It's all about the stories you tell

Turns out, you can probably sell your political agenda better if you can turn it into a compelling story.

That's what some authors are finally realizing, as reported here by BBC News.

Looking back at the healthcare debate, then, it might have been better strategy for the Obama admin to have sold their reform agenda more along the lines of David versus Goliath (i.e., average American vs. Big Insurance/Big Pharma) than spewing lots of facts and figures about the need for industry reform, factual as they may have been.

By the way, the photo leading the article is, to me, emblematic of Americans' increasingly angry, divisive politics-- a situation created and encouraged, I would argue, by the power elite, who know that so long as we're fighting with one another over this or that comparatively minor detail, no reform can ever interfere with their power-mongering plans. (The photo also reflects the ugliness of self-imposed ignorance.)

Reconciliation

No, I'm not talking about God & Sinners or you and your neurotic family-- I'm talking about the two congressional health care reform bills.

One thing I know should be present in the final bill that will be sent to the President's desk: repeal of anti-trust protection for the health insurance industry. In 1945, Congress passed the McCarran-Ferguson Act, giving the health insurance business such protections, and allowing the States to regulate such businesses without federal interference. Now that insurance is a transnational cash cow scam industry, the Feds must be allowed to step and in, and absolutely the business should be subject to the same anti-trust laws as other businesses.

See Sen. Patrick Leahy's (D-VT) proposed amendment to the health care reform bill.

The fat lady ain't sung yet, let's keep on the pressure!