Reprinted from Reader Supported News
Our job is not to think small. It is to think big.
The United States is the wealthiest nation in the history of the world. Why are we so far behind so many other countries when it comes to meeting the needs of working families and the American middle class?
Why doesn't every American have access to healthcare as a basic right?
Why can't every American who is qualified get a higher education, regardless of family income?
Why can't we have full employment at a decent living wage?
Why must many older Americans be forced to choose between paying for food, shelter, or medical care?
Why can't working parents have access to affordable, high-quality childcare?
We should be asking questions like these every day. We have more billionaires in this country than any other nation on earth. We also have more child poverty than any other major industrialized nation. We have the highest rate of student debt. We have more prisoners, more homeless people and more economic inequality.
It doesn't have to be this way. These conditions are the result of deliberate policy decisions. We provide outrageous tax loopholes for billionaires and large corporations. The top tax rate is less than half of what it was during the postwar economic boom. The real minimum wage has fallen dramatically since the 1960s.
We can make better choices. Let's look at some of the issues that matter most to the American people:
Health Care for All
35 million Americans still lack health insurance. Millions of others are under-insured, with high deductibles and copayments that can make needed medical treatment unaffordable.
We are the only major industrialized country in the world that does not provide universal health care for all its citizens. Medicare is much more cost-effective than private insurers, and could serve as the foundation for a single-payer system like those in Great Britain, Spain, Norway, Italy, Iceland and Portugal. Other countries, including Japan, France, Germany, Canada and Denmark, provide universal coverage without a single-payer system but with better controls on costs and service.
If these countries can provide universal health care, why can't we?
Tuition-Free Public Higher Education
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