Reply #109: Enough people did support it. Enough corporations didn't.

[eomer]

A large majority of the American people wanted it. But our elected representatives only pretend to represent the people. In reality they represent the interests of the corporations who buy them.

The President claimed to be in favor of it. The Democratic leadership claimed to be in favor of it. But that was just empty rhetoric. Between the President and the Congressional leadership there is a lot they can do to persuade members of their own party to get on board a particular proposal. They did not go through that effort.

And an even higher percentage of Democratic voters wanted it than was true of the population at large. So it is especially true of Democrats in Congress that they did not represent the people who elected them. Instead they sold out to the corporations. Not just the Blue Dog Democrats. The other Democrats could have mounted a campaign to push it through and shamed the Blue Dogs into going along (as well as pressuring them with carrots and sticks). I believe it could have been done if the leadership of the Democratic Party had wanted it. The sad truth (the facts of the matter) are that the leadership of the Democratic Party did not want it, even though the American people did.