We've been down this road before, you know. The country in an economic meltdown, bitter partisan fighting, unemployment rates sky high, the people suffering and being crushed beneath the boot of corporate greed, power and corruption... the situation we find ourselves in sucks, but it's not unique. But back in the dark days of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stepped into the breach with an ambitious... even radical plan to fix this country. And he succeeded. Without FDR's New Deals and all of the programs that stemmed from them, this country may never have recovered from the Depression and enjoyed all of the success and prosperity that we have since then.

But he couldn't do it alone. And he knew it. Faced with stifling opposition from the Republicans, some members of his own party and of course, the corporations, FDR knew he was going to have an uphill fight to get his reform programs through. He knew that he needed the will of the people... loud, strong and clear... behind him, screaming for reform, for change. And to the progressive activists, he said this:

"I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it."

We are at that point again in this fight over health care reform. I was outraged when I saw an article earlier today that said Obama was ready to drop the public option from health care reform. The idea that Obama and the Democrats would cave in, yet again, to the GOP and the insurance lobby makes me physically ill. We have the majority... a very clear majority... and the people gave an overwhelming mandate last November to bring real change to this country. Bowing to the money, the corporate elite and the thuggish tactics of the minority party is flat-out disgusting.

But then I got to thinking a little bit... one of the oldest tactics in politics is to float a trial balloon in the media to see how it plays with the people. It's done all the time to gauge the reaction of the public. What I want to believe... what I hope is that the signals from the White House that they're ready to pull the public option off the table is a trial balloon...

What I want to believe and what I hope beyond all hope is that this is Obama's "Now make me do it" moment.

All we've heard for several weeks now is the completely misdirected outrage and anger from the Teabaggers and the insurance industry-backed groups that are astroturfing the town hall events. They are the loudest people speaking out on the issue. Proponents of a public option, by and large, seem willing to let these people scream, hoping that they'll marginalize themselves through their sheer idiocy. For the most part, advocates of the public option have spoken in a whisper. It's time we speak up. It's time we speak loudly. It's time we start to push back against the insurance industry and those who stand with them with some real muscle, with some real force. It's time we make Obama and the Democrats do it.

Look at all of the people in your life... your family, your friends... I'd be willing to bet that you know at least one person that cannot afford health care or that has lost their job and with it their insurance. I'd be willing to bet that most everybody knows at least one person that has been denied health insurance because of a "pre-existing" condition or has been dropped from their coverage for the very same reason. And what are they supposed to do then? Hope and pray that they don't get sick or injured? The for-profit insurance industry places profits first and the care of the people a distant second. Health care, literally matters of life and death in this country SHOULD NOT be determined by your ability to pay.

I'm calling out to everybody that believes that we need a strong public option to get into this fight...

First, we need everybody to write/email/fax/call their elected officials. We need to bombard our Senators, our Representatives as well as the White House with our demand for a public option. We need to flood their offices... we need to make our voices heard loudly, strongly and very clearly. Health care reform without a public option is NOT reform. We voted for change last November and now we are demanding it.

So please, take 10 minutes out of your day and contact your elected representatives. I'm including the links to find the contact information for your Senators and your Representative.

This fight is not over. We have several weeks yet before the Congressional recess is over and now is the time to make our voices heard. If we want real, meaningful health care reform, we are going to have to make it happen. This is on us. Change isn't going to magically happen... it's not going to happen just because we voted Obama in. Change is going to happen when we're all ready and willing to roll up our sleeves, get down in the trenches and get dirty. We have the power to make this happen... the polling shows that a majority of Americans still support a public option... now we need to give Obama and the Democrats the political will to see this through.

They need to hear from us and they need to hear from us now. Obama is asking us to make him do it, so let's oblige him.

I try to not ask this very often, but if you feel strongly that we need a public option and real reform to health care in this country, please re-post this... pass this on. We need to get as many people mobilized and into this fight as possible.

I know that I've written a lot over these last couple of years about our diminishing freedoms and rights under the Bush Administration. I'm sure a lot of what I've written has been considered hyperbolic and inflammatory. And perhaps some of it was. But if there was any doubt about the intent of this Bush led White House and Republican led Congress to strip away the basic rights and freedoms enjoyed by every citizen while preserving them for a select few, those doubts should be laid to rest right here and right now. Under Bush and these Republicans, democracy in the United States is being stripped away, diminished and taken from us. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights and all they guarantee to our citizenry are quite literally being destroyed right before our very eyes.

Last week, along party lines, the House of Representatives passed H.R.4844, an amendment to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. H.R. 4844 requires that everybody provide a photographic proof of citizenship to vote. That means, everybody is going to be required to have a passport when we go to the polls. A driver's license is no longer going to cut it because it doesn't prove citizenship and a birth certificate won't work because it doesn't have a photograph. A passport is about the only form of photographic proof of your citizenship.

The most common question I've been asked when talking about this issue is, “Don't you want to make sure only citizens are voting?" And my answer to that is, yeah absolutely. But at the same time, we have to ensure that all citizens are able to vote as is provided for under our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Voting is one of the cornerstones of our Republic. It's a foundation of democracy. And under this bill, under this Administration, that foundation is being dangerously eroded.

This bill, if signed into law, will disenfranchise literally millions of legally registered, tax-paying citizens. Passports can cost upwards of $100 dollars to obtain. My dad got his last week for a trip he’s taking and it cost him $150 bucks. Not that these Republicans care, but not everybody in this country can afford to put out that kind of money for a passport.

How many of us know somebody living paycheck to paycheck, hand to mouth? How many of us know an elderly person living on a fixed income? How many of us are or know a student that’s barely getting by as it is? How many of us know somebody on a tight budget that simply can’t afford an extra hundred bucks for a passport? I’d be willing to wager that we all know people in a situation like this if we’re not in it ourselves.

It’s only a hundred bucks for a passport, supporters of this bill say. Sure, but for how many people in this country is a hundred bucks already the choice between having electricity or being able to eat? And now they’re being asked to shell out that hundred bucks to exercise a fundamental right guaranteed to all citizens of this country? This bill is immoral. It’s monstrous. It’s an abomination. It’s patently un-Constitutional and completely un-American. And yet, these Republicans passed it. What does that say about them?

It’s a hundred bucks for a passport today. What will it be tomorrow? What will the next rationalization they use for instituting a higher poll tax be? Because, make no mistake about it, this is a poll tax, ladies and gentlemen. It’s cleverly disguised, but this is the sort of tactic we saw used during the heyday of Jim Crow to deny certain “undesirables” their explicit right to vote.

I might be less upset about this bill if they provided the means for citizens to obtain a passport cost free. But they haven’t. There is no provision under this bill to provide assistance to those that can’t afford it. We’re on our own and it comes down to case of you can either afford to vote or you can’t.

This abomination of a bill passed the House but isn’t expected to make it to the Senate calendar before they recess. So we have some time to mount a fight because trust me, this bill will be back in the next session. If it passes the Senate, Bush will undoubtedly sign this into law. After that, it would fall to the Supreme Court to determine the Constitutionality of the law. And if you think this Roberts-Alito led ultra-conservative Court is going to deem it un-Constitutional, I’d say think again.

It’s never to early to let your Senators know that we will not stand for this. To let them know that we will not tolerate the disenfranchisement of millions of people. To let them know that we will not stand idly by while they try to leave millions of people outside of our political system. Write to your Senators, call them, follow them home, do whatever you feel moved to do. And if you feel so moved, re-post this, pass this on. Let’s get the word out. We’re looking at elections a little more than a month away and I don’t feel that it’s hyperbole to say that these next few election cycles will be the most important in this nation’s history.

This is how the monied elite begins to seize total power This is how we come to have a class of rulers and a class of the ruled.

This is how democracy dies, ladies and gentleman.