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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 9/14/17

Medicare For All Can Reshape the "Art of the Possible"

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Richard Eskow
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Bernie Sanders' BRILLIANT .Medicare For All. Speech
Bernie Sanders' BRILLIANT .Medicare For All. Speech
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Bernie Sanders unveiled his Medicare for All bill this week, and 16 Democratic senators signed on as cosponsors. The last time he introduced a bill like it, not one senator was willing to join him. They considered the idea impossible, utopian.

Times have changed.

The senators who shared a podium with Sanders understand this bill won't pass in today's Republican-dominated Congress. They signed on because it's a good idea, and because they recognize that by doing so they can both reflect and reshape a shifting political landscape.

They're aware that Sanders' presidential campaign triggered a wave of energy and activism that continues today. They recognize that this nascent political movement is a powerful political engine, and its diverse millennial base makes it the Democratic engine of the future.

They understand how change happens: as an ongoing dance between street-level activism and electoral politics.

A Declaration of Principles

With this bill, 17 senators -- nearly one-third of the Senate's Democrats, including several presidential prospects -- are saying health care is a human right and a public good. That's a declaration of principle.

They are also defending the principle of progressive taxation. The program would be funded through higher taxes on the wealthy, eliminating special tax breaks, a one-time tax on offshore profits, and a fee levied against big banks.

Their cosponsorship is a declaration of principle in another way, too. Not one of the bill's 16 cosponsors describes her- or himself as a "democratic socialist," as Sanders does. But this bill shows us how government can make our lives better, as it already does through programs like Medicare and Social Security.

Democrats have too often been reluctant to proclaim the value of government in recent years. They've kept government at an embarrassed arm's length, like a parent at a junior high dance. These Democrats, on the other hand, are embracing an unabashedly pro-government idea. No embarrassment, just pride.

The Flag

The bill has no chance of passage in the current Congress. In that sense it's symbolic, a flag. But flags have value. They give people something to rally around, and they can be used to point the way forward.

Democrats could use a few more flags these days.

For too long, "centrist" Dems made the mistake of elevating process over principle. Process is important, of course. But elections are won and lost on principle, on flags. Democrats who speak of "the art of the possible" in the context of a Republican-dominated Congress are on a fool's errand. They'll accomplish little or nothing of value.

The goal must be to take over Congress, not surrender to a hostile one, so that the "possible" is redefined. This bill can help make that happen.

These senators are being active rather than reactive. Instead of complaining about Donald Trump, they've provoked Trump into complaining about them. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the president thinks this bill is a "horrible idea."

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Host of 'The Breakdown,' Writer, and Senior Fellow, Campaign for America's Future

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