2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhat Progressives MUST do RIGHT NOW to start turning the tide on the ACA issue:
We all know that most of this whoopdeedo around the ACA is totally corporate media fueled. They have been running one sided story after one sided story attacking Obama and the ACA with a one sided narrative. Yes, the website was a screw up, and yes Obama should have included the timing caveat in his 09 stump speech with regard to the grandfather clause for individual market policies. But that doesn't excuse them from being so biased, creating a crisis, comparing this to the Iraq War or Hurricane Katrina, and the Koch brothers are now running ads attacking it further and ALEC is pushing state laws to undermine it.
WHERE ARE THE ORGANIZED PROGRESSIVES VOICES FIGHTING FOR THIS LAW AND ITS SUCCESS??? Here is what we can do.
1) MoveOn.Org IS fighting for it, and you can donate to MoveOn as they are ready to launch a counter-campaign to fight back against this campaign to attack and undermine the ACA. They are going to try to get people who have benefited from the ACA in front of the cameras, etc.
2) Join or help any local effort to get the word out to sign up for care either through the ACA website or the alternative site started by those young guys in California. Use social media. Use Email. Use whatever you can. Urge people to SIGN UP.
3) Write your Congress member and the President telling them to get the hell out there in the media and proactively FIGHT for the law, stressing its successes and very popular parts such as ending pre-existing conditions, etc. and that the website IS BEING FIXED BIGTIME.
4) Write letters to the editor supporting the ACA, stressing these points INCLUDING THAT THE R'S HAVE NO ALTERNATIVE, and telling any ACA success stories you've had if you've had any. Also tell the TRUTH about Obama's statements. Yes, he could have been clearer and has said so, BUT there was a GRANDFATHER CLAUSE for the individual plans in effect at the time the law was passed, and MOST people, those in group and public plans, had no changes in their health insurance at all. Tell the WHOLE STORY which has been drowned out in the media HYPE. THE INSURANCE COMPANIES CONTINUED TO OFFER PLANS THEY KNEW WOULDN'T MEET STANDARDS AND IT ISN'T FAIR FOR THEM TO BLAME THE ACA FOR THAT.
THERE NEEDS TO BE AN ORGANIZED COUNTER CAMPAIGN TO THIS MEDIA-LED ATTACK ON THE ACA RIGHT NOW. ANY OTHER IDEAS?? Please share them here. I myself am donating to the MoveOn effort and have submitted a letter to the editor. I also blog locally to tell the truth about the law and counter the right wing talking points. We are starting to see some PRO-ACA letters to the editor. WE CAN TURN THE TIDE IF WE GET TOGETHER AND DO SO. (*This is no time to say, "Should have had public option or Medicare For All." I wish we could have, but those just couldn't pass and the ACA is the best we could get. Right now we need to turn the tide and counter these right wing and media attacks.)
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Laelth
(32,017 posts)-Laelth
CBHagman
(16,982 posts)...or been cut off during treatment or actually died due to lack of care.
beerandjesus
(1,301 posts)...and leaving no little baggie unturned!
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)work of defending that which they created in their own image while calling progressives names for asking for better? Is this really the best you could get if you can't keep it?
The time to realize you needed strong support for this law was when making it. At that time we were told that ONLY Blue Dog Moderates mattered, for it was their votes that would decide all. So logic tells us that Blue Dog Moderates should be the ones doing the heavy defense of this botched bit of mediocrity and compromise.
Where ARE they? The told us what would be and would not be in the bill. So where ARE they? Obama had promised the electorate that any bill he would sign would contain a strong public option, then he backed down on his word to please Blue Dog Moderates. So where ARE they?
Don't pass right wing profit making mediocrity then ask me to defend it for you. Sorry. Should have been what the candidate promised, and anything less should have been fought for and about by the candidate now President.
Myrina
(12,296 posts)Don't feed me a shit sandwich and expect me to be in your next ad campaign, indeed.
RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)
polichick
(37,152 posts)RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)
area51
(11,897 posts)SHRED
(28,136 posts)RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)RBInMaine
(13,570 posts)SHRED
(28,136 posts)1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)I would only add ...
And ignore “Progressive”/”Liberal” Posters that ignore political realities in order to make “Moderate Centrist” comments.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)have something to do with age...like those of us born when Truman was President.
Here are a list of Presidents. Please help me understand, other than JFK, who was probably the most Liberal, which Presidents did not actually rule as a Centrist with a Party Lean...toward their own party, of course. Populists don't get elected...not because they do not have good ideas, not because they are unengaged...but because they hold strong and more narrow beliefs. They have too many limitations for others in the same party.
60 million votes and a billion dollars campaign needs don't appear for populists...or special interests groups. The Tea Party made a good stab at it, but they will never get a President, and are losing popularity fast. Why? Because they refuse to change. They refuse to negotiate. Their near-hysterical Pledges and referring to an historical time before we were even a nation...the 18th century. They seriously lack Pragmatism, so they will be irrelevant.
Moveon.org is a great political feat as they've been working diligently to increase the Liberal/Progressive agenda, in which I strongly believe. We get to influence the final candidate of our party by their activities or as on DU, try and drag the candidates to the left, want to believe when they do, but figure we are going to get something less.
To me the political realities that are being ignored are the ones that, frankly, Progressives don't want to hear. The Elephant in the discussion groups.
The Moderate Centrist is where both parties end up. I have to do that every election. Go from Liberal (they didn't have Progressives way back then) to Progressive to Moderate and likely end up with a Centrist. And the most votes in the Party Primary determine just what candidate can encompass all of those ideas/popular positions the best.
When I first started hearing about Progressives, it seemed part of the description was that they didn't want to be held up by the old, unrealistic Liberal ideals ... that's another post. But they wanted to Actually Get Things Done and Progress , which to me must refer back to the other P word...Pragmatism.
I might have misunderstood what you were trying to say. 24 word posts have limitations of depth and ideas and meaning, at least for me...a virtual newbie.
Also, definitely agree with OP.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)in fact, I do not know a single "Democrat" that does not agree with/support "progressives"/"Liberals" on the (vast majority of) issues; it is more a matter of timing and/or tactics that distinguishes the labels.
That said ... perhaps I should said:
"progressives must ignore those amongst them that choose to nurture divisive grievances among Democrats rather than actually pursue progressive action."
ETA: But maybe arguing with would be allies is how they hype themselves up to actually do something.
libdem4life
(13,877 posts)here about our sole, possible candidate. We are better than the Tea Party. We are the Progressive Left...the populist result of the Liberal Left that also did not appropriately adapt, and is, at best, in hiding. We have some "sacred cows" that need to be rethought for the movement to survive, as well. I suspect that is at least a part of the issues here.
We must do what the above groups did not do...adapt or die. Because it's already happened to the Liberals, and is happening to the Tea Party...they got their heels dug in too deep with their strong, highly focused, inflexible Pledges and such.
On DU, fire away. But never ever in a place where they could blacken the party's chances. influence a Republican vote, or provide the ammunition to convince yet another to just stay home. A la ... "They are all crooks". No, they are not.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)How can I see Marketplace health plans and prices before I fill out an application?
Because the monthly premiums shown don’t account for any lower costs you qualify for based on your household size and income, the final premium you pay may be lower, perhaps much lower, than the prices shown. The only way to find out what YOU will pay for a specific plan is to fill out a Marketplace application. Many people who apply for coverage will qualify for lower costs.
https://www.healthcare.gov/how-much-will-marketplace-insurance-cost/
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)(and it seems statistical, improbable) that so many DUers are among the ~15% of Americans that ANY action is required under the ACA. 