By the way, if any of you who might read this in the short window of time before I get locked out of editing happen to think of a better header or title for this piece, I’m game.

Just couldn’t think of something snappy which wasn’t blatantly accusatory.

“Hell NO, We Aren’t Negotiating With Health Industry Crooks” was a little over the top.

Would we tolerate this kind of widespread disregard for the law from any other industry, and still sit down to the table to negotiate with them, believing them to be working with us in good faith?

Compromised, anyone…?

Title possibilities: Why Is Congress Negotiating with Health Care Industry Lawbreakers?
It’s accurate, given your stats.
**sigh…***

Thanks for the suggestion…I tweaked it one more time and changed Lawbreakers to Scofflaws.

Frankly, there are cases out there which haven’t been identified as criminal or civial law breaking, but members of the industry are scoffing at our laws until they get busted.

Torques me off to no end; if this was any other industry, we’d call them a racket and cease negotiations.

I kind of like the title…

There was the one I saw mentioned in my online basics-of-antitrust-for-peons class at work (it’s only an hour: just so we know which people we shouldn’t talk to and when to run screaming for the exit).

That was the vitamin manufacturing anti-trust case, from ten or so years back.

These guys really do consider penalties part of the cost of doing business. I think the penalties need to be a lot stronger and more punitive, so they don’t do those things again.

The first thing to do is kill all the lawyers lobbyists.

I guess we know now why a ban on direct-to-consumer marketing isn’t on the table in this iteration of health care “reform” — the drug peddlers are writing the bill.

Just a suggestion:

WHY is Congress Practicing Appeasement with Health Care Industry Privateers?

( I started to use mercenaries instead of privateers to replace scofflaws,btw.)

Negotiating with criminals. Spit!

Why is Congress Negotiating With Terrorists from Big Pharma and the Blue+ Conspiracy?

Actually we ‘negotiated” with the financial sector before we got raped for a trillion dollars, so I think the question to be posed is : Can you think of any industry that routinely rips off and misleads the public that we WOULDN’T negotiate with?

I mean didn’t we just renew Blackwater/Xe’s contract to provide security for the State Department? Hell, Marines used to reenlist and one of the benefits offered to them was the choice of Embassy Guard School. Now private contractors provide that. I guess that’s so that when Turkish officials who are spying on the country pay a visit to one of their many moles they don’t have to worry about any obstacles.

And we did just decline to prosecute Schlozman, right? For lying under oath? Wasn’t Clinton impeached for something less detrimental to the country than poisoning the Civil Rights Enforcement Division of the Department of Justice?

We’re wasting our time expecting anything, ANYTHING, from this administration.
I won’t be voting Democrat again, ever. And I know what people will say about apathy. But anger and rage are the emotions I’m feeling and a keen sense of betrayal yet again from a Democratic president.

@8

WHY is Congress Practicing Appeasement with Health Care Industry Pirates?

Book Salon up at the Mothership with Dahr Jamail’s The Will to Resist: Soldiers who Refuse To Fight In Iraq and Afghanistan hosted by Gareth Porter

BRAVO,James.

And may we add to the list the court ruling yesterday that the contracting firm CACI is legally deemed immune from prosecution for its alleged torture of two Iraqis?

Incidentally, was I the only one who snorted when Obama said,this past week, that insurance companies would be held accountable for violations of new healthcare reform regs–what ever they may be????

We didn’t negotiate with the financial industry; they extorted performance from us. Basically pulled our legislators into sessions where they told them the financial industry and the economy were going to implode if capital wasn’t provided to prop it up. No negotiation.

Have NO idea WTF happened with Blackwater/Xe, although it has crossed my mind that no other contractor wants the gig — and perhaps somebody might also have gotten a presentation which said, “Hire us, or you’re on your own.” Was there a negotiation? Who knows? And who will say under oath?

With regard to Schlozman, I can understand why we didn’t prosecute him — because he’s on the hook for bigger stuff and he’s going to have to play ball and flip on others. Schlozman’s too stupid to work on his own. Was there a negotiation here? Possibly. We’ll see.

But the health care industry isn’t negotiating; all these players are threatening to withhold their campaign contributions from Congress, and Congress is rolling over. They can’t see that the solution is to build something which isn’t corporate as a backstop. No negotiation here, whatsoever. It’s only kabuki.

BTW, Marcy shared a link to the Project On Government Oversight, which includes more details about the scale of the problem with Big Pharma alone. Here’s a key graph:

In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has been involved in several civil, criminal and administrative actions that have resulted in record-setting penalties. Two of the biggest are in our Federal Contractor Misconduct Database: Merck & Co.’s $4.85 billion settlement of Vioxx lawsuits and GlaxoSmithKline’s $3.4 billion settlement with the Internal Revenue Service. Collectively, the four pharmaceutical companies currently in our Top 100 – Merck, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis and Wyeth – account for 36 misconduct instances and a staggering $10.5 billion in penalties (about 40 percent of the total).

Be sure to read the rest of the post at POGO. You’ll see that Pfizer is a less than credible bargainer.

Hi Rayne. Thanks for this cases. They make excellent ammunition.

What? You don’t believe that they made a deal with Obama to take a huge cut in their profits just for the good of the country, and that they’re going to make good on that promise?

We hate the drug industry with a passion.
And yet we are the ones making them rich.
We buy their drugs and them curse them for
being so rich and powerful

If the drug companies and those negotiating meant well they wouldn’t keep us from going say to Canada for example to get the cheapest price for any given drug. If the drugs in canada and other countries are so bad for us, why aren’t there hundreds of thousands of folks dropping dead?

DeanOR (18) — Ri-ight. Like these guys who who already have multi-million dollar annual compensation packages listed in some of the examples above, who cheated our laws to earn even more, are going to give up a red cent. The White House got rolled and just hasn’t figured it out.

pjack (19) — Did you know that Pfizer sells $5 million dollars a day of a certain blue pill ostensibly intended to treat erectile dysfunction? Not a life saving drug, mind you; I’ve yet to hear about a man who’ll boycott the product, or its competitor which causes old people to drag bathtubs out to the middle of nowhere for a side-by-side soak.

tbsa (20) — I’m really fond of drug companies’ favorite whine about loss of revenue = loss of innovation. They already ship their labs off to other countries like Germany where it’s cheaper and faster to create, test and launch drugs, and where the same drugs cost even less than they do in the states. Then they bring those drugs to the U.S., go through FDA approval after already having paid for sunk costs on sales overseas, and then stick it to us after bombarding us with advertising.

LOL!

I’ve yet to hear about a man who’ll boycott the product, or its competitor which causes old people to drag bathtubs out to the middle of nowhere for a side-by-side soak.

“Check with your doctor to see if you are healthy enough to drag a clawfoot tub out into the middle of fucking nowhere…”

yes that’s my point. A lot of the reason
for the high cost of medical care in this country
is the high demand (blue pill), and the fact that we have the
highest paid physicians in the world

Yup, we have a lot of meds that are lifestyle drugs — like the recently related Latisse, for eyelash growth. Just ridiculous stuff. Their propagation, combined with an excessive use of marketing to the consumer, makes prescription med use normative.

It’s ridiculous that my own doctor is surprised that I’m on no meds at my age, you know? it should be the norm to not be on drugs, not the other way around.

As for physicians: some earn what they make many times over, I can’t begrudge them. My family doc is a GP, does virtually everything for our family except for the really tough stuff (like my spouse’s outpatient surgeries). His practice is cost effective as he has physician’s assistants/nurse practitioners handling most of the really routine stuff.

But there are a lot of physicians which are also lifestyle docs, like the ones who specialize in elective plastic surgery. They often command a lot more than my GP, and for what?

We as incredibly pampered and spoiled as we are morally bankrupt and impoverished.

The title’s a good one (scofflaws). As to why? Follow the money. That’s all you have to do. Follow the money on both sides of the aisle; there are few legislators in either house who are not compromised by taking funds from the industries affected by this legislation. As usual, money buys access and favors. Only they think they have to look “tough” so they’re including a very weak public option that regulates nothing, helps only a few, and isn’t available for a long time – and that’s the best that is offered so far. It is likely to be even further watered down. Meanwhile, much lip service is given to how much good it will do.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

Yeah, been following the money and it’s enough to make one barf.

http://www.opensecrets.org/ind…..hp?ind=F09 — 320 million documented dollars spent on campaign contributions over the past 20 years by insurance industry as a whole.

http://www.opensecrets.org/ind…..hp?ind=H01 — in the same period, 469 million from health care professionals.

http://www.opensecrets.org/ind…..hp?ind=H04 — in the same period, 174 million from pharmaceuticals.

This kind of money could have bought a lot of health care. Keep in mind this amount of money is far less than upper management and boards of directors pulled down as compensation for these industries.

Need another purgative? Try combing through the press releases at the USDOJ for health care industry prosecutions/convictions/settlements.

Positively nauseating.

Just noticed a settlement with Eli Lilly for $1.4 BILLION regarding off-label promotion of Zyprexa, announced in January this year. I’m sure I saw this when it was originally announced, but at the time I shrugged it off as we shrug off so much of this stuff. But after combing through this stuff for nearly 24 hours, I can’t believe how we are letting these kinds of egregious behaviors go unnoticed during our negotiations about the nature of our health care system. And in spite of the scale and frequency of these problems; I swear they are getting larger and larger the longer I look.

These guys are absolutely without shame and don’t give a rat’s ass about us, we are merely fungibles in their drive for profits.

That 4th link – a beauty, Rayne.

Negotiating is the best way to get campaign funds, if You don’t talk you can’t extact anything from them. Everything Our so-called public servants do is to negotiate a better deal for themselves. We just don’t get it that none of those people we elect in both parties are really working for us. They not only get their salaries, but healthcare, pensions, privilege, and a licence to extract every buck they can from everybody. This may be the way to run the Mafia, but it shouldn’t be the way to run our Government. We have allowed them to take representative government, and turn it into the largest extortion scheme, in the world. All while we supported them, voted for them, and allowed it all to happen.

That’s a lot to go through, isn’t it? And we know that the USDOJ under Gonzo’s watch was really bad about putting all info out in press releases. Goodness knows what’s not here.

I chose to change that by getting involved at a local level six years ago. The problem is that this is a lifetime commitment, not something which happens inside one or three congressional cycles, not in two or three presidential terms. It took the right-wing 30-plus years to slowly and steadily cram Movement Conservatism into every nook and cranny of our society, along with the toxic virus of the Shock Doctrine, a la Friedman-omics.

It’s going to take at least that long to undo it, and it’s going to take a conscious effort on the part of a much larger body of citizens to make it happen.

Sounds good but thats why we never will see change. Congressional cycles might as well be tricycles. What we need is three hundred + million people to throw the bums out bodily. But they would sic our army on us, the same way those other countries do. We have let our Government become above the people, and then that Government will defend itself at all cost. The Constitution even gives them the right to put down rebellions, and they would use it. I can’t think of one Government in the world that actually had the people peacefully take it back. Voting caused the problem, and it will never allow the change needed. The force of the people will someday be the only way. Obama told S. Amer we don’t revolt, a couple mo. back.

ahhh you have me laughing so hard!!!!!!!!..I think i need a doctor for the pain in my side from laughing..forget the damn tub!

They believe they need to make no commitments to anyone, including constituents, in order to have maximum negotiating power when bargaining with the health care industry.

I can’t believe I keep encountering this nonsense.

Repeat after me: ALL LAWS MUST PASS THROUGH THE SENATE

You can whine and moan all you want about lobbyists, Pharma, shills, selling out, blah, blah blah

HOW’S THE PUBLIC OPTION GETTING THROUGH THE SENATE?

Here’s something to consider:

———-
On the problems with reconciliation:

“Reconciliation requires 50 votes plus the Vice President for final passage only. During the process of reconciliation on the Senate floor there are countless votes that require 60 votes because it requires you to waive the rules of reconciliation – that’s done constantly in every single reconciliation process that goes to the Senate floor. They can’t think about going to the Senate floor without 60 votes whether they’re doing it in reconciliation or outside of reconciliation.”

- Lawrence O’Donnell
Former Democratic Chief of Staff of the Senate Committee on Finance and blogger at the Huffington Post

Source

Time Index on Video 3:30
————————-

“Reconciliation. Do you think this bill can pass in a reconciliation process?” –

Lawrence O’Donnell

“No, I think that what you can pass in the reconciliation process are some important elements but a comprehensive health care reform bill requires the regular procedure – the regular business of the Senate. If we can’t get 60 votes, which is the threshold vote for the regular procedure, then of course we have to consider reconciliation.”

- Majority Whip Dick Durban

Time Index 2:20

Source

——————-
On the fact that the Democratic Party is a COALITION of liberal Democrats and conservative Democrats who don’t all agree on the public option:

* We don’t have 60 votes for the public option, we have 45 in favor and several Democrats (and Joe Lieberman) who have publicly said they are opposed.

* Not only are some of the Democratic Senators opposed, but their constituencies are opposed as well.

(D) Senator Mark Pryor opposes the public option
(D) Senator Blanche Lincoln opposes the public option
60% of Arkansas citizens oppose the public option

Source

(D) Senator Ben Nelson opposes the public option
A plurality of Nebraskans oppose the public option (47%)

Source

(D) Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana opposes the public option
No poll of Louisiana has been taken yet on this issue, but it’s even deeper in the South than Arkansas. What do you think the polling numbers would look like?

Not even counting Landrieu or Lieberman or Kent Conrad of North Dakota, you have 3 Blue Dogs WITH their constituencies opposing the public option. That sinks a bill.

________________
On your actual choice:

* That leaves only two remaining options: (I) go down with the ship or (II) fight for the public option, but be prepared to take the public option trigger when it will most likely be the final outcome. It is highly foolish to go down with the ship. We can take the public option trigger and then in a few years we’ll come back and go for the public option alone. We won’t have so much to lose then and the economy will be in better shape.

Sorry, we need 200 million people of voting age to turn out to vote every election cycle. As long as Americans are only able to muster any regularity at voting participation for American Idol, we get the government we deserve.

In particular, we get the congress we deserve — 15% fewer voters show up at the polls for mid-term elections than for presidential elections.

And until more Americans take part in identifying, recruiting, training/grooming and funding better candidates, we are stuck with what I call “leadership by default”: only the congressional candidates who show up on their own get elected by less than 50% of the people.

Far less costly in so many ways to simply be a better citizen and actively participate in the (little d) democratic process than to have a revolution.

And why the hell do you think it’s not going to get through the Senate?

I can’t believe you can’t grok this.

The Senate has been co-opted by their health industry donors, before they even vote, during the negotiation process. That’s why there isn’t 50 votes, that’s why elected officials whine they need maximum bargaining power and no commitment to the public option whatsoever.

When they say that, they are telling us they are being bought out. Has very little to do with their constituencies, because they generally realize their constituencies are poorly informed, and they’re often poorly informed because the very corporations which have co-opted Senators have ensured low information.

The Senators themselves have an obligation to inform and educate the public about the legislative process, and they don’t do it. It costs six cents per call to use automated calling, less than a bulk mailer, and YouTube costs virtually nothing, yet NO Senators are using these tools to ensure that the public has better information. They aren’t even using these tools to tell voters where they are on issues, let alone to educate voters.

Try looking for polling numbers in NE/AR/LA/ND on health insurance companies; their approval ratings would be far lower than the public option. Voters also do not get adequate information about the kind of content I cited in this post. Nor does the average voter know anything about the efforts of Rep. Waxman to investigate the health care industry; you’ll note also that there should be an equal effort to investigate the industry from the Senate, but it’s not happening.

Hell, even many of the Senators are pretty low information people. Haven’t even begun to explore the other layers of co-option which help keep Senators in line; see the example emptywheel gave last week about a former WellPoint exec now working in Baucus’ office and writing his bloody bill.

The situation is ripe for gaming before the Senate even votes.

I can tell you that the entire health care industry was already beating a path to the White House and the Senate Finance Committee long before the public was engaged in the debate. I’ve been working on a database of events which shows exactly who met whom and when — and if the four or five votes you use as an example were all it took to kill the public option all together, I wouldn’t have that much data. The number of meetings shows the health care industry members are active in their efforts to try and co-opt all portions of the debate.

WE, the people, shouldn’t be put in the back seat to a corporate minority which evidences such bad faith — the kind of bad faith that even kills people — but Congress doesn’t really give a rat’s butt, continues to meet more frequently with these corporations than with citizens.

Amen.

And the fact that those corporate servant Senators are all so allergic to actually publicly and formally casting a vote on these public interest measures, yea or nay, speaks volumes. If their constituents were behind them [Kent Conrad..], they’d be happy to vote their consciences in the light of day, and let the chips fall where they may, rather than trying to derail a vote long before it threatens to reach the floor (or even the committee).

The regular order of the Senate requires “60 votes” to move the question (end a filibuster/invoke cloture/bring unlimited debate to an end) – not to register approval for the bill itself (absent a Unanimous Consent Agreement stipulating otherwise). Given sufficient floor time for debate and amendment (which is not a given with the impatient, undemocratic Reid), no Democrat (or Independent or principled Republican) should have any qualms about “moving the question” on a final, thoroughly-debated and amended bill – assuming it’s a good faith product, without obvious, dangerous flaws – regardless of how they intend to cast their own vote on the actual merits of the bill.

You just don’t get it voting will never change anything. I have been in the room when people were selected to run for office and watched what goes on. Both parties are corrupt, so changing from one to the other, like we have been doing for years isn’t the answer. The people may be able to talk someone into running, but they won’t get elected, the guy selected by the party bosses will always get elected. Anyone any good will hardly have a chance, because of the crooked money and power that runs our party systems. Those who support either party are the problem. It’s like pouring gasoline on a fire hoping to put it out.
If you want to vote change support a third and forth party, and drive the bums out. The American people won’t do that becasue they have been sold on the two parties.
The Democrats that everybody is pitting their hopes on, most have been there for the last 20 or 30 years, they have made no change even when in power. They voted with the Repubs on all the bad stuff, and didn’t stand up like the Repubs do even when wrong. The Democrats werte in on the wars, in on all that broke our financial system, yet we think their going to save us.
We elected Obama for change, were still in the wars, He has been worse than Bush bailing out everybody, and has kept many of the bad things the Repubs did like secrecy and behind door meetings. He has not repealed the patiot act, or any of the Bush policies. His justice department and HE refuse to look into the wrong doing and law breaking of the last administration. That’s not the worst He’s done that is farming everything out to the Congress. The Congress has caused every problem this Country has, including the Housing and Banking crisises, and not solved one. They have been doing nothing but talking about regulation, when they know if they just restored the regulation they voted away, it couldn’t happen again.
The so-called recovery act, was just that, great acting on their parts both Congress and Obama. They sold us they were going to use our money to fix the jobs problem, and get the recession on the run. The biggest share of it was wasted money and came far to late. Not one dollar was spent towards anything that will bring lasting recovery, many of the construction jobs will go to illegals. They gave it to the Governors who like always dished it out to their friends and pet project.
We are all so dumb that we think the stock market going up is a sign were going to be recovering. The stock market made both the housing and Banking crisises possible, it is where many Americans lost everything. It’s where the Bernie Madoffs played their games. It’s how all the bad that happened to this Country played out. It’s crooked from the theory of it, the way it works and the people in it,but the american people think it runs the world. It whole business plan is to make money off of other peoples money, from the lowly investor to Major Companies, all become pawns to the Markets. WE all would be better off if we could buy stock directly from the Company that want’s to sell it, and it wasn’t at the mercy of the Markets, Only the profitability of the Companies.

I wrote my own Bill: The Health Care Reform Act

Tell me what you think, K?

War on Error’s Health Care Reform Act, 2009

Section I – Insurers

Insurers are, upon enactment of this Bill, required to pay all claims for the health services of their insured within 30 days.* If an insurer fails to do so on a consistent basis, that insurer’s license to do business in any/all of the 50 United States will be revoked. All American Citizens must, upon application to an insurer of their choice, be accepted and covered. The Contract between the two is limited to one page. Premiums, co-pays, and out-of-pocket expenses for individuals and families cannot exceed 10% of the individual or family adjusted annual income. Any fines levied against an insurer will be deposited into The Medicare for All Trust Fund.

Section II – Medicare for All

All American citizens are mandated to have a Health Care Plan and are free to choose from all options. Upon the enactment of this Bill, all qualify for enrollment in Medicare for All, a new and separate branch of the present Medicare. Medicare for All will operate in the same manner as Medicare; however, employers’ and individuals’ premium payments will go into The Medicare For All Trust Fund, charged with paying medical expenses for all under age 65. Health Care Costs means all costs including premium contributions. The annual cost for individuals and families insured by employers shall not exceed 10% of adjusted gross income (after tax). The cost for individuals and families self-insured will not exceed 15% of adjusted gross income, and if the individual or family earns less than 400% of the Federal Poverty Level, health care will be subsidized by the Medicare for All Trust Fund. The Medicare for All Trust Fund cannot distribute any funds to any/all private insurers including any/all subsidiaries of any/all private insurers.

FAIL TAX. A new tax of 5% will be levied on all foods and beverages high in fats, sugars, and chemicals, to include BPA. This tax will be used specifically to subsidize the availability of fresh, healthy produce in every community in America. A Fresh Foods for All Trust will be established to receive this tax from the IRS, charged with depositing the revenue into the FFfAT. The funds can be distributed for local gardening projects or fresh produce distribution services. Environmental polluters will be levied a tax of 2% of net income. These funds will be received by State Fresh Foods for All Trusts, to be used to help those directly affected by the polluters in their area improve health outcomes caused from the pollution.

Section III – Providers

Providers of any/all health care services will be paid the same rates as presently determined under Medicare rules; however, such costs will be determined reasonable according to comparisons for same/similar services in other developed nations. If globalization is good for capitalism in general, then surely it will be good for the health care industry. No longer will providers in the United States be able to charge rates in excess of rates considered reasonable throughout the industrialized nations. Cost containment will ultimately improve health care issues for all. The payment cuts for those services presently higher than is reasonable will be offset by the increase in volume of insureds.

Providers will expand to include preventative and alternative health care provider services licensed and approved under both Federal and State standards, and deemed helpful in improving overall health and preventing disease.

All providers are mandated to serve all American Citizens, regardless of their health insurance coverage plan.

Section IV – Public Option – Additional Private Insurance Policies

Individuals, families, and employers can opt to purchase additional insurance designed and offered by private insurers, for whatever purpose from the private insurance industry, provided such insurance is approved by the State in which the individuals, families, and/or employers reside. Providers of care are free to contract their services in agreement between the provider of service and the Public Option Insurance Providers.

*Teeth I want there to be REAL biting teeth, each and every time they are late, and by teeth, I mean, if Insurers fail to pay, within 30 days, they owe the insured claimant, an extra 2%, per day, for every day late, this includes weekends, with a minimum mandatory $35, you know, like those overdraft fees the bank charges. Yeah, I want it to hurt. I want it to REALLY hurt them, so that the Insured are taken care of … PERIOD. Because that money is needed by people. It is their’s and they damn well deserve it on time. (thank you ArthurPoet for this idea)

The End of Bill

Awesome diary!

I am so disgusted with the Corporaticians on the Hill I can’t see straight.

And perplexed that so many are Ra Ra ing for the Bills as they stand.

They are garbage. Obfuscated, incomprehensible, bailouts for the criminal insurers sprinkled with a smattering of confusing compromises for the people, many of which don’t have to go into effect until 2018. It’s in the damn Bills. 2018 Folks.

Are we nuts!

Oh, I get it, alright. Have run smack, headlong into some of the problems you’ve identified.

Like this one:

The people may be able to talk someone into running, but they won’t get elected, the guy selected by the party bosses will always get elected.

Do you know who the party bosses are? do you know what makes them tick? do you know what it will take to minimize them? do you know how to stack a room for votes at the local party to remove them from key positions? and do you know how to create a team of supporters large enough to do the leg work necessary once you’ve minimized the old guard?

Yeah. Been there. Learned the hard way. Lost sleep, had headaches for it.

But we took the local party back, and we now get the candidates we want.

Next? State level. More opaque, but easier once you have enough local parties on board.

And this bit?

The so-called recovery act, was just that, great acting on their parts both Congress and Obama. They sold us they were going to use our money to fix the jobs problem, and get the recession on the run.

I can tell you without any question this was a f*ckup at the state and local level. Everybody knew this money was coming, since November last year, but many state/local entities were completely unprepared for it by April. We could see there was a massive problem by mid-January, the week before the inauguration. The news organization I worked for monitored this daily, and I know we embarrassed both state and local government offices by calling them on their lack of preparation. And no, not all of it will go to illegals — it depended entirely on the government agency which not only requested the money but doled out the money to ensure it was used properly. You got a beef with that situation, get your facts together, start a state/local-focus blog and get hammering on them. And you’d better have solid facts. With so many newspapers getting cutback or closing shop, part of the problem has been a lack of beat reporters to do this work — which means citizens are going to have to do a better job of investigating and reporting on topics like state/local government effectiveness. ProPublica has been doing some of the work, but they can’t do all of it; if it’s your state and community, you have a vested interest in it and ought to be helping if you can afford the time and have the skills. (And ProPublica makes it easy if you don’t want to start your own blog — see their “Adopt a Stimulus Project.”)

Democracy is a full-body contact sport, so to speak, requiring active participation; its survival depends on its beneficiaries doing more than the very minimum of voting. The more people walk away from it, the greater the opportunity for other non-citizen entities to take advantage of it and co-opt it for their own uses. What we are seeing is the result of far too many people walking away; they are getting the government they deserve.