Not implementing Medicare for All is absurd

"When I give food to the poor, I'm called a saint. When I ask why they are poor, I'm called a communist." -Archbishop Dom Helder Camara.   

Recently, Senator Bernie Sanders proposed implementing a single-payer style Medicare for All system to replace our completely dysfunctional sick care system. This was denounced by Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan as "absurd."

In 2018, all health care spending is expected to total $3.5 trillion.

By 2026, such spending is expected to skyrocket to $5.7 trillion.

Sanders' plan is projected to cost $32.6 trillion over 10 years, or an average of $3.26 trillion a year.

So Medicare for All would insure far more people than the current system (everyone) for far less money. To not implement such a program is what would be absurd.

Unless you own stock in the private health insurance industry.

Trump, not Sanders, is the candidate for the entitled generation

Sen. Bernie Sanders promotes taxpayer-funded college so that students can earn a degree, EARN a living, pay taxes and contribute to the system, rather than live off social programs. And he's the candidate of the entitled?

Sorry, but Donald Trump is the spoiled brat. Don't get what you want? Don't like the well-established rules? Just throw a temper tantrum and bait your supporters into doing the same. Try to intimidate the judges. Compare your critics to ISIS (but then claim you don't want them hurt). And enable this entitlement by paying the legal bills of thugs who break the law as long as they support your candidate. Trump is an entitled brat for the entitled brat demographic.

Oh and if building a wall and expecting someone else to pay for isn't 'socialism,' then I don't know what is.

Bernie Sanders' supporters should listen to Bernie Sanders

A few days ago, I published a piece called The Liberal Savior Fantasy, which criticized the lack of political awareness of Bernie Sanders' supporters. It stated that the problem of corporate control of government could not be solved by any president alone, not even Sanders and that a Sanders' candidacy MUST be complemented by a broader movement beyond a cult of personality.


You know who would agree with this sentiment?

Bernie Sanders.






"The reality of Washington, D.C., today is that we have one party, the Republican Party, completely dominated by big money and right wing folks. And you have another party, the Democratic Party, too much controlled by corporate money ... We have no president  that can deal with that. Unless we mobilize the American people and create a strong grass-roots movement that says enough is enough, the billionaire class cannot have it all."

The liberal savior fantasy

Liberals have been getting the rear ends kicked by conservatives (certainly on economics) for the last 35 years. They naively and desperately seek 'our only hope' every few years, rather than trying to build a real movement that doesn't rely on the coming of the Messiah of the Moment.

First, it was Bill, then Barack, now Bernie. They keep making the same mistake and then wonder why things keep moving in the wrong direction. 

I like much of what Bernie Sanders espouses. I really do... unless/until he endorses Hillary, when he becomes persona non grata.

But what happens if Bernie does manage to get elected? He'll facing a Congress controlled by GOP and corporate Democrats that will stymie any real changes he wants to make.

 

Bernie by himself isn't going to do squat. Elect a bunch of Greens to Congress that share much of his agenda and will push it and then you might have something. 

People who use the (quite amateurish, if you ask me) #FeelTheBern hashtag act as though this is some incidental sidebar. They adhere to the imperial presidency model.

Electing progressive Greens to Congress not is not incidental. It's integral to any chance the progressive economic agenda has of actually being implemented. If the Democrats were interested in this, they would've done it when they controlled the presidency and 59% of both houses of Congress... the most power any party had in 50 years.

But liberals have long proven too lazy to do the hard work. They smugly prefer being right far more than trying to ensure that right actually be done. I'll be thrilled to be proven wrong. I don't for one second believe it will happen.

One of the great propaganda coups of our time

Take $700,000,000,000 away from working Americans to bailout crooked bankers and then convince the public our fiscal woes are the fault of a teacher earning $40,000 a year. This has to be one of the great propaganda coups of our time.