Over the last three weeks, I have attended 8 meetings in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan about Obamacare. In general these meetings of been "information sessions" and defense of Obamacare. But one thing comes through at these meetings, all of them, very forcefully: people are insisting on single-payer, Medicare for All or some form of socialized health care with sentiment in support of socialized health care--- a National Public Health Care System growing--- with both the single-payer supporters and defenders of Obamacare trying their damnedest to stifle any discussion about socialized health care.
Both the single-payer advocates--- and, personally, I support single-payer as long as it is pushed as a step towards a National Public Health Care System.
I find it interesting that the advocates of single-payer who are Johnny-come-latelies to the ideas of Canada's Tommy Douglas are twisting Tommy Douglas' ideas about single-payer to fit their narrow motives and agenda.
Tommy Douglas did NOT bring single-payer health care to Saskatchewan. Tommy Douglas' government of socialists was socializing Saskatchewan's health care system when his opposition got scared in seeing the tremendous support Douglas and his socialist colleagues in Saskatchewan were receiving right across Canada which resulted in a reform agreement that became Canada's single-payer health care system with Tommy Douglas continually advocating for socialized health care up until he took his last breath from his deathbed.
If we look closely at who the leading defenders of Obamacare are, we find they are the foundation-funded groups who are continually cautioning us to "be patient;" that "change comes slow" and we should be satisfied with "baby steps" and "incremental reforms."
The fact is, Obamacare will help some people but most people will suffer in one way or another from Obamacare.
This has been a hallmark of the Obama Administration and the Democrats throughout the entire Obama period: Help a few people and get these people selfishly clamoring in defense of a few minor reforms which are part of legislative packages that harm and hurt far more people than they help with Wall Street profiteers raking in the profits.
The foundation-funded outfits serve as a kind of "pressure release valve" preventing the anger of the people from taking on major universal reform initiatives that would be of benefit to everyone like the New Deal reforms and Civil Rights legislation.
The foundation-funded outfits want us to believe that a struggle for a National Public Health Care System is some kind of far-fetched, pie-in-the-sky idea put forward by liberals, progressives and leftists who have no connection with reality. Of course, these foundation flowers receive their pay-checks from the "great philanthropists" who are none other than the greedy Wall Street bastards who profit from all of our problems be the problems related to health care, poverty wages, unemployment, racism or war.
So, these foundation flowers have a vested interest, which they NEVER disclose as they counsel us to be satisfied with itsy-bitsy baby steps and incremental reforms (and most of the time the "reforms" are more in line with Wall Street's reactionary agenda setting us all back instead of moving us all forward together)when what is really required are massive governmental universal social programs not these "market driven reforms" like Obamacare.
We need cast aside the "advice" from these foundation-flowers and launch and initiate struggles for a National Public Health Care System--- if we agree to settle in the midst of struggle as Tommy Douglas and his socialists did, temporarily, for some kind of Canadian-type single-payer system this is one thing.
But lets not get sucked into supporting and defending small bits and pieces of Obamacare when most people will suffer from it.
We need to view the struggle for jobs in the same way. Let's not get sucked into believing John Conyers is putting forward "full employment legislation" (which, by the way Obama and most Democrats don't support) when he is actually bringing forward a good job creating program but only for a very small number of the total number of people unemployed. But, at least Conyer's jobs bill doesn't contain anything that will harm or hurt any working people as it helps some people.
Obama could have brought forward piecemeal reforms helping only a small number of people without huring and harming most people instead of the for-profit driven Obamacare but he chose not to.
Just like we need to launch a struggle for a National Public Health Care System we need to initiate and launch a struggle for full employment legislation.
In fact, more than any other reforms, a National Public Health Care System would create millions of new jobs--- some 12 to fifteen-million new jobs--- if we pushed for a New Deal type solution by advocating for a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" which would require Congress and the president to be legislatively required to attain and maintain full employment.
Common sense alone should tell us that we can solve our unemployment problems by putting people to work solving the problems of the people and our entire society.
Why would anyone oppose putting fifteen-million people to work providing the American people with free health care through a massive network of community and neighborhood health care centers instead of our tax-dollars financing these barbaric wars, militarism and over 800 U.S. military bases on foreign soil protecting Wall Street's interests and assets which justifiably belong to other people?
Only these foundation-flowers whose paychecks are derived from these Wall Street "philanthropists" could concoct illogical reasons why we should reject the notion of reforms coming in "incremental" and "baby-steps" and even such reactionary legislation as Obamacare being passed off as "reform" when the only thing the "Affordable Care Act" really is is a piece of job-killing legislation which should rightfully be called by its proper name: the "Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industry Bailout and Profit Maximization Act of 2010."
The doctors also profit big-time from Obamacare.
I wouldn't count on the doctors or any of their organizations, including PNHP, launching real struggles for either single-payer or socialized health care because they join the Wall Street crowd in reaping huge profits from Obamacare as they further gouge the American people.
That even Obama refers to Obamacare as his "signature" piece of legislation for which he wants us to remember his tenure in office should serve to remind us all that Obama's only commitment is to Wall Street--- and Wall Street is our common enemy.