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Donna Smith
Donna Smith is the executive director of Progressive Democrats of America. PDA's mission is to strengthen the voice of progressive ideas inside and outside the Democratic Party by using "inside/outside" and "grassroots fusion" models of working both in the Democratic Party as well as working with other progressive organizations both inside and outside the Party.
Articles by this author
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Views Wednesday, April 12, 2017 Standing for Peace Puts a Target on Tulsi Our memories can be so fleeting—especially as the intense emotions and horror felt about seeing images from war-torn Syria drive blind acceptance of the most recent chemical attacks and subsequent U.S. retaliatory bombings. We certainly believe that nearly every person reading this essay abhors war... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, April 05, 2017 Medicare for All: Give Me Healthcare or Give Me Death Where are the screams about those death panels now? As Trump-Bannon-Ryan and friends craft their healthcare path forward with the leaders of the swamp team, no one is crying “foul” about the bold, proud creation of those famed death panels. I found it almost fitting that some of the latest... Read more |
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Views Saturday, March 11, 2017 No Politico Wants to Know: We Are Patients It is hell out here for patients right now in America. There may be a swampy, dirty-flash flood going on in D.C. right now, but there are precious few elected officials who see patients as patients. We are health industry consumers. We are political props for both sides of another ridiculous,... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, February 15, 2017 Republicans Finally Unmask Their Healthcare Agenda – And It Isn’t Patient-Centered If you have been inclined to trust in any way that the Republicans in Congress or the Trump-Pence-Ryan regime intend to make things better for you and your family in terms of healthcare policy, think again and stop wondering. The plan is simple. They will protect and enhance the insurance companies... Read more |
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Views Saturday, November 12, 2016 Fasten Your Seatbelts, Progressives, It's Going to Be a Bumpy Night After of a week like this one during which a sexist, racist, white, male 70-year-old was elevated to the presidency, progressives cannot shrink from our responsibility to rise loudly and clearly in opposition to this very real threat. I have noticed this week that some of the white men around me... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, October 11, 2016 Battered Voter Syndrome Whew. This has been a grueling election season for many of us, and it feels very much like being beaten repeatedly no matter which direction I turn. My organization, Progressive Democrats of America , was the organization that under the leadership of the late, great Tim Carpenter launched a... Read more |
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Views Thursday, September 29, 2016 The Human Calculus: Political Futures vs. Human Life on the Colorado Ballot Not long after I moved back to Colorado in early 2013, I met a young, up and coming state legislator named Crisanta Duran. She was awarded the Health Care for All Colorado “Health Care Hero” award for her staunch support of a sound health care policy that would help working class families secure... Read more |
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Views Sunday, September 11, 2016 It's Not Enough to Remember 9/11 First, for my son Russell, who turns 40 on September 11, 2016, I've always said there had to be an incredible amount of joy and humanity to remember on other September 11th's to make the pain and vivid memories of September 11, 2001, a bit less horrible to bear. Looking back on giving birth to my... Read more |
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Views Thursday, September 08, 2016 U.S. Healthcare System Culls the Wheat from the Working Class Chaff Americans are an oddly and beautifully diverse lot, but the healthcare industry has us all figured out. For decades now, maintaining control over American lives and any vestige of the American dream has become increasingly the purview of big business. And no one relishes and maintains more direct... Read more |
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Views Friday, August 19, 2016 I Let You Down: A Public Apology to Michael Moore Dear Michael, I am sorry. So damned sorry. When you included my story in your 2007 documentary film, SiCKO, I felt not only a huge sense of hope and gratitude but also a larger sense of responsibility to make the whole experience matter. Here it is. 2016, and I have failed to change the system... Read more |