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Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Healthcare for All

I hope to see in the coming year a universal healthcare system instituted in this country. Not mandated healthcare, but the expansion of Medicare/Medicaid to cover all Americans. Doing such would do more for the middle class than any stimulus or bailout possibly could. Forcing people to buy subsidized health coverage from the big insurance companies isn't enough, not unless the quality of coverage can be guanranteed and the prices kept low. Why outsource to the people already scamming us what we can do better? We need this more now than ever, please help us do something about it.

Why not universal healthcare?

I ended up in a debate on universal healthcare with a coworker at work yesterday. I don't know how I keep getting myself involved in these things at work; I guess it's just hard for me to keep my mouth shut when topics like this come up. But I came across the dumbest philosophy ever related to universal healthcare. I'm not talking about half-educated claims of how horrible Canada and the U.K.'s systems supposedly are, or even that it would socialize the entire medical industry and lead us to communism. No, it's an even more dangerous philosophy: why should my taxes pay for those who use the service more than me? What. The. Fuck. That is wrong is so many ways, so let me count the ways in which it is.

One, with any form of insurance today, be it house, car, or medical, the safe people who pay in and don't withdraw pay for the people who use the services more than they do. Except the insurance companies cut a profit off of your medical coverage, and to further their profit margin, they're always looking for ways to not pay, or not pay full price, thus causing you to have to pocket even more expenses than the insurance costs you already pay. Also, there's a backdoor tax we already pay for the uninsured when they receive E.R. treatment and are unable to pay for it. Furthermore, we already pay for Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP programs out of our tax dollars, and most of us taxpayers don't actually benefit directly from such programs, but we know plenty of people who do. Why can't we extend those benefits to everyone, and be able to use the services we pay for?

Two, we pay for plenty of services that we don't directly use, or use much less often, than other segments of the population. My house hasn't burnt down, why should I pay taxes for fire services? Some rich guy has a private security force, why should he pay taxes for police? Some 26-year-old BK employee doesn't read, why should his taxes fund libraries? Some 50-year-old man has no children and isn't in school, why should his taxes fund education? I'll tell you why: for the public good. The little bit in overall taxes it would cost to have universal healthcare would be offset by all of the money freed up so that individuals could go out and stimulate the economy. A healthier society would also benefit everyone, as we would be more productive (fewer sick days, healthier, happier).

Three, sure, you may not be using the doctor much now, what happens when you get cancer? Suddenly you become the guy you blasted earlier, so are you going to suck it up and not take treatment because there's someone else out there that feels as you did? Fuck no, you're going to go get your treatment and get better. As you should, because you would be paying for a service that would provide you with all essential medical services, with no potential to be dropped or rejected for pre-existing issues. You would have access to the best in modern medical technology: you know, the equipment that right now only the very rich can even afford to go near. No longer would we have a stratified healhcare system: the very best for the very rich, moderate for the middle class, and third world care for the poor. That alone makes it worth it to me.

I can see the reasons why some people might not want such a system, but I don't think many of them are valid, this one especially. Some may not want universal healthcare, but I don't want private healthcare. We tried their way, now lets try our way.

Friday, November 07, 2008

Looking Ahead

The coming days have been hard for me to get a grip on, and I'm still obsessing over Missouri's EV's, and Alaska, Minnesota, and Georgia's Senate races, but I have begun to look ahead to the future, to decide what I need to be doing. Firstly, I plan on remaining organized, allying with local Democrats to start shifting the ground game here in Michigan for future elections. Also, I plan on utilizing my new Democratic Congressman (Gary Peters, whoo!) and my two Democratic Senators to keep the pressure on Congress as we go forward into the Obama administration. But, I'm also looking ahead to 2010, attempting to decide what I can do best to secure our hold on the Senate and the House.

There are so many issues that we need to get off the ground, so many causes set back by our 8 years of national nightmare. My immediate priorities going into 2009 are to help pressure Congress into introducing and passing legislation on universal healthcare, expanding social welfare, and introducing infrastructure projects. The Employee Free Choice Act needs to be passed, which would allow employees to organize unions with a simple card check stating their intent to unionize, rather than the current up or down vote that's subject to such anti-union pressure. Finally, I plan on advocating the causes of civil rights for homosexuals, and legalizing marijuana (not that I smoke it, or would if it were legal, it's just that pot is basically harmless, the laws against it do all the harm).

On top of that, I hope to help keep the Obama and Peters' campaigns massively successful ground game from being dismantled between now and 2010, and between now and 2012. We're built a wonderful organization for Democratic GOTV this year, and I refuse to let it die. Locally it'll be a lot easier than nationally, since Peters is up for re-election in 2010 and his ground game here in the 8th was just beyond amazing. Not all of the 2010 candidates will have that infrastructure in place already, especially in weak Dem or Republican held areas. Much like Dean did with his Dean for America team (transitioning it into Democracy for America, an organization of which I am proudly a member), we need to transition this GOTV operation from 2008 into a movement that will last for years to come. The people at the top of the party can only do so much for the 50 State Strategy: the rest is up to us on the ground, and the local organizers who step up and volunteer.

Which brings us into 2010. It is a year I look forward to and yet fear. We could increase our gains in the Senate, the map looks very favorably to us in that year. We could hold steady, winning some and losing some. Or, the Republicans could stage a comeback in the next 2 years and sweep us back out of power, or into a majorly reduced minority. But the map is beautiful: 19 Republican seats for them to defend; 7 of them in states that went for Obama, or narrowly went for McCain. Meanwhile, there are only 15 Democratic seats for us to defend, mostly popular Senators in safe states. There is also the case of John McCain, the man who only won his home state of Arizona by 9 points (versus Bush who won AZ by 11 points), and who may be facing popular Governor Janet Napolitano for his seat come 2010.

In neighboring Ohio, George Voinovich faces re-election in a state that has trended Democratic following the 2006 rout of the Republicans there in the Senate, Governor, and other top state races. Then there's Pennsylvania, where RINO Senator Arlen Specter will face re-election after two bouts with cancer, in a state under similar circumstances as Ohio. These are the two out of state Senate races that I will personally be watching and (hopefully) working on. At home, I plan on devoting myself to the Gubernatorial elections and to re-electing Gary Peters in the 9th District. 2010, in my mind, is a watershed year for Democrats: if we can hold onto Congress, expand our control in state legislatures nationwide, then after the 2010 Census, we can redraw the political map. Preferably via nonpartisan methods, since I'd rather we not become what the Republican Party was for the last 8 years.

So, I guess I have my plate full for the next 2 years. For a junkie like me, there is no end to campaigning, just lulls. My fears that perhaps I was only in this to win the Presidency back have been swept aside. I'm in this for the movement, for change, for my children, for my future grandchildren. If anything, now I'm more motivated than I ever was. Obama winning hasn't stripped me of my purpose, it's reaffirmed it. I have a plan, I have a goal, I have the will, and I have what it takes, god dammit. I will do this. This is a war to retake our country: we've won the battle, now let's not lose the war.

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Post-Election Thoughts

I've had little time in the past few months to sit and collect my thoughts at one time and in one place, so bear with me, this is going to be long. The election is over, and it was historic. Possibly the highest, or second highest, youth turnout ever; potentially the highest voter turnout levels since 1908; first African-American President; first Democratic President since Carter to be elected with more than 50% of the popular vote. But what does this all mean going ahead? My guy won, and believe me, I'm ecstatic, but I'm not yet satisfied. Why not?

Well, it really boils down to this: people outside of the bubble think that Obama supporters think he'll make everything instantly better. Inside the bubble, the view is much different: this is not the end, but the beginning. This isn't a campaign to be disbanded upon initial victory, but a movement to build a lasting future. We've seen the Republican Party reduced to a regional Southern party this cycle. We'll see how long that holds up, we're not counting on a permanent majority just because we took two elections. The Republicans made that mistake, and look where it lead them.

No, this is a movement for the future, with me and my generation on the front lines. Everything has changed now, we're looking at quite possibly the most progressive generation in American history coming to the forefront. The job now is to secure that progressive alignment, spread it to other demographics, and create a political realignment not seen in America since the 1960's. The Baby Boomers, parents and grandparents of the generation that just broke 2-to-1 for Obama, forged that realignment. But they became burned out, they got burned by authority and by history. Everything since then has been defined by the culture wars, by whether you were for or against Vietnam. The 1960's defined the 40 years to follow, but with this historical election, maybe the trend will be broken.

I certainly hope so, because we are no longer, if we ever were, a center-right nation. Surveys and polls have a majority who think the government should be bigger and more influential; a larger majority believe we should have government funded healthcare, even if they are otherwise against big government. Our people are suffering, and they believe that we should be helping other people. Especially my generation, having been stripped of so many paths to success by the after effects of the 60's. Real jobs ever declining, service jobs all that springs up to replace them. Real wages decreasing steadily since the 70's, adjusted for inflation. The power of the labor unions in that same time period has declined sharply. Food prices, rent prices, a collapsed mortgage market, encouraging college students to endebt themselves up to their eyeballs to try and succeed in a contracting job market... where is the prosperity and opportunity we were promised growing up?

It's time to end it. The culture wars, the Cold War, the Vietnam War: they're all dead and gone, in the past. This generation cares little if gays marry, we just don't see it as a problem. Interracial marriages? Whatever. A black man for President? Where do we sign up? Socialist? So what? Get it? We're, like, so totally over that stuff, man. Get with the times or be left behind. We're moving forward, can you say the same? Everything I've ever wanted to tell my elders, I now have justification for. My dad, who voted Obama but is convinced that "black people don't have enough collective experience to run in politics. They need at least 50 years in power." Well ya know what, fuck you and your subtle racism.

The truth is, this country is going to be looking at our white majority shrinking into a white plurality in the coming decades, and both political parties are either going to be looking a lot more diverse, or they're going to be relegated to the dustbins of history as the minority party of OLD WHITE PEOPLE. 95% of blacks voted for Obama. 68% of Latinos. 61% of Asians. 60% other minorities. These are the expanding populations in America, white people are shrinking in relation to these demographic forces. Deal with it. Want to hide behind your Confederate flag? Eventually it will be torn away and your racism exposed. You don't have to be KKK to be racist, as my experiences with my family this year proved, there's plenty of subtle racists among otherwise tolerant populations.

But the future, it's ours. But what do we expect from it? Depends on who you ask. Myself, I hope that an Obama Presidency will bring us things like a national election policy, taking us out of the dark ages of 50 different, nearly incompatible election systems nationwide. Institutional early voting, instant runoff voting to make third-party runs more viable (pick, in order of preference, your preferred candidates). D.C. statehood, universal healthcare, increased federal grants for continued education, a sane economic policy (i.e. a move back towards Keynesian economics). I hope for all that and more. Because even more than change, this election was about HOPE.

Hope, because as things stand now, I see very little hope for me or my fellow Millennials. Republicans have saddled us with record national debt, sucked us in to fight their war for oil, left us with a collapsed economy, depressed wages, few job opportunities, and an uncertain future for our Social Security or our ability to retire at a semi-decent age. Our health is endangered because of skyrocketing healthcare costs, and insurance plans which charge more and more for less and less coverage. Burdened by the cost of our aging parents and grandparents retiring, needing care we can't afford. Having to watch them struggle and scrimp and save as their health wastes away while you struggle and scrimp and save alongside them. It's been tragic, so we need a little hope. Don't try and take this away from us, because we will fight you to the end, if need be. We won't be broken and tossed aside like the Boomers were in their heyday, and if you try, you'll be even worse than "the Man" that screwed you back in the day.

I guess, in the end, my lack of satisfaction is due to the rage I feel against my predecessors among the voting population. We made a great achievement, and we carried much of the burden of doing so. Sure, everyone else started climbing on later, and they contributed a great deal, but in my mind 2008 is OUR election, and forever will my memories of it be of stocking capped college students canvassing; the field organizers no older than I, running campaign offices; the rooms full of youth voters manning phone banks. This election isn't just historic because our man was black, or because we're so progressive. It's historic because it's OURS. So come on, try and take our hope and victory from us. I dare you.