When "reform" preserves the status quo, can we call it reform?

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reform

Was healthcare reformed?

Was the credit card industry reformed?

Is the financial industry being reformed?

[laughingliberal]

1. K & R nt

[Pirate Smile]

2. Of course we can. It is reform.

Reform:

To improve by alteration, correction of error, or removal of defects; put into a better form or condition.

To change for the better.
n.
1. A change for the better; an improvement.
2. Correction of evils, abuses, or errors.
3. Action to improve social or economic conditions without radical or revolutionary change.
adj.

[Radical Activist]

3. False premise.

None of those preserve the status quo and they all lay the groundwork for improvement in the near future.

The last four Presidents all deregulated various industries. Now Obama is re-regulating every major part of the economy. The tide is turning. Recognizing nothing but the compromises is unrealistic.

[Lost4words]

5. For Profit Health Care Delivery System 100% in tact, with no competition!

the rest of the world is laughing at the USA. IMO its nothing less than a corporate giveaway.

[maryf]

6. +1 nt

[Radical Activist]

9. Not really.

Every state has to set up a non-profit or public option. The bill is full of things progressives have wanted for years. But you don't earn your "cynical pundit" merit badge by pointing those things out.

[frazzled]

8. +100

Doesn't it get tiresome to read these slogans from people who apparently have no idea of the policy content of these bills? Sure, they don't contain 100% of what we hope for, but last time I looked, we don't live in Utopia. Each one provides some concrete, positive, even historic steps forward. And there is no question that all are far better than the status quo. The status quo would be the equivalent of accepting all the changes (read: depredations) that the Bush administration and Republican Congress put into place over the last few years (and sad to say, some of the policies put into place during the later years of the Clinton administration).

[Radical Activist]

10. There's always the need to point out the weakness in any bill or compromise.

The trouble is that almost all pundits on the left do nothing but point out the negatives. You can't treat every failure as a complete outrage and fail to celebrate any accomplishment. The result is what we have now: a lot of misinformed, discouraged people who are replacing hope with cynicism.

[defendandprotect]

4. It's NEWSPEAK . . . you pretend to reform . . . but you actually deform . . .

[kenny blankenship]

7. Every moment of reform, every crisis, is an opportunity - to sink the fangs in deeper.

[Radical Activist]

11. Nice. Yes. n/t