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A Secret Physiological Link Between Affinity for Guns & Affinity for Health Insurance Bureaucrats?
Jul 29, 2009
In recent posts and in my last column,
I noted that there's an unspoken deal between D.C. reporters and "Blue
Dog" Democrats to explain Blue Dog opposition to health insurance
regulation, unionization, Wall Street reform and pollution controls as
a direct outgrowth of them representing culturally conservative
heartland districts. This "they're just voting their districts" myth
posits that culturally conservative working-class voters' affinity for
guns, love for Jesus and/or hatred of gays somehow automatically means
they are huge fans of health insurance corporations, air pollution,
abusive employers and Goldman Sachs executives.
What's really amazing about this fairy tale is that it is so
ingrained in Washington that it's preposterous supposition isn't even
explained - it's just assumed fact, presented as so totally obvious as
to go without examination. This story about health care reform from the Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid provides a perfect example of what I'm talking about:
The Blue Dogs' numbers expanded with the
election of lawmakers such as North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler, an
ex-Washington Redskins quarterback who opposes abortion, gun control
and gay marriage...Beyond health care, the Blue Dogs have helped delay a
climate-change bill and block legislation that would make it easier for
unions to organize...Rep. Shuler, for his part, said that before agreeing to run, he
spoke to Rep. Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to make sure
he'd have the freedom he needed."One conversation I had with both of them before coming to Congress was, 'I'm going to vote my district,'" Rep. Shuler said. "It's one of those swing districts that can go either way...They're aware of that."
Notice here that Shuler's entire rationale for siding with
multinational corporations and the health insurance industry is "I'm
going to vote my district" - or put another way, he's telling us that
his rank-and-file working-class constituents supposedly want him to
vote with Big Money. And, of course, Bendavid, the loyal D.C.
bumlicker, doesn't bother to question the premise whatsoever.
It's just stunning that this is so assumed that neither the
politician nor the reporter feels the need to bother explaining how
this storyline makes any functional sense at all. As I noted in a Washington Post op-ed a few years ago,
polls show many working class cultural conservatives are, in fact, very
supportive of universal health care and taking on corporate power in
general. And as Nate Silver has pointed out,
it's idiotic to assume that just because Blue Dogs represent districts
that host competitive elections, it means voters in those districts
want corporate whores representing them in Washington.
Nonetheless, the lunacy continues. Evidently, politicians and
reporters in Washington have secretly discovered a physiologically
causative link between a voter's affinity for guns and their love of
health insurance bureaucrats.
UPDATE: You'll note that some progressive
Members of Congress are annoyed that even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) has echoed Blue Dogs claims that they are shilling for insurance
companies because their working-class constituents want them to. Roll Call quotes one progressive lawmaker as saying, "She won't criticize [the Blue Dogs]. She says they're representing their constituents. She's being very careful. But other Members are not being as charitable."
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David Sirota
David Sirota is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author living in Denver, Colorado. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work helping create the story for the film DON'T LOOK UP, which became one of the most widely viewed movies in Netflix's history. He is the founder and editor of The Daily Poster, an editor at large at Jacobin Magazine and a columnist at The Guardian. He served as Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign speechwriter in 2020. Sirota is the author of "Back to Our Future" and "Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back". His website: www.davidsirota.com.
In recent posts and in my last column,
I noted that there's an unspoken deal between D.C. reporters and "Blue
Dog" Democrats to explain Blue Dog opposition to health insurance
regulation, unionization, Wall Street reform and pollution controls as
a direct outgrowth of them representing culturally conservative
heartland districts. This "they're just voting their districts" myth
posits that culturally conservative working-class voters' affinity for
guns, love for Jesus and/or hatred of gays somehow automatically means
they are huge fans of health insurance corporations, air pollution,
abusive employers and Goldman Sachs executives.
What's really amazing about this fairy tale is that it is so
ingrained in Washington that it's preposterous supposition isn't even
explained - it's just assumed fact, presented as so totally obvious as
to go without examination. This story about health care reform from the Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid provides a perfect example of what I'm talking about:
The Blue Dogs' numbers expanded with the
election of lawmakers such as North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler, an
ex-Washington Redskins quarterback who opposes abortion, gun control
and gay marriage...Beyond health care, the Blue Dogs have helped delay a
climate-change bill and block legislation that would make it easier for
unions to organize...Rep. Shuler, for his part, said that before agreeing to run, he
spoke to Rep. Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to make sure
he'd have the freedom he needed."One conversation I had with both of them before coming to Congress was, 'I'm going to vote my district,'" Rep. Shuler said. "It's one of those swing districts that can go either way...They're aware of that."
Notice here that Shuler's entire rationale for siding with
multinational corporations and the health insurance industry is "I'm
going to vote my district" - or put another way, he's telling us that
his rank-and-file working-class constituents supposedly want him to
vote with Big Money. And, of course, Bendavid, the loyal D.C.
bumlicker, doesn't bother to question the premise whatsoever.
It's just stunning that this is so assumed that neither the
politician nor the reporter feels the need to bother explaining how
this storyline makes any functional sense at all. As I noted in a Washington Post op-ed a few years ago,
polls show many working class cultural conservatives are, in fact, very
supportive of universal health care and taking on corporate power in
general. And as Nate Silver has pointed out,
it's idiotic to assume that just because Blue Dogs represent districts
that host competitive elections, it means voters in those districts
want corporate whores representing them in Washington.
Nonetheless, the lunacy continues. Evidently, politicians and
reporters in Washington have secretly discovered a physiologically
causative link between a voter's affinity for guns and their love of
health insurance bureaucrats.
UPDATE: You'll note that some progressive
Members of Congress are annoyed that even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) has echoed Blue Dogs claims that they are shilling for insurance
companies because their working-class constituents want them to. Roll Call quotes one progressive lawmaker as saying, "She won't criticize [the Blue Dogs]. She says they're representing their constituents. She's being very careful. But other Members are not being as charitable."
David Sirota
David Sirota is an award-winning journalist and bestselling author living in Denver, Colorado. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his work helping create the story for the film DON'T LOOK UP, which became one of the most widely viewed movies in Netflix's history. He is the founder and editor of The Daily Poster, an editor at large at Jacobin Magazine and a columnist at The Guardian. He served as Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign speechwriter in 2020. Sirota is the author of "Back to Our Future" and "Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government--And How We Take It Back". His website: www.davidsirota.com.
In recent posts and in my last column,
I noted that there's an unspoken deal between D.C. reporters and "Blue
Dog" Democrats to explain Blue Dog opposition to health insurance
regulation, unionization, Wall Street reform and pollution controls as
a direct outgrowth of them representing culturally conservative
heartland districts. This "they're just voting their districts" myth
posits that culturally conservative working-class voters' affinity for
guns, love for Jesus and/or hatred of gays somehow automatically means
they are huge fans of health insurance corporations, air pollution,
abusive employers and Goldman Sachs executives.
What's really amazing about this fairy tale is that it is so
ingrained in Washington that it's preposterous supposition isn't even
explained - it's just assumed fact, presented as so totally obvious as
to go without examination. This story about health care reform from the Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid provides a perfect example of what I'm talking about:
The Blue Dogs' numbers expanded with the
election of lawmakers such as North Carolina Rep. Heath Shuler, an
ex-Washington Redskins quarterback who opposes abortion, gun control
and gay marriage...Beyond health care, the Blue Dogs have helped delay a
climate-change bill and block legislation that would make it easier for
unions to organize...Rep. Shuler, for his part, said that before agreeing to run, he
spoke to Rep. Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to make sure
he'd have the freedom he needed."One conversation I had with both of them before coming to Congress was, 'I'm going to vote my district,'" Rep. Shuler said. "It's one of those swing districts that can go either way...They're aware of that."
Notice here that Shuler's entire rationale for siding with
multinational corporations and the health insurance industry is "I'm
going to vote my district" - or put another way, he's telling us that
his rank-and-file working-class constituents supposedly want him to
vote with Big Money. And, of course, Bendavid, the loyal D.C.
bumlicker, doesn't bother to question the premise whatsoever.
It's just stunning that this is so assumed that neither the
politician nor the reporter feels the need to bother explaining how
this storyline makes any functional sense at all. As I noted in a Washington Post op-ed a few years ago,
polls show many working class cultural conservatives are, in fact, very
supportive of universal health care and taking on corporate power in
general. And as Nate Silver has pointed out,
it's idiotic to assume that just because Blue Dogs represent districts
that host competitive elections, it means voters in those districts
want corporate whores representing them in Washington.
Nonetheless, the lunacy continues. Evidently, politicians and
reporters in Washington have secretly discovered a physiologically
causative link between a voter's affinity for guns and their love of
health insurance bureaucrats.
UPDATE: You'll note that some progressive
Members of Congress are annoyed that even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) has echoed Blue Dogs claims that they are shilling for insurance
companies because their working-class constituents want them to. Roll Call quotes one progressive lawmaker as saying, "She won't criticize [the Blue Dogs]. She says they're representing their constituents. She's being very careful. But other Members are not being as charitable."
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