All posts by Mikeylito

I'm a New York-bred transplanted Californian back on Long Island.
Opinion

It’s Time To Take A Stand

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As the Democrats roll out one centrist candidate after another and roll up loss after loss, here’s a suggestion for how they might get over the top.

“Take a stand.  Why don’t you?”

In my little fantasy world, henceforth referred to as MikeWorld, next week, 194 US Representatives and 47 US Senators (48, if Senator King of Maine cares to align himself) stand up and say with a clear and unified voice…

“We, the Democrats of the United States Congress, along with our friend, the Honorable Bernie Sanders of Vermont, stand united in our support of Representative John J. Conyers, Jr. and his bill, H.R. 676.  Furthermore, the Congressional Democratic Delegation does hereby state that we are 100% for single-payor universal healthcare which we call Medicare for ALL. We commit that is our stated goal which we will not back down from.  We may lose some battles and skirmishes along the way, but we will not stop until Medicare for ALL is the law of the land.

Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and John Conyers Jr. (D-MI)
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been a supporter of John Conyers Jr’s (D-MI) H.R. 676 since 2004. Mr. Conyers introduced the bill in 2003.

People may not realize it because Senator Sanders gets all the noise, but Representative Conyers has proposed H.R. 676 in every session of Congress since the 108th Congress in 2003. (We’re now in the 115th Congress.)  At the time, Senator Sanders was the at-large US Representative from Vermont and he co-sponsored H.R. 676 beginning in 2004.

At this point, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (NY) and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA) should demand that H.R. 676 be scored by the Congressional Budget Office so that citizens can compare ObamaCARE vs TRUMPcare vs Medicare for ALL.  (Did you catch the subliminal message in that sentence?)

American citizens need to demand that politicians stop playing with our lives.  Give us some information and then turn us loose on the 535 (542, if Puerto Rico is admitted as the 51st State) men and women of the United States Congress with our opinions of which we prefer.

The National Democratic Party is going to be a dead animal if it doesn’t figure out how to inspire voters at the street level.  Clearly, it’s not happening now.

And so it goes.