Majority supports Obamacare

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Every single Republican prediction about Obamacare proven wrong

The Rand Corporation, a respected independent research group not known for its political views, has released its study on Obamacare and determined that it has indeed accomplished what it set out to do.doctor-obama

This flies in the face of every single Republican prediction about it, including ones they are still making to this day.

Has it been perfect? Oh, of course not — no one ever said it would be. But to deny it’s an improvement is to just ignore all the facts.

More people signed up for Obamacare than even Obama predicted (and certainly more than the “close to zero” the Republicans had predicted). More people are insured than ever before. The vast majority of those previously insured (80% according to Rand) did not have to change their insurance companies or doctors. It hasn’t killed jobs and in fact has created many new jobs. 85% of all employers stated that it hadn’t affected their hiring practices in the slightest. And studies show that people are satisfied with it, including 74% of all Republicans.

So to all the Republicans out there, let me say this: I understand that you plan on running against Obamacare again in 2016. Oh please don’t. I beg you. Don’t keep health care as a prominent issue in the campaign to remind everyone of what the Democrats did. I will be so unhappy. Please don’t throw us into that briar patch.

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Can’t we celebrate some good news?

Look, the plan the Republicans originally wanted is in, and it’s successful.    More than 7.1 million have signed up for health insurance coverage so far, which exceeds expectations.  The uninsured rate has dropped, which helps all of us who no longer have to cover people who use the emergency room for their health care because it was free (“personal responsibility,” you know, is another good thing).   NYorker

The vast majority of those who are using Obamacare are paying less than before (although you’d never know it from the Fox news coverage of the minority who are paying more, mostly because their previous plans were crappy and worthless).

More and more Americans are supportive of the Affordable Care Act (a majority, in fact) and that number keeps going up.

Most importantly, people are getting covered so that perhaps we will no longer have families going into bankruptcy because of medical bills.

Seriously, why is this a bad thing?  The “free marketplace” is what caused all the problems Obamacare was designed to fix, so don’t go telling me that we should have let the market decide.  We did, and it was terrible.

While in the short term Obamacare may hurt the Democrats (largely because of all the lies being spread about it by the Republicans), in the long run, this will be seen as a large step forward and supported by almost everyone, in the same way Medicare and Social Security have become.

 

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Democrats represent the mainstream

Sorry, Republicans, but your claims that you represent “mainstream America” is just another one of your lies.   pinocchio

A majority of Americans support Obamacare.  (This is especially true if you call it “the Affordable Care Act.”)

A majority thinks gay marriage,  abortion and marijuana should be legal.

A majority supports more gun control.

A majority wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and do not believe that “corporations are people.”

A majority want to raise the minimum wage and do something about campaign finance reform.   (And a majority support amending the Constitution to overturn the Citizen’s United case).

That’s why I have been complaining here about wimpy Democrats who refuse to discuss these issues.  They’re winning issues!  They are “mainstream America.”

As our country becomes a plutocracy, it’s even more important that Democrats take a page from Teddy Roosevelt and come out swinging against the monopolies, corporations, and billionaires who have ruined our country in the same way they did during Roosevelt’s time.  (Before you point out that Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican, please learn some history.  The Republican party was the liberal party back then — the party of Lincoln.)

So when you hear a Republican politician claim that America is against health care or gay marriage or raising the minimum wage or basically just about anything, just remember — the facts don’t support their claims.

Which is not surprising.

 

 

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Bernie Sanders: The new Ralph Nader?

I agree with Bernie Sanders on almost every issue, and think it would be amazing if he were President.  It will never happen though, and I’m not naive enough to think that it could.   Bernie_Sanders

That doesn’t mean I would object to him running in the primaries.  He could move the Democrats to the left and prove that it is possible to do so without alienating voters.  While it is true that “the votes are in the middle” and if you run a candidate too far to the left or right you will lose the election, the problem is that politicians are wrong about where the “middle” is.  They think it is far more conservative than it is in reality.

A majority of Americans support Obamacare.  A majority thinks gay marriage, abortion and marijuana should be legal.  A majority supports more gun control.  A majority want to raise the minimum wage and do something about campaign finance reform.  A majority wants to raise taxes on the wealthy and do not believe that “corporations are people.”

These positions are not radical dreams of the left.  They are mainstream.  For Democrats to shy away from what a majority of Americans want is ridiculous.  Having Senator Sanders in the race might help toughen up the other candidates and bring them away from the center-right and perhaps lure them to the center-left.

The problem is this:  For all Sanders has said about wanting to enter the race, I am waiting to hear that he will be running as a Democrat.  Because he isn’t one.  He’s an Independent Socialist who caucuses with the Democrats.

If there’s one thing we definitely don’t need, it’s another spoiler who will siphon off votes from Democrats and allow a Republican to win the Presidency in 2016.

So here’s hoping his plan is to enter the Democratic primaries and not run as an Independent.  Otherwise, we could end up with President Ted Cruz.