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What I Have Learned Doing Civil Disobedience for Single Payer
"People should go where they are not supposed to go, say what they are not supposed to say, and stay when they are told to leave."
--Howard Zinn
Well, that quote pretty well sums up "what to do." But my biggest challenge is "how." Specifically, how do I neutralize some pretty powerful fear?
I was scared Friday when I joined Margaret Flowers to attempt to deliver a message to the President. My thoughts raced. We're talking secret service.
"How do I get myself into these things?"
"This is crazy."
"This is pointless."
"I can't even make sensible statements; I know what I want to say but I'm so nervous."
"Other people are so much more knowledgeable and speak so much more eloquently."
"But I am doing it!"
We stood in front of the Harbor Hotel in Baltimore clutching a banner that read "Letting you know. Medicare for all" and Margaret's letter for the President written in response to his appeal for solutions to health reform. The hotel manager, police and secret service surrounded us and asked us to move.
If you watch the video, you'll see that there was a point, a moment, which felt suspended in time, when Margaret looked at me and I looked at her and we both knew "we ain't goin' across the street."
The feeling associated with that awareness was not fear, or anger, or self-righteous indignation. It was a feeling of quiet liberation. The things I was saying to myself, thoughts powerful enough to imprison me in a jailhouse of fear, had been neutralized. In their place was a calm determination to trust my intuition.
My gut told me "so be it. You're doing the best you can. This is a no-brainer. Gotta do it. Margaret and I have been needing some quiet time to catch-up; might as well be in a police station."
My gut has a great sense of humor.
Fear overcomes me when I listen to my head; calm enfolds me when I listen to my gut.
So, for what it is worth, here are few tips for "doing cd for Single Payer":
- Ignore your head. That means, all those familiar thoughts that leave you feeling fearful and bad.
- Listen to your gut. You know it's your gut talking if you start feeling calmness, clarity, and quiet determination.
- We need people engaging in "gut-driven" cd to right all kinds of wrongs. Be authentic; for many of us, the gut issue is Medicare For All. If yours is the environment, then do cd for that.
- Don't try this alone. Take a friend. Or several.
- Do the best you can. Speak from your heart. Once you're in handcuffs, the worst is over. The "authorities" aren't your enemy; most will treat you respectfully and the ones who don't are just having a bad day. Don't take it personally.
- I like to take a "token" with me, tucked in my pocket with my driver's license. For me, it's a picture of my grandchildren and the holy card from my father's funeral. It reminds me that he would be proud of me and that I'm doing this for the people who inspire me--my family and my patients.
- If you have the choice of doing cd in the winter or the summer, definitely choose summer! Wear layers either way because it's cold in jail.
Remember that we all have talents to contribute. Without Bill Hughes taking the video, our action wouldn't have been as fruitful. Without Kevin Zeese, we'd have worried about our families and "legal stuff." Without Mark Almberg, we wouldn't have a press release. Without researchers like David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, we wouldn't have compelling data to support us. We draw support from each other.
As Margaret Mead said:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
- Posted in
69 Comments so far
Show All"I may not make it to the promised land but that doesn't bother me now." There is a point where ego dissappears and connection to a larger theme in humanities' history takes over-how we move on to a better place for all of us even if we have to suffer now. Jesus felt it when he talked about the the Kingdom of Heaven and what would happen to him and those who followed him as they tried to create that Kingdom here on Earth. Ghandi felt it and called it Soul Force, MLK felt it-- he had a prophetic vision that took over his life. Dr. Paris has felt it too--as liberation. It's not new-- Howard Zinn has chronicled it as a people's theme in American History. If we are to save this nation from the course it is heading--that of self destructing Empire--many more of us now, in this time and place, will need to feel it too.
That would be Gandhi, not "Ghandi."
My hat is off to you and Dr. Flowers for the committed stand you have taken, in the name of "we the people." Thank you!
I only wish that people on this site, CD, could connect to each other, and organize protests/rallies, etc. Time and again, I have asked about doing something like this, and no one answers me.
Right now, I am sitting alone in a NYC apartment, writing this reply to your article, Dr. Paris. I would like to do more, and have attended any number of protests and rallies in this city, on various issues, and I agree that we need to continue to follow Howard Zinn's lead, and yours as well, and get out in the streets! It seems that we are so fragmented at this particular time in our history. In addition, many people I know, who are scattered across this country, are petrified, about so many different issues -- losing their jobs, losing their homes, losing their pensions, not having health insurance, etc.
I have written so many letters, e-mails, made phone calls to my elected officials, etc. -- I have lost count. Now, Obama is increasing the budget for the military, and domestic programs will be cut even more. I have read that a lot of the stimulus money actually went to foreign companies, instead of to U.S. citizens, for jobs, housing, etc. This morning, on Democracy Now!, Amy Goodman reported that Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, stated that Katrina was the best thing that could have happened to the New Orleans school system. In his statement, he sounds like a right-wing wing-nut. What is happening to us? It's like the "Shock Doctrine," as examined and written about by Naomi Klein, is being implemented on us, here in the U.S.
You, Dr. Paris, are correct. I feel helpless! Yet, I have a lot of energy, and determination, to do something. But, what?
Kay - connect with me, and we both can start by venting. ; - ))) miracleyes1sd@aol.com - NYC origins.
/cm
To Cee and Kay:
Once ya'll get together for coffee and venting...(a "venti" coffee?), try placing a small ad for a "salon" type gabfest regarding "Calling All Peace Activists!" or something....maybe in The Village Voice? (Here in L.A. it would be The L.A. Weekly).
There's a church in NYC that frequently has political events. The 9/11 Truth Movement...the NYC Initiative for a new investigation into 9/11 had an event at that church that was streamed online about 3 years ago. Contact them for the name of the church.
And you can build from there.
You've both inspired me to try to do something in L.A.
There are millions of Americans who want to connect and aren't sure how. Thanks for the inspiration!
Abbybwood
Dream the Impossible dream!!
Thank you for doing this for all of us. I saw the video you were very good in being persisitent and determined and not getting off center. This is building genuine security.
Supremely SINGLE-MINDED! Single-payer!!
Thank you Dr Paris and Flowers.
We defended your stand in Baltimore when we read about it here.
Medicare for all and expanding Medicare now is the way to go.
"Single Payer" has to be explained as something new because it is a relatively new term, but not Medicare.
In fact in the BBC article in Common Dreams on Why People Often Vote Against Their Own Interest:
"There is nothing voters hate more than having things explained to them as though they were idiots.
As the saying goes, in politics, when you are explaining, you are losing. And that makes anything as complex or as messy as healthcare reform a very hard sell."
Good Work!
To Kay and anybody else that wants to get involved, I recommend that you go to www.healthcare-now.org and register to get email updates. You can also contact them to find out about groups in your area that are working for single payer or you can learn how to start your own group if there isn't one near you. Healthcare-now provides email updates with actions (petitions, phone calls, rallies) and you can find out about events there. They also have materials you can download and print so that you can teach others about single payer. If you want a speaker to come and talk to your group about single payer, contact the folks at www.pnhp.org.
Onward to single payer/Medicare for All!
Margaret Flowers: Thank you for answering my post! I am already on Healthcare-Now's list, but I will take your advice and contact them to see if there is more that I can do, maybe, with a group that is specific to my area -- I feel an intense need to be as active as possible.
Again, thanks for all you do!
Dr. Paris and Dr. Flowers. Up here in Canada you have our best wishes and support in your quest for that which we take for granted!
Okay, I am a knitpicker, but I must, for clarity, disagree with the emphasis on the "gut."
These actions taken by Courageous (from the french "corageous"=of the"heart") people like Dr. Paris are the result of an integration of profound belief in their hearts and the clear mental knowledge of Justice. They are not merely of the gut. Their bodies are unified under the guidance of their Integrity. I do not mean to make this sound as if it is beyond the reach of any of us. As a matter of fact, Integrity is possibly the (so far largely unseen) Hallmark of democracy. That it is so lacking in these "United States" is exactly why it appears so extraordinary.
George W. Bush was correct when he said he acted based on his "gut." The gut generally refers to the area of the body from the alimentary canal to the anus. I have long thought that of the "Body Presidential" (as if all of the presidents formed one body), George W. Bush was the anal sphincter. The main problem was he was also the most anal retentive of all the presidents.
The main focus in the list above, to me is #5. "Speak from the heart." and "Don't take it personally."
From now on, I have three main meanings for "cd" - Civil Disobedience, Common Dreams, and Calm Determination.
Thank you Dr. Paris.
When one watches that video the immediate impression that comes to mind is how nervous the hotel personnel and police are because these doctors have dared to exercise their constitutional rights of free speech. As Dr. Paris correctly notes, Obama claimed that he supposedly wanted to hear from the people on this issue [as well as other issues], but yet the police ordered them to go across the street where, as Dr. Paris pointed out, they would be marginalized. It would seem that the practice and use of "free speech zones" in the land of the [alleged] free did not end when the Bush administration was replaced by the equally oppressive Obama administration.
Flowers and Paris may have wanted to fight for single payer and I respect that but civil disobedience doesn't work today unlike the 19th and 20th centuries. The technologies for security have been improved and the public is used to giving security a higher priority over protesting. Conservative protests have been successful because they were careful to follow the laws while taking action and their actions were widespread. The civil disobedience Howard Zinn advocated is outdated and rarely works. I used to be a police officer in the mid 1960s to the early 80s and from experience, I know it's actually harder for the police officer trying to maintain order than it is for the protester to try and disobey. If you don't do your job, you're off and someone else will take your place.
I used to participate in conservative protests such as gun rights, tax cuts, and tort reform and I know their strategies of success that are lacking in the single payer movement. I don't mind sharing the strategies online anytime you're ready to change plans and succeed. I respect Howard Zinn but his ideas on civil disobedience will not work today.
The public is not ready for government to replace health insurance companies. That does not mean that I am not open to government run health care. I recommend that government and private companies compete so that we can see which side turns out better. If government does better, then single payer shall be the law of the land.
Your "practical" and within the bounds measures are the ones that in the long run have no effect. The ones who know what the people are and are not ready for, what is or is not politically feasible, the ones who dare not to dream because these dreams may be crushed, the politics which says not to go too far too soon,-- Ultimately these practical people who dare not go outsides the bounds of accepted practice. These were and are the ones who get left behind and are relegated to the dust bin, to the disdain of future generations who wonder how the people in that time could be so timid, so visionless, so selfish.
Tammons
Very well said.
There is always room for change once a law is passed. The public and the markets will determine the direction.
The laws will never change if the public act merely like polite consumers. I'm sorry, the "markets" didn't give us the Civil Rights Act in 1964.
To quote that great hero of the conservatives, Ronald Reagan, there he goes again, when EncinoM proclaims, as he did on another post, "that the public is not ready for government to replace health insurance companies." I will reply to him here as I did to his previous comment and that would be by noting how similar his specious argument is to those arguments that were given during the 1950s, and even before that time, when rednecks and racists would always state that African-Americans were supposedly "not yet ready" to being allowed to vote and to eat in restaurants and to drink from the same water fountains as the rest of the American population. It always was not the right time for African-Americans to be afforded the same civil rights as white people in this country just as, in EncinoM's bizarre claim, the people in this country, in his omniscient view, are still not ready for everyone's basic health care needs to be met, an occurrence which is considered common place in most European countries.
As Howard Zinn and Ralph Nader once observed, if this is supposed to be a democracy then let us put EncinoM's claim to the test by doing a very simple thing. Have a national referendum take place which would ask a very simple question and that would be this: Should the United States government have what every other advanced country in the world has for its citizens and that is universal health care? If this is a democratic country then that question should be allowed to be asked and the people in this country should be allowed to vote on a question which would be much fairer than allowing the for-profit insurance companies [while in Europe the insurance companies there are non-profit] to remain in the equation. It would also be interesting to see how many people would vote for universal health care despite the fact that its advocates are rarely given a voice, either in the mainstream media or by its [alleged] representatives.
Civil rights and Medicare for all are totally different. Civil rights is about rights for minorities and is covered by the 13th and 14th amendments. Health care isn't explicitly covered. Would a constitutional amendment to declare health care as a constitutional right suffice?
It is evident, or should be evident, by any logical, thinking, rational, person that you were hoisted on your own petard when you claimed, by your magnanimous view, "that the public is not ready" for universal health care. Your words, not mine. As I wrote in the second paragraph of my earlier comment, why not have the question of what the public wants or does not want on a national referendum? That way one can certainly know the wishes of the American people and whether they actually agree with the views of Mr. Omniscient EncinoM Man. One also has to wonder that if Medicare for all is so terrible as you claim, then why is it that the people of Europe have not decided to forsake their versions of Medicare for all and instead adopt the broken down and inefficient health care system of the United States? One suspects that is because, in all likelihood, the question answers itself.
One has to also wonder why you seem to be so vehemently opposed to universal health care as this type of system certainly works very well for so many countries in Europe. Undoubtedly so many people in Europe shake their heads at the fact that the richest country in the world actually has a health care system that allows so many of its citizens to die because they do not receive even the basic health care needs, a situation that is simply anathema to every advanced industrialized country in the world. Another example of American Exceptionalism at its finest [or worst].
I never said that I was opposed to universal health care or single payer health care. I said that I was opposed to monopolistic control of health care whether it is the companies or government doing the monopoly. Pay attention.
Europe is not limited to single payer health care. Germany, Finland, and Switzerland have hybrid systems.
A poll can suggest that the majority favor universal care but exactly what universal they ask can vary. Polls have suggested that the American public would support government sponsored health care but that is not the same as supporting the idea of allowing only the government to provide health care insurance. The public option which I support includes universal health care. Let the government and companies compete so that we can find out which side turns out better. If the government does its job, then single payer it is. You can't make projections that just because Europe and Canada have it and love it that the US will too. The US has its unique qualities. Some are better and some are not as good. The US has to be exceptionally good at something you appreciate.
EncinoM
I never said that Europe is "limited to single payer health care system[s]." I did say that every democratic country in Europe does have a universal health care system. Pay attention as that is also exactly the point that T.R. Reid brings out in his most relevant book The Healing of America: A Global Quest For Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care as well as Steven Hill in his equally well written book Europe's Promise: Why The European Way Is The Best Hope In an Insecure Age.
You claim that "the public option which I support includes universal health care. Let the government and companies compete so that we can find out which side turns out better." Those statements are both chimerical in nature since you conveniently leave out the fact the "companies" that you mention are FOR-PROFIT and therefore have very little regard for the well being of their clients. Compare that to the insurance companies in Europe which are NON-PROFIT.
Your last paragraph would seem to sum up your feelings regarding who lives and who dies in this country as you state that:
"You can't make projections that just because Europe and Canada have it and love it that the US will too. The US has unique qualities. Some are better and some are not as good. The US has to be exceptionally good at something you appreciate."
Please spare us your patriotic drivel since your illogical arguments simply crumble under their own weight. It should be readily acknowledged [though probably not by you] that America's "unique qualities" which the US is "exceptionally good at" has enabled, according to a study done by the Harvard Medical School in Sept. of 2009, [now pay close attention] approximately 45,000 Americans die each year because they do not have adequate health insurance. No other advanced country in the world can make that claim. 700,000 Americans have to declare bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills. No other democratic country on this planet can make that statement. My wife, who has Parkinson's Disease, as well as countless other Americans, must always be concerned whether her insurance company, which you hold in such high regard, will drop her from its rolls because she has a "pre-existing condition." No other industrialized country on the planet Earth makes such a distinction and discriminates the way the United States does in regards to whom it will or will not cover. I strongly suspect that these "unique qualities" that the United States has are qualities that most people in this country could do without while longing for the qualities and basic family values [paid parental leave, quality, inexpensive child care, kiddie stipends to assist with their children's needs and early development, more leisure time-four to six weeks, mandatory sick leave, universal health care, retirement pensions, affordable care for the elderly, affordable housing, free or nearly free higher education] that the citizens of Europe simply take for granted in their lives.
Sioux Rose
ERROLL/EPHRAIM/OBEDIENT: I thought you might find the analogy that comes to mind when I read Encino's posts interesting. Some years ago a traveling exhibit of "Mad Cow Disease" was on view in England, and the show attracted massive crowds. It featured the dissected interior of a cow, thus infected. Reading the debate between you three intelligent thinkers and our visiting Rush Limbaugh fan makes me think it's not unlike viewing the dissection exhibit just mentioned. In this case, the dialog comes with it.
How far low do you have to go like this? There is no place on this dialogue to suggest that EncinoM is a Rush Limbaugh fan. If you had actually read his posts, you would have known better. He may have a different take on health care and he might be right about what the public really thinks of single payer versus most of us on this forum for all we know. Maybe he is used to compromises for being a conservative for so long but even hardcore conservatives might get a chance to reform over time. At least Erroll, Ephraim, and Obedient Servant are trying to help him/her out while you crack jokes like a 5 year old in politically arrested development. Whatever EncinoM used to say in the past however far back, he's not misbehaving even if he says things that all of us disagree with him on so give him a chance and grow up if you are a progressive. Seriously.
Sioux Rose
Berry: I stand by what I said. Since you seem to think you are some kind of traffic cop, or site critic, I could care less about your juvenile and poorly-informed opinions. I know what you are.
You don't know who I am and you never will but you can keep standing by your own politically arrested developed opinions. You think you can monopolize this site with your politically arrested infantile opinions but you're failing and you know it. For years, you have been spending more time here getting angry about a lot of things but doing nothing about them. If you are angry about the world, then get off your couch and do something about it. You will never be a somebody until you change and learn. The writing is on the wall. Grow up or ignore at your own risk and stay a nobody and keep waiting for company to entertain you. You are a victim of political arrested development and you know it.
You don't know what "the public" is ready for. You aren't ready for Medicare for All, a single-payer system, so you conflate that with your rightwing notion of government running our health care. From all you say it's obvious where your political sympathies have long been. An ex-cop, conservative protester, tax-hater, gun nut, who also distrusts tort law--you clearly favor authority and privilege over the needs and demands of the dispossessed, the silenced, the underclasses. You identify with power and authority, and you expect to have credibility here when you claim that Howard Zinn's ideas and all civil disobedience tactics are antiquated?
Your recommendation, "that government and private companies compete so that we can see which side turns out better. If government does better, then single payer shall be the law of the land," is the public option proposal which has already been rejected by Obama's worthless bill. That's part of the reason these doctors were out there, because they've been denied any access to this pompous ass of a president who says he wants to hear any better ideas on health care, yet refuses to see anyone who has those ideas or hear them when they're presented.
What avenue is left besides civil disobedience? Corporate-bought and rigged elections? The public has NO VOICE in this issue whatsoever. Drs. Paris and Flowers were trying to offer one, but you recommend perpetual silence because CD "is outdated and rarely works." So tell us, what does work? Standing up for gun rights, when they're already carved in stone?
What I did in my life has nothing do with what I support and oppose. I picked up lessons as an officer, a soldier later mercenary, and a health care manager but that does not conflict with my opinions. I only state what is practical and realistic. I said I am open to government provided health care but not as a monopoly. The public option needs to be put back or else the bill deserves to fail.
You don't understand how the conservative interests win their causes. They permeate all levels of government and plan accordingly. I have been there so I know. Civil disobedience hasn't been working and no matter how many doctors go for it, single payer is going nowhere. There should be townhall meetings for single payer, statewide efforts to pass it into law such as successful passage in the CA Senate recently, and marketing the idea to the public.
The difference between health care and gun rights is that health care is not explicitly declared as a constitutional right while the right to bear arms is under the 2nd amendment. There are implicit interpretations such as “promote the general Welfare” but it is debatable as to whether health care is actually included. I would be open to passing a Constitutional amendment to explicitly declare that health care be given the same rights as the right to bear arms.
Of course single-payer goes nowhere precisely because of all the "conservative interests that permeate all levels of government and plan accordingly." Nowhere in government can you find a single progressive promoting a single progressive issue or cause. That's why the majority's voice on this issue has been summarily ignored and/or drowned out.
See, I actually do undertand how "conservatives" (read, reactionaries) "win their causes." They own the government. But you really do sit on the mountaintop of self-deception if you expect me or anyone else to believe that what you've done in your life has nothing to do with what you support and oppose. I guess as a former soldier and mercenary you have nothing but the most objective opinions about all the wars you've participated in. That's like saying a bank robber has no biased opinion on armed robbery; he's merely "picked up lessons" along the way. And as a "health care manager" (in what capacity?) you only have "practical and realistic" opinions about the issue. I'm sure upper management at Blue Cross Blue Shield would say exactly the same thing.
What is practical and realistic for you is permanent stasis for 300 million people, 46 million of whom have no health care at all and will get none under your practical and realistic plan. Countless millions more have pathetic, dysfunctional health care, but hey! That's practical, and it's reality! They should get used to it, since civil disobedience doesn't work, the gov't is owned outright by "conservative" interests who aren't going to allow an iota of change, and maybe in 50 or 100 years we can get a constitutional amendment to set beside "the right to bear arms", so everyone who is shot by firearms can get some help.
The authors of single payer did not bring up the bill because they found out that the Blue Dog Democrats and the Republicans were prepared to block it so they had to start small and expand later.
Not every soldier or mercenary supports wars. I have a neutral view on which wars to support and oppose. The Vietnam War and the Second Iraq war were mishandled from the start. I was reluctant to support the second war on iraq but I waited to see how it would turn out. It was a mess and I regret that President Bush sent us there on faulty intelligence.
Again, you are suppressing your judgment of what I support and oppose with what I did. I have confessed to exploiting the capitalist system because that's how to survive. I was careful and gradually climbed up the ladder. I didn't have to dodge taxation because I was very meticulous in seeing to it that I did not miss all the legal breaks and exemptions.
Tell me, are all police officers evil in your opinion? Are all soldiers and mercenaries evil? Are all business managers evil? I understand your concern and anger of the rising uninsured and I share that concern but you are misunderstanding what I said about adding a Constitutional amendment for health care.
Both Flowers and Paris have acknowledged that civil disobedience has not worked out for them no matter how many times they tried unless you think I am misinterpreting what they said. I am currently retired just to let you know. It would have been a miracle to pass single payer health care but the public wasn't ready for it and they voted to elect a moderately conservative Congress who won't let it pass. You misinterpret my practical solution. Single payer is not necessary to ensure health care for everyone. A public option which is a hybrid of universal health care from the government and private health care is a decent compromise. People are not used to having only the government provide health care but they are open to that as an option. If we start out too radical, nothing will pass. The bridge to universal health care will have to be built. Another decent compromise would be to gradually lower the minimum age for Medicare to 30 or the minimum age accepted by the public. Combine those two compromises and there you have universal health care without monopolization.
Single-payer gets nowhere because of the conservative interests flooding Washington, mainly Big Insurance and Pharma. They spend over a million dollars A DAY lobbying members of Congress against any version at all of S-P. That's practical for them and they create reality with their bottomless pit of money. At least you're open to universal health care, and that's to your credit. But that can also mean nearly anything.
I don't agree that Americans "aren't ready" for government sponsored health care. Who they voted into office bears little relation to what their public policy preferences actually are, since at least half of voters routinely vote against their own stated self-interest. They're so confused by phony media like Fox "news" that they can't connect any dots making sense of what they really need and who represents those interests. So they vote Republican when they're unemployed, without insurance, sick and needing medical care, with virtually no prospects of getting a job or medical attention, and never understand how contradictory and self-defeating their vote is. It's the tea party syndrome, which you may share.
No, all police officers aren't evil in my opinion. Neither are all soldiers, and it's absurd to suggest it. But it's not a matter of "evil", it's has to do with what militarism is about, and it's not about protecting us from anything but lower profits for multinational corporations, not now at least. We went to Iraq for Big Oil, Dickhead Cheney and the extended Bush family which includes Saudi Arabia and all its sheikhs. The poorly educated soldiers sent there to defend the principles of greed and Full Spectrum Dominance can't be held accountable. The system has kept them ignorant of what it is they've been dispatched to do. Maybe you've "learned some lessons" along the way, but I wonder if you've learned that one. I very much doubt it.
Mercenaries are another matter altogether. If you think being a Soldier of Fortune is commendable and praiseworthy, you aren't going to get much support around here. Mercenaries are sent by private interests to protect corporate interests and nothing else, unless you tell yourself comforting bedtime stories that they are protecting Americans against anything but phantasms created to scare us into supporting these illegal wars in behalf of corporate profit and imperialism. Do mercenaries protect us from "terrorists"? Only if you accept the bullshit that threats to corporate profits is terrorism, which would be the Bush doctrine.
If you righteously believe capitalistic imperialism needs defending because it brings truth, justice and the American Way to backward peoples who really want us invading their countries for our personal benefit, then mercenaries are performing a vital role. In your fevered dreams, at least. As for business managers, it has nothing to do with "evil." But since this government is almost nothing but an agglomeration of business interests, and those interests conspire routinely to exploit people and cultures all over the globe, including here, for private profit, I would say that the managerial class is often (not always) a willing servant to that power.
But back to your health care plan. You say "Single payer is not necessary to ensure health care for everyone." That's just an assertion backed up by no available evidence. But OK, you say a public option would be preferable, and advocates for S-P were forced to embrace that after the best solution was immediately declared off the table by Pelosi and Obama. But in a matter of days the public option was also declared totally impractical and unrealistic. There was simply NO WAY big insurance and Pharma would allow it, and they absolutely have dictated this entire debate. Max Baucus is their ventriloquist's dummy, and Obama is their emissary. So what you propose is as fantastical as single-payer. Your own ideas are far too radical for this Congress. Kicking Medicare in at 30? Great idea, and impossible to do in the present, oh so very practical and realistic political climate.
I regard EncinoM as a troll, and simply skim or scroll past its input, but there is no apparent basis to "flag" this post.
Although I don't believe in making too much of the "flag" option one way or another, IMO it ought to be restricted to identifying commercial SPAM.
However, if CD administrators feel that the "flag" option serves a useful purpose, it ought to be modified to at least require and post the REASON for the flagging.
I can understand not identifying the "flagger", since this may result in flame wars and flagging wars, but the present "blackball" approach leaves something to be desired.
· Yr Obd't Servant
"The public is not ready for government to replace health insurance companies."
Since the health insurance companies ARE the government, I should think what the public wants is irrelevant.
Health insurance companies may have the monopoly on providing health insurance and government may subsidize corporations but that doesn't make the health insurance companies the government.
Right, the BIG corporations OWN the government.
The Supreme Court majority, appointed by your "conservative" presidents, made it clear... Big Money rules.
Maybe if the corporations were actually the government they could be clearly held responsible instead of buying it under cover of "Free Speech".
I used to entertain the idea of corporations being the government but then I remembered that competition would be sorely missed along with that 2008 meltdown. I'm grateful that government stayed seperate and got the corporations back on their feet and recovery is now on the way. I used to be a corporate hardliner but I learned my lesson in 2008. Competition between the government and corporations is good.
You wrote, "That does not mean that I am not open to government run health care."
I support single-payer health care because I do NOT want "government run health care." Single payer, such as Medicare, allows patients to choose their own doctors and hospitals. Medicare for All Americans would be the easiest transition to a single-payer system because the basic system is already tried and true, up and running successfully since 1965, with far less in administrative costs than any private health INSURANCE plan.
Please understand that single-payer health care is NOT "government run health care."
EncinoM, you still haven't read the books that I suggested. You don't understand nonviolent civil disobedience. You need to read and see the documentary "A Force More Powerful". CD is moral ju jitsu. If the Secret Service, Police and the Hotel were smart, they would have just taken the letter and not arrest Dr. Paris and Dr. Flowers.
But they didn't. The power of CD is sacrifice to put the spot light on the issue, healthcare and not health insurance. It these brave people will do this to tell the President what the solution is to the healthcare crisis, what will you do? What is going on? Why would they do this? Maybe I should read up and get involved. It is truely a revolutionary way to put pressure on the forces that be without violence.
Without the Civil Rights Movement in the streets, the lunch counters, the Freedom Riders, the bus boycotts, LBJ and the Congress couldn't pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The people make history. Remember the words of our Countries Founders: "it is the inherent right of the people to alter or abolish their form of government" The government works for us. Why do still believe that all government programs can't work? If you want good government, you have to pay for. The problem is not taxes, it is corporations and rich not paying their fair share, not obey the environmental, health, labor and other regulations. It takes tax money to monitor and enforce these laws and regulations. Paying for healthcare out of tax money works for Medicare, Medicaid and the Military works, why can't that be expanded for all? Why pay for profit health insurance middle people? Wake up! You have been dupped!
Thank you, Dr. Paris!
I was very moved and heartened by the courage and steadfastness you and Dr. Flowers manifested as you stood your ground, and I am so grateful to you both, and to all who helped you. You are an inspiration to more people than you can imagine.
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, ... he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." "It is from [such] numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped." --Robert F. Kennedy at the University of Cape Town, 1966
Thanks to Drs. Paris and Flowers for their admirable display of principle and self-sacrifice!
· Yr Obd't Servant
camus13
I have read all week about the Supreme Court decision on corporation's having free speech. O.K. What about two women standing in front of a hotel with a sign.....just a sign.
Result arrest. What about a guy walking around outside a building where the President is to give a speech with a gun.
Well that's O.K. or the NRA will be on their back.
Did Justice Kennedy in his decision say the corporations have Freedom of Speech? Maybe they really meant only corporations not people, not two women trying to explain a point.......Heath care for all.....and who might know better than a doctor.
" What about two women standing in front of a hotel with a sign.....just a sign."
The doctors were arrested for trespass after being asked to leave by the Manager of "a hotel on the inner harbour of Baltimore" Now if the name of that hotel and its corporate entity were more generally known the people could then protest on public property adjacent to any of their hotels holding signs that "XXX corporation denies free speech" Hit them where it could hurt.
Just a thought.
and a good one.
"We stood in front of the Harbor Hotel in Baltimore."
There you go. GO GET EM!
perhaps the phrase is 'Freedom or Speech'...they used to write funny, maybe the 'f' is really an 'r'...
Couldn't we all send this video to the White House with our own individual comments? Couldn't we ask other viewers at You Tube to do the same? If worthwhile, can anyone advise how we do this?
Doctors Flowers and Paris - it would have been even more interesting if you had stepped back from the "private property" to the public sidewalk. Did you have any legal advice before taking your action?
How do we get sufficient media attention? That seems to be the question. Let's brain storm that one here.
I tell everyone I meet about the heroics of the Baucus 8. Nevertheless, I've yet to meet a single person who had any prior knowledge of that masterful display of civil disobedience at the Senate hearing. Well-earned shame graced all the Senators faces after the third person stood.
Dave Jenny
I applaud the people who are doing civil disobedience for Medicare for All. However, the only way that they will have any impact is if they make a lot more trouble.
Civil disobedience only has an impact on policy if it is done repeatedly. That is true from the civil rights movement. In Birmingham, people marched every day for weeks. It was not until elementary school children marched and were put in jail that the tide turned and an agreement on change was reached. Civil disobedience against the war in Vietnam such as burning draft cards, blocking trains went on for years before it had much impact. It is also true from the successful treesits and road blockades to protect old growth forests.
It take guts to do any civil disobedience. It takes giving up a "normal life" to engage in the kind of civil disobedience that it would take to really force our government to seriously consider Medicare for All.
So far, the medical professionals who have engaged in civil disobedience are minor irritants. So they are ignored and we get meaningless non-reform instead.
I honor Dr. Flowers and Dr. Paris for doing everything in their powers to make the case for single payer health care. Those two doctors already learned their lessons before this had happened but I can only assume that it was even more obvious when they faced SS. The criminals were not only the Secret Service for not allowing the two doctors to enter and the doctors meant no harm whatsoever but also the president himself for not upholding the oath of office in his refusal to meet with those two doctors and listen. He lied when he said he would listen to the people publicly and must be impeached.
Unfortunately, thanks to an ignorant public the president gets away with it. We have idiots who won't read and learn what single payer is about. 30 pages will tell you that it is not a government run health care program and that you actually have a choice to choose your provider. The "public option" that Obama talked about is a scam because Big Insurance still has control of your health care coverage under that "public option" as opposed to single payer where the Big Insurance is reduced to supplemental insurance rightfully leaving basic coverage to government to give to everyone as it should be done especially in a developed country. It is very unfortunate that most people have not heard of single payer or they mistake it as mandatory care which it isn't.
This nation is the only developed nation that can socialize guns and weapons of mass destruction the most but at the same time provide absolutely no universal health care whatsoever. We have an uneven system of health care coverage and some people just like EncinoM are happy with the system and fear change. Others are blissfully ignorant that they are being ripped off. Until the public wakes up to the fact that Big Insurance is ripping everyone and company off or is forced to wake up after unemployment has gone up high enough and the rise in deaths due to uninsured is too much to bear, the public will never have the courage and the heart to stand up and join health care heros such as these two valiant doctors.
Dr. Flower and Dr. Paris, those of us who remember what happened to you shall take this event and do our level best to wake up the sleepy public so that maybe we can have a single payer for all before it is too late.