hippie4ever:hello.  I’m slightly too old to have been a hippie.  I am a woman.  Like many women, I am for single-payer.  Like many men, I am for single-payer.

Many women are very “out front” - going back to the
60s, at least (which is when I was learning activism and getting involved in my small, “it takes a lot of
potatoes to make a stew” as my spouse puts it). The
women’s movement had a lot to do with women going into all kinds of areas of activism and professions.  It was so effective, many younger folks just think that’s the way it’s been.

Women have not gotten good press and often dropped off the history pages (see Susan Faludi’s book “Backlash”). But, despite all the magazine propaganda about women should hurry and have kids before they get too old, kind of thing…women will remain active in the fight for single-payer and other human rights issues.  I don’t think much of the public option, and vague as it is.  See http://www.blackagendareport.com for Bruce A.Dixon’s articles on Obama’s health plan - critical analyses.
And David Swanson’s piece(s) there and on his own website: http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

Finally, I like your comment elsewhere, on the “big history” article, about Zinn’s “People’s History of the US” and your comment about knowing the past.
If I may add to that: Zinn said in a speech played on
Dem.Now on Jan. 3,2009 or so (given right after the 2008 election) that “if you don’t know history, it’s like you were born yesterday, and the government can tell you anything.”.  http://www.democracynow.org

“The only power greater than organized money is organized people.”

NYCartist, I think that defines the struggle we are fighting for regarding the “public option” perfectly. We will see who is the stronger, and I’m especially wondering how women are going to influence this outcome. They’ve always been the power behind the scenes, away from view; but I believe they especially want not just reform, but a new way to deliver health care. Less like McDonalds, more like what Congress enjoys.

I often am cheered by Zinn and Chomsky.  Believe it or not.  We (folks and the GI’s who refused to fight)
ended the war on Vietnam earlier than if no protest.
Nixon was frightened off using nuclear by protesters
(he feared using, as cited in some phone transcripts
or book)(true?).
An apt comment by Glen Ford of http://www.blackagendareport.com in a video on http://www.wbixradio.org of a joint meeting of Harlem Tenants Council and TakeBackWBAI (see ON-DEMAND section of
http://www.wbixradio.org): “The only power greater than
organized money is organized people.”.

Psmith, I think you are being a bit unfair. There’s a difference between being anti-progressive and just making fun of faux-progressivism and the non-activism of today which is what I think Fish is trying to draw attention to.

Yes, we need to stop the profit motive in war. However, we also need to start focusing on educating people to focus on the community rather than simply the individual. Without a change of mindset, war will never be stopped. http://www.dimequecrees.com

The only way we can end America’s serial wars is to take the profit out of it. I have no idea how that can be done. A central reality of the US, contrary to all our lovely philosophies, is that money is the power that drives this country, and that fuels everything that America is about.

All the votes of all the people have no power, and change never has/never will come from the top. The public chooses presidents from among a (pre-selected)handful of rich people who are financed by rich people who require that the agenda of the rich is carried through. The ONLY way that change happens in America is when ordinary people finally stand up and MAKE it change. 

We do have to wonder why today’s Progressives can’t even seem to organize a tea party, but that’s a separate topic.