I take neither of you are one of those who never was without insurance nor couldn’t afford insurance increases to the point of cancelling their policy.
Just curious did either of you vote for Bernie Sanders who has been fighting for MED4ALL since before the 2016 election. The first time the elite chose our candidate
DNC Dems are at an all time low. The most popular senator is an independent they lied cheated and stole to defeat and let's face it, Bernie's outreach to the Black communities was sad. DNC'll install another paid shill unless WE build a movement now that can beat their bs. Many write beautifully on the problems but don't say clearly: Either build DSA or actually go to those butt-numbing local Dem Party monthly mtgs with an ever growing posse to out vote their bs.
Many states have less people than NYC and many less billionaires than NYC which also has Wall St and the biggest banks in the world. Mamdani wins with no big donors for being honest and using all he learned campaigning for other progressives who lost. He took lessons learned and addressed economic not just social inequality with new policies and tried and true ones. He uses the MLK quote "Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children." We are divided too easily, we keep waiting for somebody else to do it but it's on us. We're on our own.
TY but I'm no longer able to do the level of physical work that it takes. Compared to Bernie I'm young but I was born/raised in the South Bronx and inside, this body feels the concrete beneath my feet 8 hrs/day 6 days/wk all summer working at an industrial laundry in Manhattan when I was 12 and 13 for a buck an hour. Much to be said for growing up with dirt beneath your feet instead of concrete. I'm a ghetto geek, old school, got a Truman fellowship at UW Seattle Poli Theory then on to quit the Stanford Grad School of Ed and its way too many nepo babies and profitable but aimless "research."
My mobility is 6 hrs on my feet/day and that's an accomplishment, working on doubling it since that's double what it used to be. I helped recruit and coordinate several generations of volunteers for Obama in three states - on a cane, offered a job but recruited others to do the next primary states instead. I've only gotten older since then.
Mamdani has a very fortunate combo going for him: Young, attractive, high energy but without massive ego, married, well educated successful parents who keep him centered apparently and a genuine connection to BIPOC as well as great training in how to face down racist assumptions, all with a strong calm center in any storm so far. Find more like him, male or female, as principled and focused. They're not a dime a dozen but they're out there, working their butts off for candidates they believe in like he did. That's what the DNC should be doing, not paying half ass "influencers" $8k/month for spewing the day's talking points.
The two factions that run this country, the Right and the Far Right, do not fear Medicare for All because it will fail, they fear it because the know it will succeed. Same reason we conduct economic and other forms of warfare against any country that even experiments with socialism.
So, once again Corbin outlines all the problems with the US Political system: no mandatory limit on spending on elections; a lobby system which undermines democracy; a healthcare system which is too expensive for most Americans; broken immigration system, etc, but we want a solution/way forward: I think and most “Non-Trumpers- understand how clearly the DNC failed the Citizens in 2016 (corruptly imposed Hillary as our only choice) and handed Presidency to Trump and again in 2024 by rolling out a “has been” great President Biden on 27th June 2024 to again hand Trump the Presidency. I believe the Democrats need to get their shit together and choose a 2028 Presidential candidate NOW - a leader we can fall behind and support NOW - before it’s too late?
Solution/way forward - Demand any candidate receiving your vote support HJR-54, the bill calling for a constitutional amendment that kills the concepts of corporate personhood and money as speech. It would overrule every SCROTUS corporate-friendly precedent since the Santa Clara railroad case in the 1880s. It’s the only way to guarantee progressive legislation, from healthcare to wealth inequality to climate, will be upheld if passed, and the only way for electoral reform to happen.
Having listened & watched Jon Stewart's podcast with Ken Martin - the current DNC chair AND having seen his interview with Ben Winkler (months ago) who also was up for the DNC chair. Of course! The Democratic power picked Ken Martin. The difference between them was obvious. Worth looking for. I imagine there were other interviews of both but those were the ones I saw. The thought of Ken Martin with his finger on the scale is disturbing.
My eyes glaze over every time someone tosses out gross statistical comparisons between populations. Not only are statistics malleable, they tend to deflect from the underlying reasons for those differences. We are a country that glorifies rugged individualism, “I’ve got mine; tough titty if you don’t have yours.” That is less the case in Japan and other countries with some form of universal health care. Our self-centered mindset is at the core of every social and economic ill we suffer, and if we don’t change that core value, we will never heal (pun intended) a thing.
How do we change that core value, though? I don't think it's possible to do that in a short enough time to dig us out of this mess. Can we somehow convince people that making sure we all have health care DOES actually serve their individual needs to be free, prosperous, and safe? Because it does. Like, let's not fight over a crappy pie. Let's make a way better pie, so all our pieces will be fatter. Not sure I'm nailing the rugged individualism. Maybe we simultaneously need to poison that notion. Like there's no such thing as rugged individualism when the fat cats get all the loot. What you get is lonely scraps. I don't know that I've proven any kind of point, but I think it's worth chewing on these ideas.
Yes, it will take time to mitigate our bootstrap (BS) false mindset. Yes, frame the conversation in the context of how universal health care is good for everyone, whether poor, middle class, or rich. Comparisons to other countries is an apples-to-bananas exercise that misses the point of true human value. Are we really the wealthiest country in the world if 10% of our population has 90% of our wealth?
Perhaps what the Rs are doing now and the obvious shit storm to an already precarious health insurance system for citizens will do it. After all, those premium increase letters are going out now.
It’s not enough, but it will be a wake up call that will make Americans a little bit “woke” when it comes to their own day-to-day AFFORDABILITY ISSUES!!!
You're absolutely right, Corbin! Of course the US healthcare system needs to be reinvented. There are so many alternative models to choose, from all the other developed countries around the world, that it's just sheer idiocy, or lunacy, or malfeasance that we don't get on with it!
And I share your frustration that the Democratic leadership seems to be using the current moment (and all other political opportunities) to win some sort of arcane political battle, rather than promoting the kinds of real change that would make a difference in the lives of our citizens.
I keep asking you how we can move forward to organize, effectuate, and finally welcome the change that's so long overdue? Well.......?
Disdain for the political system is at an all-time high but few among the discontented can discern a path forward. That's where we come in. To do that, though, requires a battle from within and outside the Democratic Party. Within the party there needs to be a clear line of distinction between the corporatist Dems and ourselves. Outside the party there needs to an organization and platform that represents our ideals.
"Within the party", that line has always been clear, but not adhered to. "Fools" just hang in there desperately hoping the partys ideals will eventually prevail. They do not see that it's locked up-totally from any real change. We are currently facing horrendous oppression to a degree unlike ever before and the forces of dehumanization, control and (actual) depopulation (if you will) leave us all in "save your own skin" situation. There are no saviors, tho obvious there's a few in the current system (seemingly) tryng hard...i.e Mr. Trent. It appears imminent that we are facing a "real ID requirement, digital currency i.e stable coins etc. and a resultant social credit system. It will govern our every action. This needs to be NOT complied with as all the great efforts to reform our govts. operating system will be meaningless in comparison. Not complying needs to be a focus IMMEDIATELY. As we see here from many brilliant comments, the details of righting this governmental operation (if it prevails) can follow relatively easily,. But to lose our individual sovereignty, rights, and freedoms at this point is pivotal to actually survive (save our own skin) as human beings.
Wow Corbin, another home run by me! I shared it with Gregg Gonslaves, The Nation's healthcare reporter. This is how our corrupt healthcare system should be reported on!
Re. "And we know something is profoundly wrong when the earnest question of our time is “should billionaires exist,” but almost no one asks, “should homelessness exist in the same country as a billionaire?”
Yes! and this absurd and inhumane situation is not an accident or the result of "natural" market forces. It is the result of policies that favor the rich and are bought by the rich and corporate funders of both major parties. That's why for me, the one essential acid test for any progressive candidate (to receive the backing of our movement) is: do they take take funding from the donor class? Championing a progressive healthcare program like Corbin envisions would be a strong 2nd identifier but I am open to the idea that the policy points are better framed according to local priorities. But the source of funding is for me a deal-breaker.
The only way to have high quality healthcare at the lowest cost is to completely eliminate all profit from the system. We need to replace the current fragmented system with all its profiteering and layers of unneeded administration.... with a system like Representative Jayapal's bill HR 3069 in the House. It will cover everyone in the US for 100% of the cost of all medical necessities for life..... and will automatically SAVE the average household several thousands of dollars and save the government Hundreds of Billions of dollars EVERY YEAR!!!
Yep, Trump gave his tax cuts to the wealthy and stuck it to the rest of us. In his mind, the only one who deserves a decent lifestyle are his oligarch buddies! 😡
Yep, Trump gave his tax cuts to the wealthy and stuck it to the rest of us. In his mind, the only one who deserves a decent lifestyle are his broligarch buddies! 😡
Another problem is that the media normalizes all that's broken in service to billionaires.
I take neither of you are one of those who never was without insurance nor couldn’t afford insurance increases to the point of cancelling their policy.
Just curious did either of you vote for Bernie Sanders who has been fighting for MED4ALL since before the 2016 election. The first time the elite chose our candidate
Agree 1,000%! No one is excited about restoring a failed and broken system.
DNC Dems are at an all time low. The most popular senator is an independent they lied cheated and stole to defeat and let's face it, Bernie's outreach to the Black communities was sad. DNC'll install another paid shill unless WE build a movement now that can beat their bs. Many write beautifully on the problems but don't say clearly: Either build DSA or actually go to those butt-numbing local Dem Party monthly mtgs with an ever growing posse to out vote their bs.
Many states have less people than NYC and many less billionaires than NYC which also has Wall St and the biggest banks in the world. Mamdani wins with no big donors for being honest and using all he learned campaigning for other progressives who lost. He took lessons learned and addressed economic not just social inequality with new policies and tried and true ones. He uses the MLK quote "Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children." We are divided too easily, we keep waiting for somebody else to do it but it's on us. We're on our own.
Well spoken! Have you thought about https://runforsomething.net/ ?
TY but I'm no longer able to do the level of physical work that it takes. Compared to Bernie I'm young but I was born/raised in the South Bronx and inside, this body feels the concrete beneath my feet 8 hrs/day 6 days/wk all summer working at an industrial laundry in Manhattan when I was 12 and 13 for a buck an hour. Much to be said for growing up with dirt beneath your feet instead of concrete. I'm a ghetto geek, old school, got a Truman fellowship at UW Seattle Poli Theory then on to quit the Stanford Grad School of Ed and its way too many nepo babies and profitable but aimless "research."
My mobility is 6 hrs on my feet/day and that's an accomplishment, working on doubling it since that's double what it used to be. I helped recruit and coordinate several generations of volunteers for Obama in three states - on a cane, offered a job but recruited others to do the next primary states instead. I've only gotten older since then.
Mamdani has a very fortunate combo going for him: Young, attractive, high energy but without massive ego, married, well educated successful parents who keep him centered apparently and a genuine connection to BIPOC as well as great training in how to face down racist assumptions, all with a strong calm center in any storm so far. Find more like him, male or female, as principled and focused. They're not a dime a dozen but they're out there, working their butts off for candidates they believe in like he did. That's what the DNC should be doing, not paying half ass "influencers" $8k/month for spewing the day's talking points.
The two factions that run this country, the Right and the Far Right, do not fear Medicare for All because it will fail, they fear it because the know it will succeed. Same reason we conduct economic and other forms of warfare against any country that even experiments with socialism.
Well said. This is worth expanding on. Few recognize the wisdom in what you say.
So, once again Corbin outlines all the problems with the US Political system: no mandatory limit on spending on elections; a lobby system which undermines democracy; a healthcare system which is too expensive for most Americans; broken immigration system, etc, but we want a solution/way forward: I think and most “Non-Trumpers- understand how clearly the DNC failed the Citizens in 2016 (corruptly imposed Hillary as our only choice) and handed Presidency to Trump and again in 2024 by rolling out a “has been” great President Biden on 27th June 2024 to again hand Trump the Presidency. I believe the Democrats need to get their shit together and choose a 2028 Presidential candidate NOW - a leader we can fall behind and support NOW - before it’s too late?
Solution/way forward - Demand any candidate receiving your vote support HJR-54, the bill calling for a constitutional amendment that kills the concepts of corporate personhood and money as speech. It would overrule every SCROTUS corporate-friendly precedent since the Santa Clara railroad case in the 1880s. It’s the only way to guarantee progressive legislation, from healthcare to wealth inequality to climate, will be upheld if passed, and the only way for electoral reform to happen.
MoveToAmend.org
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/01/the-roberts-court-twenty-years-of-democracy-undermined/
Having listened & watched Jon Stewart's podcast with Ken Martin - the current DNC chair AND having seen his interview with Ben Winkler (months ago) who also was up for the DNC chair. Of course! The Democratic power picked Ken Martin. The difference between them was obvious. Worth looking for. I imagine there were other interviews of both but those were the ones I saw. The thought of Ken Martin with his finger on the scale is disturbing.
100% correct. What's amazing is that Republicans can figure out a way to be even crueller than mainstream Democrats.
My eyes glaze over every time someone tosses out gross statistical comparisons between populations. Not only are statistics malleable, they tend to deflect from the underlying reasons for those differences. We are a country that glorifies rugged individualism, “I’ve got mine; tough titty if you don’t have yours.” That is less the case in Japan and other countries with some form of universal health care. Our self-centered mindset is at the core of every social and economic ill we suffer, and if we don’t change that core value, we will never heal (pun intended) a thing.
How do we change that core value, though? I don't think it's possible to do that in a short enough time to dig us out of this mess. Can we somehow convince people that making sure we all have health care DOES actually serve their individual needs to be free, prosperous, and safe? Because it does. Like, let's not fight over a crappy pie. Let's make a way better pie, so all our pieces will be fatter. Not sure I'm nailing the rugged individualism. Maybe we simultaneously need to poison that notion. Like there's no such thing as rugged individualism when the fat cats get all the loot. What you get is lonely scraps. I don't know that I've proven any kind of point, but I think it's worth chewing on these ideas.
Yes, it will take time to mitigate our bootstrap (BS) false mindset. Yes, frame the conversation in the context of how universal health care is good for everyone, whether poor, middle class, or rich. Comparisons to other countries is an apples-to-bananas exercise that misses the point of true human value. Are we really the wealthiest country in the world if 10% of our population has 90% of our wealth?
Perhaps what the Rs are doing now and the obvious shit storm to an already precarious health insurance system for citizens will do it. After all, those premium increase letters are going out now.
It’s not enough, but it will be a wake up call that will make Americans a little bit “woke” when it comes to their own day-to-day AFFORDABILITY ISSUES!!!
You're absolutely right, Corbin! Of course the US healthcare system needs to be reinvented. There are so many alternative models to choose, from all the other developed countries around the world, that it's just sheer idiocy, or lunacy, or malfeasance that we don't get on with it!
And I share your frustration that the Democratic leadership seems to be using the current moment (and all other political opportunities) to win some sort of arcane political battle, rather than promoting the kinds of real change that would make a difference in the lives of our citizens.
I keep asking you how we can move forward to organize, effectuate, and finally welcome the change that's so long overdue? Well.......?
You make so much sense it scares me. Why do we have so many people that can't see what you're saying?
Narrative control and propaganda.
Disdain for the political system is at an all-time high but few among the discontented can discern a path forward. That's where we come in. To do that, though, requires a battle from within and outside the Democratic Party. Within the party there needs to be a clear line of distinction between the corporatist Dems and ourselves. Outside the party there needs to an organization and platform that represents our ideals.
"Within the party", that line has always been clear, but not adhered to. "Fools" just hang in there desperately hoping the partys ideals will eventually prevail. They do not see that it's locked up-totally from any real change. We are currently facing horrendous oppression to a degree unlike ever before and the forces of dehumanization, control and (actual) depopulation (if you will) leave us all in "save your own skin" situation. There are no saviors, tho obvious there's a few in the current system (seemingly) tryng hard...i.e Mr. Trent. It appears imminent that we are facing a "real ID requirement, digital currency i.e stable coins etc. and a resultant social credit system. It will govern our every action. This needs to be NOT complied with as all the great efforts to reform our govts. operating system will be meaningless in comparison. Not complying needs to be a focus IMMEDIATELY. As we see here from many brilliant comments, the details of righting this governmental operation (if it prevails) can follow relatively easily,. But to lose our individual sovereignty, rights, and freedoms at this point is pivotal to actually survive (save our own skin) as human beings.
I nominate this as a top reader comment-testimonial :)
Wow Corbin, another home run by me! I shared it with Gregg Gonslaves, The Nation's healthcare reporter. This is how our corrupt healthcare system should be reported on!
Re. "And we know something is profoundly wrong when the earnest question of our time is “should billionaires exist,” but almost no one asks, “should homelessness exist in the same country as a billionaire?”
Yes! and this absurd and inhumane situation is not an accident or the result of "natural" market forces. It is the result of policies that favor the rich and are bought by the rich and corporate funders of both major parties. That's why for me, the one essential acid test for any progressive candidate (to receive the backing of our movement) is: do they take take funding from the donor class? Championing a progressive healthcare program like Corbin envisions would be a strong 2nd identifier but I am open to the idea that the policy points are better framed according to local priorities. But the source of funding is for me a deal-breaker.
I can’t remember if I’m a paid subscriber. 😣If not, I’d like to be.
How do I check?
The only way to have high quality healthcare at the lowest cost is to completely eliminate all profit from the system. We need to replace the current fragmented system with all its profiteering and layers of unneeded administration.... with a system like Representative Jayapal's bill HR 3069 in the House. It will cover everyone in the US for 100% of the cost of all medical necessities for life..... and will automatically SAVE the average household several thousands of dollars and save the government Hundreds of Billions of dollars EVERY YEAR!!!
https://substack.com/@jesscraven101/note/c-173306616?r=irawk&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Yep, Trump gave his tax cuts to the wealthy and stuck it to the rest of us. In his mind, the only one who deserves a decent lifestyle are his oligarch buddies! 😡
https://substack.com/@jesscraven101/note/c-173306616?r=irawk&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Yep, Trump gave his tax cuts to the wealthy and stuck it to the rest of us. In his mind, the only one who deserves a decent lifestyle are his broligarch buddies! 😡
I totally agree that the health system is fatally broken. It’s time to cut the war Department budget in half and reallocate the money.