I support Federal Mandates as Progressive Legislation

[Tom Rinaldo]

The Voting Rights Act is a good example, it mandates that all citizens have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote. Minimum wage laws are another, they mandate that all workers have a right to at least some semblance of fair compensation for their work.

And I look forward to a federally mandated single payer health care system paid for by a progressive income tax system, with access to basic medical care guaranteed to all Americans regardless of income.

Good Democratic policy initiatives, all of them.

[sabrina 1]

1. I look forward to and suppor that also. How long more do you

think we will have to wait for that to happen, now that Democrats have blown the opportunity this time?

[Tom Rinaldo]

2. I think that depends on which way populist sentiments turn in this nation

I expect populism to grow as a political force in America, but for the last year it has been right wing populism that has surged. I blame the Obama Administration for giving the Right that opening, but that is the subject of an upcoming OP. Public anger over being screwed over by large institutional forces that do not really care what happens to relatively powerless individuals will keep growing. If that can be harnessed by progressives we could see major movement toward that single payer system within four years. That isn't the current trend though.

[sabrina 1]

15. I hope you are right. I think the reason it hasn't happened

already is because people are not aware thanks to the media. Eg, the media has not helped people to understand this bill, or even the whole debate. Most people just have a very general idea that there is going to be a new health care system and that's about it.

[DrDan]

3. and if every citizen were forced to vote - at the risk of being fined

how would you feel about that? A good "policy initiative"?

Or if the minimum wage was mandated for all? A good "policy initiative"?

or how about mandating support for the Dems? Sure would make life easier. A fine for any Dem votes otherwise.

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. I think you missed the satire of my post

I don't like using a SARCASM thingee because I enjoy the subtlety of satire, the double take. It would ruin things if The Onion had to use one; lol.

My real point besides being playful is that the Democrats used to know how to use the power of government to mandate good, not underwrite a private industry through our forced participation.

[Selatius]

5. Those Democrats are dead and gone and have been for the last 40 years.

There have been a few victories in that time, such as the Americans with Disability Act or the Family and Medical Leave Act, but aside from that, there have been more defeats and unrealized opportunities than victories.

[Tom Rinaldo]

6. Yes

Of course they didn't have to deal with the modern permanent attempted filibuster, but if they did they would have dealt with that threat differently than today's Democrats under Obama

[Selatius]

8. If you had FDR in there, he probably would've rammed it through using reconciliation.

FDR bet his entire career on the New Deal but tried all sorts of avenues to get through his programs, some of the maneuvers deemed illegal by the Supreme Court of the time. However, the huge risks paid off in the end. The only problem is risking the bank at the onset of the battle, and that takes tremendous courage and fortitude in a Congress too often staffed with timid folks who aim to simply maintain their seat for the next election. It could've easily ended in political disaster for Democrats or worse, a reactionary coup led by industrialists, such as the now well-known failed "Business Plot" to overthrow FDR and install a pro-fascist dictatorship.

LBJ was another character who was notorious for arm twisting and coercive tactics. He threatened senators with funding cuts to certain programs and states who were unwilling to at least hear him out, and he called in all the favors he built up in his years working in the Senate to get a thing like Medicare enacted.

I'm pretty sure FDR and LBJ could've at least managed some kind of form of Public Option to build upon. Even Social Security was improved four years later when Democrats built upon what FDR first erected with amendments that expanded the program.

[DrDan]

14. I did miss it - I actually debated if it was satire or real . . .

so - subtle? it sure was.

[Tom Rinaldo]

19. 's OK That is the thing about suble satire...

...it gets it's point across either way. Either you smile or you get angry and respond. Thanks for being a good sport :)

[David Zephyr]

18. Darling, you really should have used the sarcasm thingee...

I mean...

[Tom Rinaldo]

23. Don't like them new fangled thingees....

They eliminate the double take, a time honored classic. I stand with "The Onion"!

[Odin2005]

7. Forcing people to buy the product of corporations is FASCISM!

Comparing it to the Civil Rights Act is DISGUSTING!

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. See post #4 n/t

[Odin2005]

10. Oops, I don't do suble sarcasm well.

My sig tells you why. :P

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. You're a good man, no sarcasm intended :) n/t

[Sparkly]

11. Tom, I agree -- unsarcastically

Paying in for health CARE (not health insurance) -- the same way we do for Medicare, Social Security, etc. -- is "Single Payer." The only way it can work is with a tax, ie a "mandate."

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. Yup, something like that used to be obvious to Democrats n/t

[Libertas1776]

16. K&R but I accidently unrecced....

I really despise that rec unrec thing. Anybody want to cancel mine out?

[FLAprogressive]

17. Comparing insurance mandates to voting rights is almost a non sequitur

You have the right to vote which you can choose not to exercise. Nobody is forced to vote or pay a fine. That would be a mandate.

What a stupid thread.

[Tom Rinaldo]

21. Bet you didn't read past the OP

but for the record it is federally mandated now that local governments not impose restrictions like poll taxes that prevent people being able to exercise their right to work.

[placton]

20. sorry - you are wrong

[Tom Rinaldo]

22. No. You are wrong. Your turn n/t