Yesterday, the House Democrats unveiled their health care reform bill.

Even if it passes, it is bound to fail.

Why?

Because it keeps the insurance industry in the game.

It will cost a trillion dollars over ten years.

It won’t cover tens of millions of Americans.

It won’t control costs.

And it’s a bailout for the insurance industry.

Only a single payer — everybody in, nobody out — national health insurance bill (co-sponsored by 85 members of the House — most recently by Congressman John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania)) will hit the grand slam — cover everyone, save money, control costs, and fix a broken health care system.

But what struck me yesterday while watching the Democrats was the depth of their deception.

There was Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.

Both heaping praise upon and honoring Congressman John Dingell (D-Michigan).

And his father — John Dingell, Sr.

John Dingell, Sr. represented Michigan’s 15th district for 22 years until his death in 1955.

John Dingell, Jr. has represented the district ever since.

But not once during the press conference did anyone mention that it was John Dingell, Sr. who first introduced a single payer bill in Congress in 1943.

And it was Democratic leaders in Congress and President Barack Obama who took single payer off the table.

The Republicans will tell you straight up — we’re for big business.

Single payer is socialism.

And that’s why we’re against single payer.

When the Democrats are out of power, they will tell you what you want to hear — we’re for single payer.

They then take power, and all of a sudden, they are against single payer.

Take Henry Waxman (D-California) as a case in point.

For years, Henry Waxman was a co-sponsor of HR 676 — the single payer bill in the House.

Until earlier this year, when he became part of the leadership in the House.

Then Waxman took his name off the single payer bill.

In 2003, Barack Obama said he was for single payer.

Obama said at the time that we would have single payer in America only when the Democrats took back the White House and Congress.

Last year, Obama and the Democrats took back the White House and Congress.

And now President Obama is opposed to single payer.

The reality is that there is only one solution to the health care crisis — get the insurance companies out of health care.

The Democrats are now engaged in what Dr. Marcia Angell — former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine — calls “the futility of piecemeal tinkering.”

Angell and a majority of doctors in the United States — and a majority of the American people — believe that only a major single payer overhaul will get the job done.

That’s why we’re challenging the Democrats around the country.

And we will continue to challenge them, and the health insurance industry to whom they are beholden, until single payer becomes a reality in America.

We’re in it for the long haul.

Thanks to your generosity, Single Payer Action has directly confronted Democratic leaders including:

Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California)

Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York)

Senator Kent Conrad (D-North Dakota)

Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland)

First Lady Michelle Obama

Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut)

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California)

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon)

White House Health Czar Nancy Ann DeParle

Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana).

And we’re planning to ratchet up the confrontation when Congress heads home for the August recess.

We have more than 20 single payer activists in our network now — and the list continues to grow.

The idea is to build a national core group of activists who will challenge members of Congress in non-violent direct confrontation.

To demand an answer — why are you ignoring the plight of the American people?

And to demand action — put single payer on the table now.

We need your help now to fund and expand this network in time for next month’s Congressional recess.

So, please, donate now — whatever you can afford — $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, $1,000.

So that we can confront the corporate Democrats in August.

And remember, only two days left on our special book offer.

If you donate $100 or more now, we will send you a copy, hot off the press, of Theresa Amato’s hard cover, 379-page masterpiece — Grand Illusion: The Myth of Voter Choice in a Two-Party Tyranny (The New Press, June 2009).

Autographed by Ralph Nader — who wrote the foreword to the book.

Phil Donahue said this about Grand Illusion: “Theresa Amato takes the biggest swing — not a jab, but a roundhouse punch — at America’s corrupt electoral system.”

So, don’t delay.

Please donate now.

So that we can challenge the corporate Democrats on their home turf in August.

Together, we can make the difference.

Onward to a life-saving, cost-saving single payer.

Russell Mokhiber

PS:  Remember — only two days left. If you donate $100 or more to Single Payer Action now, we’ll send to you a copy of Grand Illusion by Theresa Amato — autographed by Ralph Nader. The offer ends this Friday July 17 at 11:59 p.m.

PPS:  Thanks to your generosity, we have set up Single Payer Action TV — where you can watch our actions against members of Congress soon after they happen. Check it out here.