacific Views today.

"America's health care system is imploding. Despite the fact that America devotes more of its GDP to health care than any other developed country, the real outcome for a significant portion of our country is miserable. And despite all the initiatives that claimed to fix the problem, the problem is getting worse."

As someone who administers state Medicaid in Pacific County and who becomes aware of as many uninsured citizens in an hour as an enterprising researcher could find in a day, I consider the above seriously understated.

"Getting worse" actually means something far fouler smelling than what you see in Sicko.

Mary has more:

"Universal health care is particularly unsuited for a market-based approach because people are unable to do a lot of comparison shopping when they are sick and the overwhelming need for health care is when someone is sick, not when they are well."

I am only an occasional poster/mediocre diarist on this site.  My views only represent my own personal observations.  I work too much to spend the time needed to write thorough and convincing diaries, but I try.

There is a reason I write nonetheless.

Let me tell you something ugly about myself today.

Let me explain why I'm lazy, selfish and uncaring by trying to justify why I don't help charities.

Not that they would want me or vice versa (remember that old Groucho Marx joke about not wanting to be a member of any group that would accept me?) but the following is why I will never even attempt to join the 'organization' as any sort of an elected official of the California Democratic Party.

    AT&T raises suspicions, funds with Nunez speech
    By Samantha Young
    ASSOCIATED PRESS
    May. 03, 2006

    SACRAMENTO - The Democratic Party raised nearly $2 million during a Pebble Beach fund-raiser this weekend with the help of AT&T, a company that stands to benefit from cable legislation advocated by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

When it comes to messaging, man...the Democratic Party has a ways to go.  I think that's the one thing we ALL agree on here at DKos.

The disagreement comes as to what that "message" should be, and how it should be framed.  Some say just run as anti-Republicans (not really showing what a pro-Democrat is), some say "get a spine" (but not fleshing out what issues Democrats should have a vertabrae about).

Here comes my modest proposal: we are the party of the PUBLIC good.  Unfortunately, I think it's a message that is currently lost on our fair Democratic leaders in Washington.  Read below to find out why.