Open Letter to Democrats From a Disillusioned Young Voter

[Scootaloo]

93. No, I don't think Obamacare is good enough

I see it as a foot in the door, though. A wedge that can be used to push forward universal health care. To bring us alongside the rest of the civilized world - and honestly some of what we tend to regard as the "uncivilized world," too - really, we're behind Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan on this?!

But

But that wedge is only useful, if it's going to be used to push the door open. Are the Democrats promising that? Seriously, name a single democrat running on expanding Obamacare, pushing for universal. One. Now, think of Democrats who ran away from the Affordable Care Act. That's a much bigger list, isn't it?

The democrats seem to believe that either the ACA is "good enough" (it's not) or they seem to think it's awful, just as Republicans do (again, it's not). Which is bewildering. I guarantee you, Democrats who did the opposite, who embraced it and campaigned on expanding it to be fully encompassing, would see their numbers surge. This should be basic fucking common sense - it's keynote legislation penned by a Democratic president and passed by a democratic legislature, held up by Democratic-appointed judges. But they ran away from it

The democrats aren't even willing to back their own key legislation. Your best example of "change" is something the party itself shied away from embracing in the 2014 elections.

I guarantee you, if Democratic candidates had stood up, embraced the ACA, and demanded its expansion towards universal, we wouldn't have gotten the rout that happened. I won't say we would have swept the board, I don't know. But I can guarantee there would have been better turnout. There would have been more Democratic victories. Instead, they ran on a Republican position, and lost to actual republicans. Which has been proven over and over again through US history, but htye never seem to notice.

Thus my term, "republican't."

So you tell me. We're supposed to vote. But vote for what? Our interests are simply not represented by the candidates. Trying to field our own runs against the money and organization of a hyper-conservative party network. I've been there. We're not just up against Republicans. Before we get there, we're up against Democrats like yourself, who for one reason or another, are utterly dismissive of our issues, and seek to keep the party obsessed with being republican-light.

So the people who are supposed to be "on our side" tell us we don't matter, and then capitulate to the people they present as "the bad guys" at every fucking turn.

What you call laziness, I recognize as hopelessness. A generation-wide depression and malaise.