We can accept no less than this when pushing for genuine health care reform. As pointed out by otherpeoplebefore, the weak public option won't do the job of fixing a system we all know to be broken. It is madness to push politicians for something that is, when evaluated on its merits, worse than nothing because of the likelihood that passage will destroy all political will to get something better when the half-ass measure fails. This is as true for health care as it is for climate change (something even the milquetoast Washington Post acknowledges).
The primary reason progressives keep getting their proverbial clocks cleaned is that we keep coming to the table with half-measures and bargaining down. What we ultimately end up with isn't just bad legislation; it's almost guaranteed political death for whatever cause we capitulate on. With health care reform, we've been doing the same thing. We've brought yet another insufficient idea to the table and are fighting not to make it better, but to prevent it from being made even weaker. This policy cannot be allowed to continue if we are to coalesce into a strong, viable political movement. We have to start coming to the table with 100% of what we want, tweak it as necessary, but in the end come away with something far more than we'd get than what we end up with under current strategy.
It's got to be single-payer. Don't even mention a public option anymore unless it is used in the context of discussing single-payer. Demand from your Congressmen and women single-payer health care. make a solid case for it, do NOT take "no" for an answer, and don't let up.
If we can't learn this lesson, we don't deserve health care or any other kind of reform.
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