California Democratic Party Civil War Underway
A civil war in the Democratic Party between the populist left and the neoliberal centrists finally, belatedly has broken out. An "Army of Progressive Primary Challengers" aim to overturn the out of touch Democratic establishment nationwide.
However, it is in California, where Democrats are strongest, is where the front lines of this battle will be fought. The touchstone of this battle is health care.
Stoked by a contested race for state Democratic Party chair and the failure of a single-payer health care bill, activists are staging protests at the capitol. Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon reported receiving death threats after shelving the health care legislation late last month, and security was tightened at the statehouse after activists disrupted a floor session last week.
The rancor, a spillover from the contentious Democratic presidential primary last year, is aggravating divisions in a state regarded nationally as a lodestar for the liberal cause.
The origin of this battle started last month.
Kimberly Ellis, a Berniecrat, was denied the state chair by a razor-thin margin, that included a combination of both Super Delegates and ineligible votes.
In a recent podcast with Jonathan Tasini, Ellis revealed that during a meeting a few weeks after she announced her campaign for the California Democratic Party chair position, party insiders asked her, “Who the hell do you think you are running for this?” during a private dinner. She was told her campaign would be political suicide. The insiders threatened to personally participate in “politically murdering” her. In line with their behavior in other contests between these two factions, the party’s establishment used corrupt, undemocratic tactics to ensure their preferred candidate, Bauman, won.
... “Excluding the more than 200 ballots with signature mismatches and questions around dues-payment eligibility requirements, at least 47 ballots for Bauman in the chair’s contest were ineligible or bear the hallmarks of organized manipulation. More than 30 ballots for Bauman should have been, but were not, disqualified. Several Bauman proxy votes, or ballots cast in the name of Democratic delegates who were not present, came from people who were not qualified under Party eligibility standards to cast ballots, were not registered to vote, or who were not registered as Democrats.”
If that wasn't enough, the underhanded way the Democratic establishment pretended to push for single-payer health care and then killed it without a vote is just about the last straw.
Explaining his decision to temporarily stymie the Healthy California Act, Rendon called the bill “woefully incomplete” since the measure included no specific provisions for financing or provider payments.
Rendon is actually telling the truth to a certain extent.
Jimmy Dore explain in the video below how Prop 98 prevented the bill in it's form from ever being able to pass.
But that causes one to question why the bill ever made it so far? Why did the Democratic legislators promise so much? What it looks like is a very insincere effort at temporarily appeasing the progressive wing of the party, after robbing them of the state chair.
And it doesn't appear to have worked at all.
People need to understand that the governor has not supported single-payer for a long time. And everyone has known in advance that that this bill was doomed to fail—that the governor would never sign it. And the only decision about this was where, and in what committee, it was going to die. That's it. I know I'm sounding very cynical right now, but they never had the intention of passing this.
California Democrats, and Democrats nationwide, are guilty of defending a health care system that doesn't work, while promising to fix it's problem without telling us how.
The battle over Obamacare is a good example. Republicans are trying to pass a horrible, gruesome repeal bill, while the Dems fight to preserve Obamacare. The problem is that Obamacare is slowly dying.
Results of the Gallup-Sharecare Well-Being Index were released Monday, showing some 2 million U.S. adults lost insurance coverage this year alone. The uninsurance rate grew from 10.9 percent at the end of 2016 to 11.7 percent in the second quarter of 2017
The battle over health care reform is mostly about Big Money + Ignorance + Big Corruption versus the grassroots.
We have the numbers and the logic. They have everything else. The trick is washing away the ignorance.
Remember: around one in three Americans is unaware of the fact that there is no difference between Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — they are one and the same. Many of these people tell pollsters that they like the ACA but dislike Obamacare.
...An August 2009 poll found that 39% of Americans said they wanted government to “stay out of Medicare” — which is, of course, impossible.
... For example, according to a February 2016 poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, “nearly two thirds (64%) of Americans say they have a positive reaction to the term ‘Medicare-for-all,’ and most (57%) say the same about ‘guaranteed universal health coverage.’ Fewer have a positive reaction to ‘single payer health insurance system’ (44%) or ‘socialized medicine’ (38%).”The words don’t work and, as a result, ignorance abounds.
“About half (53%) of Democrats say they have a very positive reaction to ‘Medicare-for-all’ compared with 21 percent who say the same for ‘single payer health insurance system,’” according to the Kaiser poll. But to be clear: “Medicare-for-all” and “single payer” refer to… the same exact thing.
Comments
Medicare-for-all and single-payer are NOT the same thing.
Medicare-for-all is one possible single-payer plan. The term single-payer is more inclusive including "socialized medicine" i.e. a system in which all health care is provided by a single government agency like the UK National Health system. Most people do oppose this but like Medicare which lets you select your own doctor who is a private provider, not necessarily a government employee. Look at the German and Nordic countries for a differing system from the UK. I think the French system is also different but I don't know enough about it.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
Both Medicare-For-All and Single Payer mean
similar if not identical things. Single Payer is more general. Medicare-For-All is based on an actual entity or socialized program which has worked here for decades. Quit nit-picking! Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
But true Medicare for All
isn't single payer when you need supplemental insurance for part of the costs. Right? I know we've discussed this out here before, to have a true single payer it would be government owned and run, correct? Like the UK at least once was.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Absolutely!
I favor increasing the tax by 25% to cover the missing 20% and freezing out the ins cos.
Step 2 (or maybe step one!) fold Part D into Part B and regulate drug prices as every other civilized country does.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
@The Voice In the Wilderness In the UK everyone has
In the UK everyone has access to the NHS, which is paid for through taxation. People of means can have private insurance, they see the same specialists at the NHS hospitals. The super rich go to specialists on Harley Street. There has been major changes to the NHS in recent times and the system currently suffers from the effects of under-funding and some form of privatization.
It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. Carl Sagan
The effin' Tories have been underfunding it for years.
If and when Corbyn's Labour takes over, I hope they can restore funding and somehow make it Tory-proof.
The continent offers better models n/t
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
True, but Medicare as it sits now is not single payer.
I want Medicare for All and like using the term because Medicare is known to almost every adult. If they are not receiving it, they know someone who is. And, it is THE most popular government program. Say single payer to many and you'll get a blank stare. Most patients don't care (yet*) whether Medicare has one payer or six. They care about the cost, picking their own doc and the coverage.
*Single payer should cut costs, but that has not been explained very well to most Americans yet.
Up the Rebels!
Down with the corrupt establishment!
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
It's amazing to watch how hard they are trying to hold
on to their power and resist every chance they have to change the party back to what it was decades ago at both the state and federal levels.
I wish that we could get more eyes on your essays. They are brilliant.
Glad that you are writing here.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
How can we start missing Hillary if she doesn't go away?
When she's not leading the McResistance
An opportunity to suck up relentlessly
to the uber wealthy, who could be surprised? And they DO seem to worship her so she'll get her fix in that respect too. Ick.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
bad signs
Does anyone else see this as what the trade calls "a bad sign"??
Democratic Party leaders are supposed to inspire fear in Republicans, not welcome!
She's still a Goldwater Girl. She's just figured out another way to express it!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Obama is also involved in the Democratic Party
it was one of the reasons why he is staying in DC. The first reason is so his youngest daughter can graduate from her high school. The other reason is to protect his legacy. Both his and Hillary's super PACs are making sure that the party doesn't move too far to the left. His super PAC is called organizing for America, IIRC.
The longer the Clintons stay tied to the DP, the less chance there is that they will change anything.
We've already heard from Pelosi that she doesn't think that they need to change anything, except for finding the proper messages that will get people crawling back to the party.
Hillary's hasn't learned that it doesn't matter how much money she or anyone in the party has, they will still lose to the republicans if people won't vote for the democrat.
Look at how many private fundraisers she went to during the last month of the election instead of going to the states that she lost to Trump.
How can we miss her, indeed.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
@snoopydog - oh, so in order for Obama's daughter to graduate
from highschool, Obama has to rent a mansion in the Kalorama area in Washiington DC? Interesting.
I think it might have more to do with Obama not getting over the criticism he has gotten from the left progressive side of the Democratic Party and he can't detach himself from that. He wants to meddle and fight back, I assume.
I know the area well. Lots of elite, rich Democrats lived there. As a little people person you can't help but feel 'inadequate' among the neighbors in that area.
What the heck.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Can Obama speak 2 languages, as you do?
the good stuff is inside you, right?
P.S. He has yet to master the objective case in English.
"The King gave Michelle and I that big bag of gold."
He can't quite get the hang of it. some genius.
aargh.
now here's royalty for real.
edit. rewrite title -add video
Being really multi-lingual has some disadvantages too ...
you understand too much of both/several sides. It's harder to pursue favorite pipe-dreams about another country being a better place to find peace and a decent living with more social justice.
I see here a couple of people having hidden thoughts and dreams to find those places somewhere in Scandinavia or Latin America... heh, I don't want to wake you up from having dreams, go on. In that sense I am americanized, keep hope alive and I am the change I want to see /s... okey, dokey. But when you get to the other side and wake up, please don't blame it on ... not being told by those who understand at least a little bit of the other side's language and culture.
Thanks for the royal tunes.
https://www.euronews.com/live
Criticism of Obama pales in comparison to the number of
seats Democrats lost, local, state and federal, after Obama became head of the Democratic Party. They gained greatly in 2006 because people were waking up to how bad Bush was. Between the economic crash of 2008 and other things, 2008 was the "perfect storm" for electing Democrats. From 2010 on, it was the Titanic.
She doesn't know
that she's poison.
@snoopydawg Top comment.
Top comment.
Oh, and she's abjectly NOT gone. Open Secrets tweeted in the past few days a link which shows she formed a joint fundraising committee w/ DNC for the 2018 cycle, ostensibly (this is my conjecture based on other reporting this week) to support congressional candidates in the districts where she outperformed Trump (if I'm wrong, she's running for national dog catcher or something I haven't figured out yet for next year).
She's not done. She can't really be 'back' since she never really left and all...
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
@MsGrin I was trying to refer
I was trying to refer to the 'can't miss her' comment... so true.
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
@MsGrin @Snoopydawg, I can't
@Snoopydawg, I can't keep track of my head these days, let alone to whom I owe notes. My apologies...
'What we are left with is an agency mandated to ensure transparency and disclosure that is actually working to keep the public in the dark' - Ann M. Ravel, former FEC member
It's good to hear from you
I have been wondering where you were. I hope everything is okay with you.
You are right that she isn't done meddling in our politics. Neither is Bill or Barry, unfortunately. They think they are so important and we'd be worse off if they weren't still involved with our politics.
After Obama wrecked what was left of the DP, he's sticking around to make sure that the DP doesn't move too far to the left. So are Pelosi and Schumer.
As I stated in tonight"s EBs, the damage that Obama did to our country is going to last for decades. Everything he did helped the 1% and he left the remaining 99% barely able to hang on.
Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?
What about Kerry? And Al Gore?
Just asking. They are very familiar with the Kalorama neighborhood.
https://www.euronews.com/live
@snoopydawg
Very diplomatic of you to assume that people bleeding Americans and others dry for the enrichment of a relative few self-interests already having most of everybody else's share are concerned about their victims being worse off without them, lol. Or was this snark?
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
@gjohnsit: where do you get the energy to post all
these excellent diaries + links?!? You are one heckuva asset for this site! Have you seen any recent posts from bobswern? I know he was banned from TOPlague months ago.
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
I'm gonna rant one way or another
There's so much going on that a)interests me, b)alarms me, or c)pisses me off (mostly (c)) that I'm going to rant somewhere.
If I don't do it here, I'll unload on my friends and family, in which case I'll soon not have friends and family to talk to.
This way I rarely talk politics IRL. It's better that way.
ranter
punctuation adjusted for format change (period added)
So c99p benefits, and your familial relationships stay intact!
Smart!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
@gjohnsit air kisses, cyber hugs
air kisses, cyber hugs to you, Handsome Man.
Thanks for all you do.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
For gjohnsit & all of the other great writers here.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Well, we're glad you're here,
and this is so much better than TOP.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Our politicians love to play games
while people go without healthcare and die.
Why should they get what they won't let the people have?
and then they're surprised people get pissed, fuck em.
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
The problem with David Dayen video and his Intercept article
In his Intercept article Dayen called what the organizers are doing as"deceiving their supporters". Fuck him. He puts no responsibility on democratic party lawmakers. He says bullshit about them, but in the end blames the single payer organizers. In says Rendon is a politician blah blah blah, but then puts no responsibility on him--almost like he was cool and dispassionate and it is the CNA that controls the process. But rather chides the organizers for not putting in their amendments to the original bill. Dayen as far as I am concerned is defending CA lawmakers. Here is the response by the CNA in The Intercept:
While the video is educational about financing, Dayen is otherwise protective and full of shit about the establishment and puts the full responsibility on the CNA.
Wonder how reporting like this damages
Intercept's trustworthiness? Could someone there have been "reached," as a judge described it decades ago when I was doing jury duty in NYC.
The Intercept just published a lengthy defense of CA efforts.
The Intercept just published a lengthy defense of CA efforts by Robert Pollin.
POLLIN: WHY SINGLE PAYER, NOW, IS FOR REAL
https://theintercept.com/2017/07/10/pollin-why-single-payer-now-is-for-r...
I have no idea what motivated Dayen to interject slander against the CNA. It is encouraging that so many people are saying "bullshit we won't go home quietly and vote for you" to the democrats in CA and to critics like Dayen.
Thanks for that link, MW
Valuable assessment of the situation - and identification of actual naysayers.
CA appropriatons comittee report on SB 562
here.(PDF)
From financing to implementation to legal issues, pretty much everything you would ever want to know about the bill.
Moneywise, they estimate between $50 & 100 bil. needed in new revenue.
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
Civil War as diversion
Maybe to divert attention away from the rotten core responsible for this: Sacramento sees a startling surge in homeless people. Who they are might surprise you
California can't even provide housing for all, much less healthcare. "the five loaves and the fishes ain't gonna be much help." Rock on.
Put The Money Down - The Who
peace
the Sacramento Bee article
I read the linked article (OK).
I then read the comments (mas grande mistake)!! Heartless, soul-less right wing assholes galore! Plenty of blame the victim, few traces of discussion of the real source of the problem (50+ years of wage dilution!) in those comments.
I forget that everywhere isn't like c99p, where the comments are well thought out and are as worthy of the time and effort it takes to read them as the Essays themselves are. (And I'm talking about the trite tripe I write, much less the comments of the likes of eyo, OPOL, gjohnsit, LaFeminista, mimi, joe shikspack, et al,!)
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Oh no your read the comments
sorry about that, I guess they were pretty racist? What happened to our newspapers? I have blocked comments everywhere but here, mostly. Disqus on my local papers is the worst, I call it disqust, stopped reading it.
It is amazing, entire industries (contracts galore) have grown to support the "problem" of housing a small fraction of our population, the people who have nothing or less. It is not a hard problem to solve physically, it is pure politics (and greed) making people suffer and die on the streets.
This is me trying to expand the Overton window, if I vote for MfA of course it would be to help others, preferably not billionaires, they already had enough help. Why can't the sixth largest economy in the world, the state with the highest number of billionaires, provide decent housing for everyone across the board, without picking and choosing who wins and loses? "We're capitalists."
Don't get your war on, don't say healthcare if you can't even do housing.
peace
The whole freaking West Coast has a homeless problem
And how do they plan to solve it? Besides "leafblower" sweeps to harass the campers? More high end condominiums, of course. After all, if paying a trendy $2000 rent gives you status, imagine the rush from paying an even trendier $3000 rent? Those $17 milkshakes don't sound so expensive after that.
Voice in the Wilderness,
I recommend T. R. Reid's The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care:
https://www.amazon.com/Healing-America-Global-Better-Cheaper/dp/01431182...
Reid takes a look at the health care systems in developed countries around the world. It's a very informative book, rated 4.7 stars out of a possible 5 at Amazon.com by 502 customers.
Reid opines at the end that Obama blew it by selling the ACA as an economic issue rather than a moral one.
Zuck wants to build affordable housing at FB now
and he even mentioned a company store. Facebook village? Social media giant to build 'social housing'
More money for Zuck and his politicians, "That's the system." Housing for FB, not for homeless. I guess he is planning on cutting wages, or maybe he already doesn't pay enough? Why build "affordable" housing, is it for his servant class or what. Feh.
Zuckerberg's ego is splattered all over San Francisco now, much like Trump in NY. Blue church, Red church. (Thanks to whoever linked that Blue Church article yesterday, good one.)
peace
He won't have to cut wages
He'll just deduct housing and grocery costs from them, and the workers will be in the hole every month, eventually.
"You code fifteen hours and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt!"
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
I Sold My Soul to the Memory Hole. nt
“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” ~ Sun Tzu
Yes, found that "Blue Church" article interesting too, eyo.
Anybody have that link to put here also? Can't remember if it was native, or dervish (or someone else), who put it up and where.
Thanks in advance.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
It was native
but I marked it, hang on a sec...
Understanding the Blue Church
He's got other articles out there too.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Thanks for the speedy reply, dervish.
Wanted to re-read it and possibly send on to friends.
Corporate mainstream media and government propaganda together, is the linchpin to practically everything.
"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:
THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"
- Kurt Vonnegut
@eyo
Incrementally moving into the prospectively approaching billionaire monopoly on housing now that banksters/speculators/investment groups have made it damn near impossible for most people to ever afford to own their own home, if they don't already?
Once you own government, or a large enough share of it, you can wind up owning everything...
Edited to add relevant quote from waaaaay up there.
Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.
A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.
It's odd that the bluest cities
seem to have the most expensive housing.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
Homelessness is more expensive than providing even free
housing, let alone "affordable" housing. This has been proven again and again, so much so that the conservative state of Utah now provides modest, small apartments to the homeless as a cost-saving measure. Medicare for All, if done right, is cheaper than the current situation.
For some reason, our society prefers meanness, especially to homeless people, to saving money. We don't even provide them with coin operated johns or showers. (Someone here once replied to that with one community that does, but that was one in a row.)
The lack of public restrooms in the US
goes far beyond that even. It's bad for business, and discourages pedestrian traffic, yet few cities catch on. A vibrant pedestrian zone must include public restrooms.
"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."
True, however, the only alternative or urban homeless may
be to crap themselves, with no place, even a sink, to clean up--and then have to beg for money while they stink. I have lived in cities all my life and can attest that happens. We must remember, too, that families with children, including infants and those attending school become homeless. Think diaper rash, being bullied in elementary school or junior high because you have b.o., etc. It's very different from someone who can easily afford to stop for coffee and use the facilities, then go home.
As a society, we're despicable to the homeless, IMO.
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