Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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August 17, 2007 11:36 AM
Health Care Campaign Hits Iowa Dem Primary
A coalition of large nurse and physician organizations has launched a television ad in Iowa aimed at pressuring Democratic presidential candidates (and specifically Hillary Clinton) to support universal, single-payer health care proposals. The ad is sponsored by the California Nurses Association, the National Nurses Organizing Committee and Physicians for a National Health
Program. They are made by my friend and fellow Ned Lamont campaign aide Bill Hillsman. Check out the ad here.Whether you are for universal health care or not, you have to say its pretty politically smart for an issue-based group to use the Iowa Democratic primary as a way to try to force an issue into the debate. In a celebrity-obsessed political culture whose issue debates have been almost completely hollowed out, presidential campaigns have become glorified personality-based television shows. Substantive arguments about the actual economic challenges facing ordinary Americans are almost laughed at as afterthoughts by presidential campaign journalists and candidates alike.
So to the nurses and physicians sponsoring these ads, I say "good on ya" - not just because I support the concept of Medicare for Everybody, but because I support efforts to use election campaigns as a vehicle to talk about substantive economic issues - not just about candidate hairstyles.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
The nurses are cool and all but they'd be better off uniting the nurses state after state and pounding officials at both the local and regional level before storming into DC. Good luck especially in FL where the healthcare mess is just about caught up with CA and TX.
State-by-state efforts, operating at lower profiles, are fertile ground for mandatory private "health insurance".
The 48 million uninsured AREN'T the main problem.
Complex, fine-print, arcane, gotcha private insurance, proxied through cost-cutting employers, IS the main problem.
At the very least, go see Sicko.
Good news, my local theater finally made Sicko available after all that trouble out there. Will see it.
P.S.: I didn't say that the nurses or the uninsured were the problem. It's just that I thought that it be best to start from the ground up although I do understand that this can cause huge variations from state to state. I still am not sure I understand what you meant when you said that "State-by-state efforts, operating at lower profiles, are fertile ground for mandatory private "health insurance"."
Most folx don't even know who the name of their their state rep or state senator.
The ongoing collapse of local media accountability will render a bad situation only worse.
If you've ANY imagination, guess who buys their way into the accountability vacuum?
Only intolerably stiff residency requirements could enable a state-based single-payer system.
Am afraid, and with all due respect to heroic local efforts, our FUBAR health care nonsystem is a national problem requiring a national "cold reboot".
this is the one issue that almost everyone gets at the gut level. here in california it is estimated that sb 840 will save billions. we figure we have enough dough and smarts to deal with a few outsiders who want to game the system. if we force the issue here, other states are sure to follow.
"Most folx don't even know who the name of their their state rep or state senator." - JumperPin
Actually, out here in South Carolina, it's even worse. People don't want to care to know or learn what's really ailing them. Try telling them as nicely as possible and one would be lucky if he/she was simply insulted. Ruthlessness in America is bad enough but the way people accept it and engage in denial mode is even more sickening.
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