Mike Lux: Public Option "easiest way to a victory" on Health Care Reform

As usual, former Clinton Administration official (and current CEO of Progressive Strategies) Mike Lux nails it, this time on health care reform and specifically the public option:

Okay, stay with me now: ditching the public option would mean a massive, ugly civil war with House progressives, most of whom will be feeling very gun-shy about abandoning their written pledges to oppose any bill without the public option. Keeping the public option would require dealing with some unhappiness from some conservative Senators, and might require a procedural move or two that would be complicated.

Which approach sounds easier to get done?

But conventional wisdom insiders have been telling each other for a long time that there is no way to pass a public option, and that has made White House staffers and legislative leaders have a hard time seeing what is becoming the honest truth: passing a bill with the public option is not only possible, but the easiest way to a victory.

Maybe there is something I don't understand here- it wouldn't be the first time. But as someone who passionately wants to help the White House pass a health reform bill, it seems pretty clear which way to go. I will admit it would not be simple or smooth, but that civil war scenario of dropping the public option would be a lot worse.

Let's get this train moving down the most direct path to victory.

In other words, the public option isn't just the right thing to do in terms of keeping health care costs down, it's also the most politically feasible. Is this a "no brainer" or what? Thanks to Mike Lux for explaining it so clearly. Democratic Congressmen and women, are you listening?

Public Option Still Alive? Mike Lux Says Yes, Nate Silver Says Probably Not

Let's hope that Mike Lux is correct, as he usually is, in this case about the "public option" being part of health care reform.

Kent Conrad has repeatedly said there are not enough votes in the Senate for a public option, and now says he won't vote for one. HHS Secretary Sebelius says the public insurance option is not essential. These statements add to a steadily growing conventional wisdom that the public option is now dead.

Not so fast. This fight hasn't even come close to being played out yet.

Let's also hope that Nate Silver is wrong, as he usually isn't, when he writes, "Is the public option really dead? Probably."

Book Review: "The Progressive Revolution"

I just finished reading Mike Lux's new book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be." I also had a chance this past Friday to attend an excellent discussion of Mike's book at the New America Foundation. With that, here are a few thoughts on "The Progressive Revolution."

We often see books from the right-wing perspective that demonize "liberalism" or "progressivism" (not the same things, by the way) and denigrate the role of government in fighting for the common good and bettering all of our lives. Unfortunately, we don't see nearly as many books, especially articulate, powerful and persuasive ones like "The Progressive Revolution," from the progressive perspective. Lucky for us, Mike Lux has written just such a book, and I strongly recommend that everyone read what he has to say.

The book's argument is simple: when progressives have been in charge, the country has made great strides; when conservatives have been in charge, we've stagnated or moved backwards. In fact, some of the greatest disasters or near-disasters in American history have come during periods of conservative ascendancy, and Mike Lux lays those out for all of us who need a history refresher course. What's most amazing is that, in spite of an almost unmitigated record of harming workers, family farms, the poor, the sick, the elderly, children, the environment, not to mention the freedoms we cherish, conservatives have managed to win even one election, let alone many of them. In part, this is a result of conservatives effectively making their case (even if it's based on fear and lies), but in part it's also the result of progressives failing to make their own, much stronger case.

That obviously needs to change, and Lux is hopeful that we'll see that in the Obama administration. However, nothing's automatic; what's required here is pressure from both the "top down" AND the "bottom up." Netroots activism, as I write in my own book ("Netroots Rising"), is the key today, just as it has been since Thomas Paine penned his brilliant pamphlet ("Common Sense") that made such an enormous contribution to the American revolution. Today, we have an army of "Thomas Paines" essentially functioning as modern-day pamphleteers. This reengagement with our Democracy, after years of alienation and cynicism, represents our greatest hope at achieving the positive "change we need." Read Mike Lux's book and discover why only progressives can deliver that change.