Dear Democratic Congress,
It has become pretty obvious to me and others on the left that you have forgotten the rules of negotiating. So here is a quick lesson in Negotiating 101 or "Passing Acceptable Legislation".
First, the opposing sides have three possible outcomes.
- Dream outcome...best
- Pretty darned good outcome...still happy
- Any less and we're outta here
Each side knows where position 3 is for themselves but can only guess at where it is for the oppositon. Winning is ending up at position 1 or 2 for your side.
Second, opposing sides should start the negotiation by putting forward a proposition at position 1. Each side then begins to chip away at the opposition's proposal.
Third, the negotiations end when one side suspects the other side has reached their position 3 and any further pressure will cause them to walk away and dig in at position 1.
As this applies to healthcare reform Republicans lead with their Dream outcome -- no change at all. On the other hand, for some inexplicable reason, we started in position 2 "pretty good" (excepting Max Baucus whose committee started at position 3). Thus the Democrats end up at position 3 (except Baucus who gets nothing), and only that good because we have a majority.
So my advice is, when negotiations start, ask Dennis Kucinich what the starting position should be. He will always provide the Dream outcome, such as impeachment or single payer healthcare. Negotiating from there will give us a much better chance of ending negotiations in position 2, like censure or a public option.
I hope this has been helpful.
Sincerely,
GMFORD