Civil Eats

Democratic strategists told the Rachel Maddow show yesterday that they are considering a strategy in which the congressional leadership would revoke chairmanships and other leadership positions from any Democrat siding with a Republican filibuster to stop a vote on health care reform, regardless of how they vote on the bill.

This show of muscle in the Democratic party could be bad for Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, who has previously spoken against the public option and has been viewed as a threat to health care reform so much so that she has even had advertisements like this one run against her in her state, where 17.5% of inhabitants don’t have health insurance.

So if Democrats in fact adapt this strategy, we challenge you to go ahead, Senator Lincoln, and go rogue against your party. We’d be happy to accept Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) as the new chairwoman, considering that you have been so receptive to agribusiness interests over those of 300 million eaters in this country.

Paula Crossfield is the managing editor of Civil Eats. She is also a regular contributor to the Huffington Post's Green Page and is a contributing producer at The Leonard Lopate Show on New York Public Radio where she focuses on food issues. She is currently tending a vegetable garden on her roof in the Lower East Side. You can follow her on Twitter.