There’s been a resurgence of leftism in this country (the DSA has increased membership exponentially in the last decade) and I feel it’s more important to keep that going, especially since Biden has Cali on lock.
Please don’t misunderstand. I don’t give a flying rat’s ass about placating Trumpist Republicans. I’m only arguing for not alienating those that are anti-Trumpists. Mostly because statistically they seem to have made the difference in handing Trump his win in 2016.
As for Obama, it is almost certain that I owe my life to the ACA. So you’ll be hard pressed to convince me that he capitulated.
Not sure what that means.
As I said, they will never hear us. No matter our message. We could all convert to gun-toting, pro-life, church-attending, blue-lives-mattering, anti-tax advocates, and not a single one of the people that you described would be moved an inch.
Catering to them is useless. It is a fool’s errand. The message will not get through.
The ACA helped me out a lot too, at least the Medicaid expansion part of it. But I still oppose it because it’s a band-aid on a gaping wound, and we need to treat the wound. And that treatment is universal healthcare through a program like Medicare For All.
To be more specific I should say that big media orgs and the DNC are going to screw over people who challenge capitalism. Obviously individuals can support socialism, or think that working with socialists or progressives is positive even if they are capitalists in terms of their place in the economy.
I basically don’t think anyone should have been under the illusion that the DNC would negotiate with the left in good faith. I don’t think anyone is going to be able to advance their interests in politics without having thick skin, and especially people who want to challenge the foundations of the system should get mad when the system keeps them at arms length.
The anti-Trumpists are already on board or they are not.
Not condemning the progressives will not make a difference there.
Do you really think that the ACA is as good as it should have been?
I owed quite a bit of money due to the ACA, while I fell into the gap between medicaid and effective subsidies.
And the times that I had to use it, it didn’t save me a dime.
ACA only had the advantage that it was better than what it replaced, nothing, but it had the disadvantage of being a real piece of shit, and that is mostly due to catering to republicans who were never going to support it anyway.
That’s the same as I feel about this election. If we work to try to get any republicans who are not already on board, we will have to compromise so much that a win will be meaningless.
No. It should have been UHC.
But before the ACA, I could not be covered for a pre-existing chronic condition.
It’s not perfect. It’s expensive, and I don’t qualify for a subsidy, but I’m fortunate to be able to afford the gold plan for me and my wife.
Comparing the cost to the taxes I paid for UHC in Canada, it actually works out somewhat cheaper given my income tax bracket.
That was a big problem I had with it, and why I deliberately kept myself under the federal poverty level instead of falling in that gap by working part time instead of full time. But I also have VA disability to back up whatever income I may get, so it gives me more of a cushion.
Having to deliberately keep yourself poor in order to get healthcare and not go broke is not a decision I or anybody else should have to make. Having to always worry if i’m making too much money. But we have to, and that is not a system worth defending.
Sometimes, winning the election is still “right”, even if it’s not 100% right. The best is the enemy of the good. That’s more or less the ultimate point I’m trying to make here- is it more important to be a purist about your leftist stuff, or is it more important to defeat Trump and the GOP this coming November?
To me, there’s absolutely no question that the latter is the ultimate goal everyone on the side of decency, honor, good and right should be doing, even if it’s not 100% what either hard-Leftists want, or what moderate Conservatives voting against Trump want in terms of policy. Both sides of this coalition need to hold their noses and vote against Trump and the GOP in November- there’ll be another chance in 2022 for Congress, and 2024 for the Presidency, when hopefully there will be two sane candidates to choose from.
But until then, there’s ONE goal in the immediate future- vote Biden and beat Trump. Everything else is secondary and on hold until that’s accomplished.
Sometimes it is worse than that:
This is unquestionably a shite situation that many people have found themselves in. I believe that Democrats where working on amendments to cure these gaps but of course the GOP made it their life’s mission to block and in some cases reverse whatever remedies were being implemented.
This is simply hindsight being 20/20. It took all of Obama’s political capital and tons of blood, sweat, and tears to get the ACA through (and then, luck), especially when Scott Brown won the Senate seat in Massachusetts.
People go on about Obama trying to compromise with Republicans… He was trying to keep his Democrats on board as well because every vote counted. He had to jettison a public option because Senator Manchin would not support it and he was the 60th vote (which is also why there was reach out to Senator Collins and other moderate Republicans)
For what it is worth, mandatory Medicaid expansion was part of the original bill, but was struck down by SCOTUS (which is why it makes me want to bang my head against the wall when people say Obama should have done that)
The problem was that it was fatally flawed from the very start, and that is on the Democrats, unless you are going to blame the GOP for the initial form of the ACA as well (which they vehemently opposed). Don’t try to shift blame, i’m not buying it.
Those fuckers are trying to say we mean “Defund” when we are actually saying “Defund”.
THOSE RAT BASTARDS! They have to be full of shit because otherwise how could they have reasonably gotten that impression?
OK. But when you say ‘abolishment’ what real action to you mean?
It’s fucking tough when folks decide they want to use words that have no meaning.
Also what is the DSA? And who the fuck are you? You just joined earlier today and I believe you have already made over 1400 posts… what is up with that?
If it is your position that the Obama administration could have passed a much more comprehensive healthcare reform law than the ACA, then I agree with @ISiddiqui above; you live in an alternative reality.
Here you go:
Yeah. Thanks. I could look that up myself but I shouldn’t have to. The person who wrote it need to write out what they mean. I’m sick of these lazy fuckers too self-absorbed to explain what they’re writing.
I didn’t do anything to warrant this hostility. Why attack me like this just because I am stating my views?
MOstly because I’m cranky that your profile is not able to be viewed. I have no idea who you are or what you’re on about. But the idea of “defund” not meaning “defund” doesn’t cry out for respect of your ideas.