Am I The Only Democrat Who's Not Mad At The Democrats?

​                       Books by Patti Liszkay available on Amazon:   
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​Am I The Only Democrat Who's Not Mad At The Democrats?

     When the news hit that the Democrats were incensed with the Senators and Representatives who voted along with Republicans to pass a funding bill that reopened the U.S. Government but ended the Affordable Healthcare subsidies,  I assumed it was the Congressional Democrats up on Capitol Hill who were furious  at their shutdown-ending colleagues.
​       I assumed that the rest of us Democrats here below were as relieved as the rest of the country that after six weeks of individual suffering and national anxiety, the longest government shutdown in history was over, with federal employees back to work, air traffic controllers and TSA agents  being paid again, flights safely back on schedule, national parks reopened again, hungry folks receiving their food assistance.
      The tragedy in the outcome, of course, is that our Democratic leaders, outnumbered by Congressional Republicans - who, for some reason I can't understand, appear to be against affordable healthcare for Americans - could not at this time save the  government subsidies that made healthcare affordable to tens of millions of Americans,
       But they fought, those Democratic Senators did, like the stout hearted, outnumbered Texicans of the Alamo who held out for 13 days under siege by Santa Ana's vast army. 

     The Democrats held out in their minority for 43 days in hopes of saving healthcare, but in the end seven Democrats and one independent relinquished the fight and voted with the Republicans to fund the government, thus ending a standoff that could have gone on until kingdom come,

...while Americans continued to suffer. 
       But, in holding out for healthcare for as long they did, the Congressional Democrats did their best for the well being of the American people.
        Or so I thought.
       I soon learned to my surprise that not only are Congressional Democrats mad at Congressional Democrats for giving in to the Republicans; Almost all Democrats are mad at Congressional Democrats for giving in to the Republicans. A number of my family members, most of my friends, most folks I know who are, like me, part of the Democratic base, are angry with the Democrats who laid down their arms  to the Republicans. In fact they're angry with the Democratic leadership in general. They say things like:
         "The Democrats had the Republicans over a barrel but then they gave in." 
          "If only the Dems had held out a little longer the Republicans would have caved."
          "The Democrats wimped out."
​           "If the Democrats were going to give up and get nothing in return, why didn't they do it at the beginning instead of making Americans suffer for six weeks?"
             To which I respond that what the Dems gained from their Republican colleagues was putting the issue of affordable healthcare front and center and making it clear which party is fighting for Americans' access to healthcare and which party is fighting to take it away. 
​             The Democrats also exacted from Congressional Republicans a promise to bring to the floor next month another vote on extending the healthcare subsidies. And if the Republicans break their promise, or if they once again vote to let affordable healthcare die, then the suffering of Americans who can't afford healthcare for themselves and their families will be on those Republicans.
         And it will also be a reminder that this majority of anti-healthcare Senators and Representatives was voted into office by the American people. In a democracy we find out, sometimes to our sorrow, that we get what we vote for.