When I think of freedom, I think of it in positive, aspirational terms:our First Amendment freedoms, for example, or FDRs Four freedoms or the uplifting songs of freedom sung by oppressed people around the globe.

But right-wing, corporate-funded ideologues have fabricated a new negative notion of freedoms derived from individual choice. Youre free to be poor, free to be politically powerless or free to be ill and uncared for; its all a matter of decisions you freely make in life, and our larger society has no business interfering with your free will.

This is what passes for a philosophical framework behind many of the policies of todays Republican congressional leaders. For example, they say their plan to eliminate health coverage for millions of Americans and do away with such essential health benefits as maternity care for millions more is just a matter of good oldfree-market consumerism. As explained by Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Tea Party Republican, Americans have choices. And so maybe, rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest in their own health care.

Lest you think that Chaffetzmust simply be an oddball jerk, heres a similar deep insight from the top House Republican, Speaker Paul Ryan: Freedom is the ability to buy what you want to fit what you need. Yes, apparently, you are as free as you can afford to be. As Vice President Mike Pence recently barked at us, Trumpcares youre-on-your-own philosophy is all about bringing freedom and individual responsibility back to American health care.

The GOPs austere view is that getting treatment for your spouses cancer should be like buying a new pair of shoes,, a free-market decision by customers who can choose their own price point from high-dollar Neiman Marcus to barging-basement Dollar General. And some go barefoot. But then thats their choice.

So thats what Republicans Trumpcare is offering us, this freedom from health care. Well, good news, people: At last, congressional Democrats have gotten a clue, grown some spine and are beginning to act like, well, like Democrats!

In particular, a majority of Dems in the U.S. House are responding to the rising public demand that decent health care be treated as a right for everyone, rather than being rationed by profiteering insurance conglomerates. Nearly 6 of 10 Democrats in the House have now signed on to Rep. John Conyers Medicare for All bill, which is being carried in the Senate by Bernie Sanders.

So, Hallelujah, progress!

Yes, but many speed bumps remain on the Democratic Partys entry ramps onto the moral high road of politics. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, for one. When the leader of House Democrats was asked if the party should make health care for all a major issue in Congress andfor the 2018 elections, she replied with a flat no. Basically, Pelosi is saying the American people arent ready for it, by which she really means that the narrow slice of the public that inhabits her world health industry executives, lobbyists and big campaign donors arent ready. Meanwhile, a good 60 percent of regular Americans are damned sure ready, telling pollsters flat out that our government has a responsibility to ensure that everyone gets the care they need.

Lets be blunt: When it comes to the fiery leadership that Americas grassroots people want and need, the Democratic Party establishment is weaker than Canadian hot sauce. When youve got 60 percent of your partys rank-and-file congressional members ready to go on such a basic issue, and 60 percent of the public is also ready to go, its time to go! The national partys leadership must get going on health care for all, or the leadership itself must go.

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The GOP's new brand of freedom: The privilege of being without health insurance - Salon