This is really well stated. I’ll be borrowing that in the future.
It would be an interesting counterfactual: what if Johnson operated like today’s timorous and compromised Dem establishment? Or (moving from social to economic progressivism) what if FDR did? At the time, the New Deal and Social Security were characterised by his conservative opponents as fantastical plans that would do nothing for the nation and send us down the road to Communism.
We’re in the midst of what is arguably a bigger crisis than the Great Depression or the existence of the Jim Crow police state, but no Green New Deal for Pelosi because it might offend coal-rolling voters and because it might be the coup-de-grace for already dying industries and because it will make some big-money donors unhappy.
Hi, I’m in Ohio, one of the quintessential swing states. Free college tuition is a very popular idea here. A public option for health care is incredibly popular, as are employment programs. Now, I definitely live in one of the bluer parts of Ohio, but the same things are popular when I head to northwest Ohio. In fact I think Sanders is a useful guide for understanding that a lot of further left policies have an appeal far outside the traditional Democratic base. Sanders lost Ohio by a reasonably large, but not blowout margin (56/43). He won 13 out of 88 counties, with a razor thin margin in 2. We can ignore his biggest county win Athens, because it is almost purely dominated by a university. His next three biggest wins were in Hancock, Wood, and Williams counties. For those who don’t follow rural Ohio politics closely, those are pretty solidly Republican counties. The pattern holds on down the list. These ideas have traction well outside a crazy leftist utopian bubble.
From TPM"
“The Electoral Buzzsaw of ‘Medicare for All’”
"The problem is, the whole premise is false. A raft of public surveys show that Medicare for All has anything ranging from public support in the low 40s to dismal support down into the 20s. "
"A new Marist poll illustrates the point, but it’s far from the only example. The poll asked Americans whether they supported “Medicare for all that want it, that is allow all Americans to choose between a national health insurance program or their own private health insurance.” 70% of adults thought that was a “good idea”.
When asked about “Medicare for all, that is a national health insurance program for all Americans that replaces private health insurance” the number fell to 41%. This isn’t an outlier. Numerous polls have shown roughly the same thing. "
"Don’t believe me? Simply look at every survey of public opinion to see what people support once they hear people who currently have private health care insurance would be forced to give that up in favor of the new system. The fact that that doesn’t make sense to you doesn’t matter. The fact that many countries have systems like single payer (Canada) or public/private hybrid systems (Germany) that ensure universal coverage and it works well and those publics wouldn’t think of switching to our system doesn’t matter either. "
"There is every reason to believe that Medicare for All would be a major electoral liability for a Democratic presidential candidate in a general election – just on the basis of what the plan actually does, let alone the way the GOP and the health care industry writ large would pile on to that with a campaign of lies, horror stories and propaganda. It could well mean the difference between Trump’s defeat or reelection by effectively nullifying the Democrats big advantage on health care and giving the GOP a cudgel to sour a significant amount of the electorate on the Democratic candidate. "
at least there seem to be a few potential FDRs running for the Dem presidential nomination. if only there was a LBJ (minus the war-mongering, of course). being able to talk to the public and convince them of your reasons for the way you’re trying to help them is great (and would be a tremendous improvement over the way Dems have been doing things of late, by merely following the way the wind was blowing). but to also have the ability to twist every congressional arm needed to pass your ideas into law… now THAT would be something.
If Pelosi were to be primary’d out, who would be the contenders for Speaker? That’s much more important than who holds one safe Democratic seat in California.
Adoption of single-payer may be a step father than most Americans are willing to go right now. (Although n8-zilla’s comment about leaders leading is my favourite of the thread.) But for most ideas to gain traction, they needs to be around for a while.
Now perhaps the Democratic candidate will actually campaign on it, but my guess is it’ll be transformed or soft-pedalled into “medicare-for-those-who-want-it” by the time it reaches the campaign trail.
However, the idea of single-payer will be firmly established, and 3-4 campaigns from now, who knows?
The war of ideas is a long one. Conservatives fought a 40 year war of increasing victory before they saw it all turn to ash because the tactics they used to promote conservatism were ripe for exploitation by the basest form of populism.
The battle for liberal ideas may take decades as well. But the ground-work needs to be laid now.
Also, speaking only for myself, I always find it interesting to have someone who is both polite, cogent, and who one fully disagrees with. Thanks for posting!
