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Max Baucus Should Not Be Deciding Health Care for America
The “Senator for K Street” is Putting Campaign Donor Profits Ahead of the Basic Needs of the People
Senator Max Baucus and the Senate Finance Committee are too corrupted by corporate health industry profiteers donations to give America the health care policy it needs.
Health care is 15% of the U.S. gross domestic product. U.S. health care expenditures, which have been rising rapidly for several years, surpassed $2.4 trillion in 2007, more than three times the $714 billion spent in 1990. The cost of health care is projected to reach $4.4 trillion by 2018. There is a lot of room for corporate profiteering in the increasing cost of health care. The millions the health care industry has invested in Baucus and the Senate Finance Committee could therefore turn out to be very profitable.
It is evident that any bill that comes out of the Senate Finance Committee will be a pro-industry bill that will ensure trillions in profits for the health insurance industry, HMOs and the pharmaceutical industry.
Baucus has held two hearings so far and has refused to allow advocates for the most popular reform-a single payer national health policy-to even testify. Single payer "improved Medicare for all" is favored by more than 60% of Americans as well as majorities of doctors, nurses and economists. It is the most cost-effective and efficient way to provide health care to all Americans from cradle to grave.
Why aren't single payer advocates allowed to testify before Baucus' committee? Follow the money. Campaign donations explain why, and demonstrate that the Senate Finance Committee should not be in charge of health care. Senator Reid should remove the health care reform bill from Baucus and start all over before the Health Committee in the Senate.
Here's why Baucus is not doing the people's business:
According to OpenSecrets.org, over his career he has taken donations from:
* The Insurance Industry: $1,170,313
* Health Professionals: $1,016,276
* Pharmaceuticals/Health Products Industry: $734,605
* Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $541,891
* Health Services/HMOs: $439,700
Baucus has shown his bias and should be removed from leading the health care reform effort by the Democratic Party leadership.
That is a grand total of $3,902,785. Can we trust Baucus to put aside the profits of the industries that have kept him in the Senate? Will he put the people's necessities ahead of the profits of his contributors?
In 2008 Baucus had virtually no challenger in Montana. A little-known Republican was on the ballot, and Baucus won with 73% of the vote. But, Baucus sought big donations from big business anyway. He used his connections to corporations with business before his committee to raise an immense campaign fund of more than $11 million. In 2008, 91% of his donations come from individuals living outside of Montana, which is why he is more the "Senator for K Street" then the Senator for Montana. Corporate health profiteers who invested in Baucus will now benefit from his stewardship over health care reform. His 2008 donations from health care profiteers included:
* Insurance: $592,185
* Health Professionals: $537,141
* Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: $524,813
* Health Services/HMOs: $364,500
* Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $332,826
That is $1,826,652 Baucus took from these industries, and now he can reward them by deforming health care reform.
The health care profiteers knew that Baucus would determine their fate and ponied up. Now the only thing standing between them and their payback is a single payer national health care plan. Yet single payer, which would end private insurance and control the cost of pharmaceutical drugs, is not being considered-not even allowed to participate in the conversation before Baucus.
It is not just the chairman of the committee who has received massive donations. The full Finance Committee is a gluttonous embarrassment of campaign pay-offs. In 2008 the committee members received a total of $13,263,986 from industries affected by health care reform. Can we trust this committee to put the interests of the people before their donors?
The donations to the Finance Committee in 2008 included:
* Insurance: $5,103,900
* Pharmaceuticals/Health Products: $3,308,831
* Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $2,809,353
* Health Services/HMOs: $2,041,902
These industries expect to be rewarded with billions, even trillions, in profits and hundreds of millions in corporate welfare. Senator Baucus's behavior shows they have made a good investment-they've bought themselves a senator who should be called Chairman Blagojevich. He is doing his best to make sure the single payer message is not heard because he knows it is the fairest, most efficient and cost-effective way to ensure health care access for all Americans-but he can't let that be implemented because it would put some of his donors out of business and control the profits of others.
It is time to remove Baucus from the leadership of health care reform. It is time to move the critically important priority of reforming America's health care system from the Finance Committee and put it before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. At least their mission is health care, not money.
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96 Comments so far
Show All"Senator Max Baucus and the Senate Finance Committee are too corrupted by corporate health industry profiteers donations to give America the health care policy it needs."
Here's a novel idea! How about you take care of you and yours, I'll take care of me and mine.
Keep 'your' hands out of 'my' pocket.
Does it work both ways? What this is about is that instead of getting healthcare, the money spent is going to profiteering. So your novel idea - how about insurance keeps their hands out of medical care. Let's stop spending twice as much for just a fraction of the care.
That kind of selfishness is the problem in this world. If you only care about/for yourself, you are part of the problem, not the solution.
If we went by your idea then i wouldn't pay taxes to provide schools for other people's kids, or to fix roads I don't use, etc.
Selfishness is a sign of immaturity. Humanity is still acting like 3 year olds...gimme gimme. That only leads to destruction. What foolishness.
Has anyone else noticed the influx of right-wing ideologues on Common Dreams?
They are coming out of the woodwork now. I guess the health Insurance industry is copying the tactics of Aipac now. Cruise the boards finding where people post on Universal health care and then make uninformed comments out of the Rush Limbaugh playbook.
Heres a "novel idea". 50 percent of every tax dollar goes to Military spending which accomplishes nothing. A small portion of that can be used to pay for Universal single payer health care. This means Health care for FREE!! No need to dip ones hand in anyones pocket....right?
Unfortunately, sir, "You and Yours" as well as "Me and Mine" includes the whole society. Follow your logic to the extreme and the country would split into thousands of fiefdoms and kingdoms, most probably ruled by dictators. Good luck.
How do you feel about spending $1,000 a year to help cover all those uninsured by our corrupt, profits-instead-of-health care system?
How do you feel about the 18,000 Americans who die each year due to lack of health care? That's six 9/11 attacks per year!
"You take care of you and yours, I'll take care of me and mine" is the narrow, selfish attitude of those who are unwilling to be true citizens in a democracy, sharing both its responsibilities as well as its rights.
Pitch:
One of the reasons it cost so much is because of unnecessary procedures required by Ins Co's to cover potential lawsuits from ambulance chasers. Another reason is because 'someone else is paying' so why not run little johnny to the doctor every time he gets a fever and demand a cure!.
If You had to pay, maybe you would think twice before wasting the systems' time (money) on the common cold or every other minor bug that runs through the day care center.
Baruchzed:
Frankly, I'm not that pleased about paying for other people's kid's education. I sent my child to a private school, so I got to pay twice. I pay for road repair every time I buy something that was trucked to local store. I have know idea which roads I 'use'. I use most roads indirectly. I understand, I don't mind.
GwNorth:
It will be cheap, like Social Security and Medicare?
If the FedGov - military spends $500 for a claw hammer, at the end of the day, there is a claw hammer that can be used to keep the barbarians from crashing thru the gate and getting me and mine. If the FedGov spends $500 for medical care, at the end of the day what is accomplished? (also, I love it when people say stuff will be 'free' if we only pay more taxes. LOL)
Hamster:
So if I want to pay my own way, I'm an anarchist? Is that what you are saying? Geez, I had no idea!
ED:
How do I feel? The same way I feel about the 56.6 million deaths each year on the planet. Everybody (everything) dies, get used to it.
Also, I don't live in a democracy.
Ambulance chasers? You sound like some rightwing plant.
Paying for other people's education? What's wrong with that? The more people who are educated, the better off you and I will be. The more educated people there are, the better the economy and the less the filthy rich can steal from us.
Your argument for wasting money on claw hammer over spending it on improving everyone's healthcare is pure rightwing trash talk. The only barbarians who need to be claw-hammered are the pols busy denying people their healthcare coverage while wasting that same money on bombing other countries and enriching Wall Street !
F*** YOU !!
RoR--
I realize that it's usually fruitless to engage with right-wing trolls on a progressive list, but it's my sad duty to expose you as (a) an ignoramus and (b) a fraud and hypocrite.
First point (a). With no credible citation, you boldly assert that America's ballooning health-care costs are due to trivial overuse of the system--this in a country where one-sixth of the population--50 million people--has ZERO insurance, and 20,000 of them DIE every year because they can't afford to see a doctor. Does that sound like "overuse" to you? And exactly why is it that all the industrialized countries with variants of publicly financed, single-payer health care (Canada, Japan, Europe) have HALF the average per capita health-care costs of the United States--gee, could that be because private HMOs have a vested interest in hiking premiums and deductibles to the max, in maintaining huge administrative bureaucracies to track billing and exclude coverage, and skim billions in profits for bloated CEO salaries and shareholder profits, ALL of which are HUGE expenses that are KILLING U.S. healthcare and add NOTHING OF VALUE to the system.
That's right--HMOs do not save or cure a single patient; they are just vast cost-pumping, money-skimming rackets. THAT's why U.S. health-care costs are so high--double that of countries that ban profiteering in the health-financing sector (the U.S. is the only advanced industrial country that allows it). Got it, RoR? If you want further documentation on this, see
http://www.kff.org/insurance/snapshot/chcm010307oth.cfm
That's what's known as a scholarly citation, as opposed to the crap you pull out of your ass.
As for (b)--your being an arrant fraud and hypocrite. You seem to think you're a tough John Wayne-style rugged individualist. But you strike me as just another lazy commie type. I have personal knowledge that you have driven on public roads, supported your local fire and police departments, and used the Internet. All of which make you a commie freeloader. If you're going to be true to your creed, you need to man up and follow these steps:
1. NEVER walk in a public sidewalk. Perhaps you can buy a jet-propulsion backpack so that you can fly over those commie, publicly funded sidewalks.
2. NEVER drive on a government funded road or highway. This might prove to be a problem if you don't own a large estate or farm, because it would pretty much confine you to driving only on your driveway. I hope it's a big driveway!
3. NEVER use the fire department. These government-funded commies are eating away at the fiber of our civilization. Look at all the sniveling weaklings out there--don't they know that a fire-extinguisher and a box of baking soda is all you need to fight a five-alarm fire?
4. NEVER call the police or dial 911 if you are facing a personal emergency. These government-funded police forces are just another encroachment of creeping communism. Just carry a gun and blow away anyone who looks at you the wrong way, just as a precaution. And if you end up in a car wreck an need an ambulance and help getting extricating yourself from a ton of mangled steel . . . TOUGH--be more careful next time, you pansy!
5. NEVER post on the Internet again. This is a technology that was developed at the government-funded Pentagon with public money. So every time you post here you are weakening your character and compromising your individual spirit.
If you religiously follow all the foregoing principles of rabid, tough-guy individualism, no one need ever hear from you again. Hey . . . that works out great for everyone!
>>f the FedGov - military spends $500 for a claw hammer, at the end of the day, there is a claw hammer that can be used to keep the barbarians from crashing thru the gate and getting me and mine. I
The Government just gave several TRILLION of your taxpayer dollars to the bankers and you are happy because you have a claw hammer to keep someone from Iraq stealing YOURS.
Goering was right when he referred to the masses as schmucks if YOU are any example.
a self-laid egg
That sounds so elitist so you.We all benefit from ur "Socialist" Police,our "Socialist" Fire Department and EMS,"Socialist" Schools,and "Socialist" Roads.If you don't like them,DON'T USE THEM!!
1984,where are you!?Tony
I've been following (thanks to commondreams) with great consternation the plight of the courageous physicians, nurses, and other single-payer advocates who were arrested during one of Sen. Baucus' "reform" hearings. I had seen these brave people live as C-SPAN covered the hearing. There was hardly a word about the incident in mainstream news outlets precisely because we and they are owned by the corporations. It was only on commondreams, some weeks later, that I found out that the protesters had been arrested.
We should all be contacting the corporate news outlets to protest their virtual non-coverage of anything remotely suggestive of single-payer, which in essence would be Medicare for all--a far more equitable solution to health financing than the horrendous patchwork that passes as a "system" today. (It's really a non-system.)
I so often feel, as many do, that my actions on behalf of justice in our nation and world are not enough to effect change. I know and know of many noble individuals who devote much of their free time to advocacy on behalf of marginalized people. They give me inspiration and hope. Their numbers have not yet reached that critical mass that would make for permanent and meaningful change, but these people keep going as a matter of principle. Eventually, they will prevail, at least on the health care issue. The majority will finally see what the single-payer advocates have been seeing for at least twenty years or more: health care should not be treated as a commodity. After all, it is now a right for people over 65. What about the rest of our society?
Each one of us can do something to keep the fight for health care justice on the front burner. Just talking about it with family and friends is a start. Contacting Congress, the White House, and the Senate Finance Committee, are other steps. Maybe we can join a protest. (I suspect many commondreamers have done one or all.)
truejusticematters.blogspot.com
I had to smile at the banal response of RoR (another health insurance troll).
Obviously, he (?) doesn't mind how often the corrupt for-profit healthcare industry sticks ITS hands in his pockets.
Right-wing fools who whine about having to pay more in taxes try to ignore the fact that they wind up paying far more to the private sector for the same service, whether it's healthcare or garbage collection.
q
PS Who else would love to see Kevin Zeese on the Supreme Court?
Who's going to remove Baucus from his leadership role on health care? "The people"? Who's going to take this issue away from the Senate Finance Committee? "The people"? We have no influence or power in Washington, all claims to democracy having been neutralized years ago. Demanding anything from these corporate lackeys only leads to despair and cynicism. They answer to no one but their corporate puppeteers. All we have in the healthcare "debate" is articles like this and bitching about it among ourselves. We have no representation in Washington. Obama wants no more to do with single payer than Baucus does. They're all on the same corporate team and we're watching it on TV, powerless as ever. It's time for torches and pitchforks, not more repetitive words echoing back and forth.
"It's time for torches and pitchforks, not more repetitive words echoing back and forth."
I'll agree with you as long a we understand that the object of our wrath must be the health insurance companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, and HMO administrators.
As I've pointed out previously, the professionals who actually deliver the healthcare servces are just as much victims of this insane system as the patients - oops, I mean "clients."
q
Very correct. I worked in healthcare for 25 years as a private practice psychotherapist. When the Clintons turned it all over to the HMO's I saw my income drop by 60% in one year, and then I went bankrupt. I also never turned anyone away for lack of funds.
So you went from $400/hour to only $160/hour?
He/she couldn't possibly make 80/hr even in the best of times unless he had a top position. What was his actual position?
Yohocoma, you are correct to include doctors as part of the waste in our non-system of health care financing. Some doctors make far more than the $200,000 you cited. Some at the Cleveland Clinic make close to a million from what I've heard. No wonder it costs so much to be treated there.
The big culprits are the insurance companies, the high cost of pharmaceuticals, and the providers (doctors and hospitals).
Even if we forget about the high cost of the providers, getting rid of the insurance companies for the single-payer alternative would save billions for actual medical care. The overhead (administrative costs) for Medicare (single-payer for 65 and over) is between 2 and 4%. The overhead for most insurance companies runs between 15 and 30%. That is wasted money down the corporate rat-hole. It is money that goes to greedy execs and shareholders who play the stock market's casino game. We should be a more enlightened society by now. But the corporates just love our ignorance.
truejusticematters
Exactly so. I have cousin who is a surgeon and has made over a million a year for about 25 years. He's a typical rightwing prick, of course. The doctor vector is as important as any other in this debate--insurers, pharmaceuticals, hospital administrators. They all collude to keep single-payer off the table by flooding corrupt jackasses like Baucus with endless funding. Some doctors and most nurses are on our side. Baucus, the Senate financiers, and Obama are decidedly not.
Being a surgeon is a tough profession. He has to work hard and do his job very carefully lest he face frivolous lawsuits from those greedy trial lawyers. He's probably a hard worker unlike you. Single payer is a waste of taxpayer money and is unconstitutional. Move to another country if you want it so badly.
If single payer is unconstitutional, then so are publicly financed fire departments, police department, schools, sidewalks, highways, water supplies, and sewage disposal.
Besides--a survey of U.S. physicians in the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine shows that 59 percent of U.S. doctors--INCLUDING SURGEONS!--favor single payer. (See http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN31432035) Ya' think maybe their opinion counts for more than yours? Ya' think maybe they would roll their eyes at your deranged right-wing babble? Ya' think?
I mean--you're joking, right? No one could assert such stupidities with a straight face.
Plantation owners are businessmen who work very hard to raise cotton in Americas South. They have to continually deal with the John Browns demanding that slaves that they have invested hundreds of hard earned dollars in be freed. Freeing the slaves is a waste of resources and taxpayer dollars and is also unconstitutional.
If you want the blacks freed so badly then move to another country.
(EncimoM the First in a speech Given at the Courthouse of Montgonery Alabama May 15th 1857(
relax kevin - baucus is not in charge of one-payer health insurance
he is in charge of the do nothing blitherings that are supposed to seem like some kind of official process
in the end we will still have no health care but the nwo/controllers will have put us off for yet another year or two
let's face it: the controllers are making big bucks from sickness and they are not going to give up the easy cash
they have us by the balls and if there is any movement at all it will be to squeeze harder
mine are already sore - so to speak
how are yours
crushed
I wonder if there is any consternation among the Democratic representatives. The Obama Party is just as good at looting as the Bush Party was. The brand, "Democrat" is being rapidly destroyed.
Baucus is in charge of the 'do nothing bliterings' that the Democrats are having. For those of you who still think the Democrats are the 'lesser of two evils', face the fact that the Democrats are EVIL and don't give any attention to any but the people who give them big 'donations' (bribes!)
Last week the good Senator Baucus had a nice gathering in San Francisco for the Democrats. Out in front of the mansion where the Senator was having a dinner party for Democrats were some thirty people with card board signs that said, "Put Single Payer on the table!". The invited guests, good Democrats, came to the party in their expensive cars that the valet service would park for them. These men (all men) were wearing VERY EXPENSIVE SUITS AND SILK TIES. The point I am making is that these guys were not working class. They are very wealthy. Rich people think the current system of health care is just fine.
The sad fact is that only these very rich men have ANY INFLUENCE IN OUR GOVERNMENT.
These rich guys have purchased BOTH OF THE MAJOR PARTIES. If you support Single Payer you need to write three letters this week. One to your Representative and two to your Senators. You need to tell them VERY CLEARLY, that is they don't vote yes on HR 676 (Single Payer) you will NOT VOTE FOR THEM AGAIN---EVER!!! And don't forget that in the next election cycle. Don't vote for people that do not vote in your interests.
Why give them another chance? They always shrug and arrogantly say "so what?". Instead of warning them, let's just move on to voting them out already.
"It is time to move the critically important priority of reforming America's health care system from the Finance Committee and put it before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee."
Oh, that'll fix everything.
"At least their mission is health care, not money."
*cough*
Now I'm going to go into a vegetable patch and wait on the Great Pumpkin.
--
Eric Patton
Cincinnati, OH
ebpatton@yahoo.com
The windup doll speaks again!
Quoth the windup doll:
Don't take any action to remedy any human ill. Just sit at your keyboard all day and type pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
pareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconpareconparecon
Ya' think this doll's battery will every die? Must be a super energizer . . .
Considering what the businesses mentioned invested in Senator Max Baucus and are potentially getting in return, it is further affirmation of two things: politics is a good investment for business and some of the cheapest whores in America walk around in business suits in the halls of Congress.
Backass is not the only senator on the Finance Committee
He, in fact, is not even on the Subcommittee on Health Care
which is under the chairmanship of Rockefeller.
Schumer and Kerry are both on the Health Sub-Committee. Backass is not on the Health Sub-Committee.
Both are usually the first to bitch and complain. Why have they been so quiet on this issue?
It's time to ask these pompous assholes where they stand and why they are powerless when they represent the majority party on the Finance Committee.
Could it be that the Democratic Party is really a party of frauds - headed by a talented mouthpiece.
Think strategically. Think long term. Think in terms of principle. Even if we lose this round, the "reform" that these corporate interests enact will fail. In two or three years we will be at this again. Now is the time to build a political movement strong enough to continue the challenge in the primaries today and to hammer away in electoral contest in the future. Like Harbvey Milk did coming back again and again, defeat after defeat until he finally prevailed. In my district, (4th Congressional PA )we are up against bullies like Jason Altmire who confronts those who want Single Payer and snarls at them, "You are a minority, you don't represent a significant part of your district and you are not going to get Single Payer." There is only one answer to him, to build a political movement strong enough to put him out of office. Like the situation in California we will just have to keep coming back primary after primary, election after election, each wave stronger, each time making the oposition have to pay more to defend their lies, each time making our case stronger as we wittness the failure of the private corporate approach. Now we are dismissed. If we get a bit stronger they will try to coopt us, finally they will have to listen because there will be no other way for them to be elected. We are at the begining of this fight. How badly do we want this? How willing are we to fight?
You're not alone. Senator Kohl and his staffers are just as obnoxious and bullying as Rep Altmire. I agree with the need to keep primarying these lousy pols election after election.
The only thing Mack's Baucus is thinking about, the only decision he is struggling to make, is which prostitute he'll be seeing next and should she defecate or urinate on him this time.
… politics is a lot like going to the ophthalmologist :
" Is number 1 better, or
_ is number 2 better ? "
The whores in Congress, such as Baucus, who are willing to sell their vote for money are destroying our democracy with IMPUNITY!!! They should be ousted upon the first appearance of their abominable corruption!!!
There's only one possible solution to the constant interference in, and buying off of, our government by special interests. LOBBYING our congressional and government personnel in any form from which they gain a personal benefit must be OUTLAWED and made into a CRIMINAL OFFENSE!
It's the only way to return our country to a "government of the people, by the people, and for the people." Our congressional personnel are currently operating under a distorted belief that they are both the masters and beneficiaries of a "government of the elite, by the elite, and for the elite" (special interests) of which they are, de facto, a part.
Our political leaders are not stupid. They know that "you don't bite the hand that feeds you." And they are constantly being fed plenty (in the form of money, privileges, and notoriety by every special interest imaginable). When are we going to wake up and DEMAND a return to the government that was fashioned by our founding fathers (who were common people) - a government of the people, by the people, and for the people?????
Creating a third party is NOT the solution. It would be only a matter of time (and probably a very short time) before that third party would be just as dirty as the others.
MAKE LOBBYING A CRIMINAL OFFENSE!!!! (It unfairly robs American Citizens of the right to have an equal voice in our government. The whores will promise us anything to get in the congressional door and, once they get in, it's all about the money they can rake in!!! The hell with the suckers who voted them in!!!)
YEAH! What he said/wrote...!!!! Publicly post the $$$$ influence on our legislators as it comes in, along with the votes that they cast, and if anyone still is interested, ACT on the outrage(write letters, inform others)...oh, never mind, my programs just came on...
Lobbying is basically legalized bribery. I agree, it should be banned.
FrankS, the problem is that the lawyers for these corporations are the the ones writing the laws. We need to amend the Constitution to allow ordinary people to put measures on the ballot, or an amendment that allows for recalls of elected officials (including the President). Then and only then would you be able to pass such a law. Certainly the Lawyers, and the politicians(I don't have the numbers but most politicians are lawyers)will NEVER allow that bill to become law. And if by a miracle lobbying was to be outlawed, then the Supreme court would rule it Unconstitutional.
Baucus is an amateur when it comes to taking money from the health insurance industry. The real champ is Ted Kennedy, long-time chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee. First step in getting health care reform is getting the old drunk off of that committee.
Hey Teddy, did you enjoy your deluxe healthcare coverage on your recent hospitalization? Bet you got the best coverage provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield. We pay for most of it, but I understand all federal employees are seeing their premiums go up again, by 8% in 2009. Good deal for you, Teddy, but I was disgusted to hear you badmouth the uninsured as the cause of high premiums. I'm more inclined to see YOU, Teddy, and all your check-cashing friends selling out the American people as the problem.
The only way out of this and every other bought and paid for screwing that we are and are going to be getting is through SERIOUS campaign finance reform. Until we take the private money out of politics, NOTHING will change, or even has the opportunity to.
We have to end corporate personhood, remove ALL private money from elections (ALL of them), and make it completely illegal to give gifts or money to congress people under penalty of jail time for BOTH parties. Using one's own money for elections should also be illegal.
Until we remove the rot, the stench will continue. No matter what the SCOTUS says, money and speech are NOT the same things. Money corrupts, speech does not. Money ruins most things that are attached to it, speech can only improve the situation. It's clear that Baccus knows that OUR speech will destroy the pretense of his "honesty". He must GO.
What we have now is completely unsustainable, and about ten times more expensive for those of us who have lost everything under the last 28 years of Republican and right wing rule. It's time to stop this idiocy. And until we take the private money out of politics, WE will lose every time. It's time to clean house.
Yep, remember how we had the McCain-Feingold "we're workin on it" fraud of campaign finance reform? I guess Obama put an end to that charade. I understand there is another similar bill floating around to make public finance voluntary again. It's just a way to prolong the fraud. The only way to have meaningful campaign reform is to declare that while speech may be free, bribery is a crime, and for elections to be fair the playing field has to be level.
Same with healthcare. All they propose are appeasements to make it look like something might get done so they can keep on looting.
There is a bill in Congress today to get public finance of political campaigns. It will limit contributions to $100.00 per person (no corporate funding) to any candidate that receives public finance (and TV time). The funds for these campaigns will come from companies that receive contracts of over $500,000 and from an assessment fee on the sales of new broadcast spectrums to broadcasters. The bill, the Fair Elections Now Act, is HR 1826 in the House and S 752 in the Senate.
ANY bill put forward by anyone in congress (with the possible exception of Bernie Sanders) is useless. ANYTHING that makes it "voluntary" to do public financing is a waste of time. NO ONE would take that option if there are others available.
What I am talking about is a system that makes it ILLEGAL for ANY private money to be involved.
1) If you are running for an office, you get a certain amount of money, and that is ALL you are allowed. NO private money, NO family money, NO corporate money. PERIOD.
2) A certain amount of air time is included, as that is the price of having a license to broadcast. Those pieces of paper that allow you to broadcast cost NOTHING, they are a license to print money. The very least you can do is to give back for your millions in revenue.
3) ANY corporation found to be giving money or gifts to a candidate is immediately disbanded, and the candidate is put in jail. NO exceptions. This also goes for any private individual involved in such activities.
Ideas and plans are what should count in an election, not how much money some schmuck can throw into a market. This would also be a way to eliminate the constant incumbent advantage. One of the biggest problems we have is the stagnation in BOTH houses of congress. These dirt bags think we OWE them a living making our lives hell. I say send them ALL home and start over. TWO terms for senate, 6 for house. PERIOD. NO exceptions. If we can limit the president to two, then we can certainly limit those in congress as well. 12 years is long enough for anyone.
BTW, as long as we don't get nationalized health care, I see no reason for congress to have it. Take that away from them. Lower their compensation to no more than twice what the average worker makes, as well. Hell, most of them are FAR more wealthy than any of us are, and those in the senate are generally millionaires to begin with. They don't NEED OUR money. And let's limit their pensions, too. Why pay pensions to millionaires, especially since WE don't get them anymore?
Elected office should return to being a position one takes for the good of the nation, not of oneself. It's turned into nothing but a greedy hearts club, and it's time to rid ourselves of that.
ANY system that makes it voluntary to take public money instead of private is nothing but a smokescreen. It allows congress to say they have changed things while actually changing NOTHING at all. It is going to take US forcing it down their throats, just like they've done to us with every miserable law they have passed in the last 28 years.
And like I said, until we get rid of the private money, only those with enough money to throw it at the whores in congress will get anything at all. And it will ALL be at OUR expense.
You seemed to be misinformed.
There is a single-payer bill in the House that would essentially do away with the HMOs and all profiteering in the health-insurance sector. It is HR676. See
http://www.pnhp.org/publications/united_states_national_health_care_act_hr_676.php
The bill has 76 cosponsors.
The Senate single-payer bill is S703, initiated by Bernie Sanders. So far it has no cosponsors.
So calm down long enough to get informed on this issues before you go off on a rant.
If you want a good summary of the issues and want to keep up with activism on this issue, go to
www.pnhp.org
www.singlepayeraction.org
http://www.1payer.net/
READ what the comment was about BEFORE you rant in my face. I wasn't talking about 676, I am WELL aware of it. READ my comment, and you will see that it is NOT about that at all. It was about CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, NOT health care reform. READ IT if you are going to bitch at me about it.
Apples and oranges.
My point is that until we reform the electoral system, we will NEVER ANY bill like 676 through EITHER house of congress, let alone anywhere near a president's desk. And if it DOES get there, it will be so watered down by the big money grafters that it won't mean a damned thing to any of US at all.
Do you get it yet?
First of all, your premise is incorrect. It is possible to win important victories short of full public financing of elections. Your position is essentially defeatist.
Now--as regards what I "get." What I get is that you have the temperament of a rhinoceros in heat on methedrine. You write like someone giving dictation in a straightjacket in a padded cell.
I hope that single payer passes so that you can get some serious psychotherapy before you do harm to yourself or someone else.
And wipe the foam from your mouth. It's gross.