by publius

Not sure what to make of this (via the Benen):

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) confirmed this past week that he personally supports a public option for insurance coverage[.]

I supposed I should be heartened. But I'm not. Instead, I'm frustrated because it reminds me of how differently history might be playing out if certain individuals would make different and better choices.

Generally speaking, I'm skeptical of individual-centric explanations of historical events. I prefer structural explanations, especially economic ones. But in today's health coverage debate, I think that a very small group of individual legislators really could materially change History, if they were so inclined.

For instance, imagine a world (long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away) where the centrists Dems decided that they truly wanted to make coverage reform happen. Imagine if Joe Lieberman and Kent Conrad and Ben Nelson got on TV and said, "we're going to make this happen, it's just too important to fail."

The media would go absolutely nuts -- David Broder would attain nirvana. Reform would have new momentum, and new pressure would ricochet back to the moderate Republicans. If Kent Conrad is behind it, why aren't you?

Modern media cycles and herd mentality (information cascades) are unfortunately playing a large role in this legislative debate. But that can work both ways. A unified and active "centrist" bloc really could shift the narrative, and swing History in a different direction.

It's such a rare thing for individuals to have this sort of opportunity -- the opportunity to do great, historic things just by choosing differently. I mean, this is why they're Democrats, right?

But alas, that's not the world we live in. In this world, Kent Conrad and Mike Ross feel that it is their god-given duty to say 100% negative and unhelpful things about the bill. Joe Lieberman (but he's great on domestic policy!) could choose not to emphasize abandoning the uninsured. Max Baucus -- the American Sphinx -- could choose to wrap things up in Finance.

It's just maddening to have so much riding on the whims of so few.