The Democratic Establishment Keeps Working To Blur The Lines Between A Progressive Party And A Conservative Party

A new Granite State poll from the University of New Hampshire of likely Democratic primary voters shows that when voters are asked an open-ended questi􏰀on about whom they will vote for in the primary, Bernie is menti􏰀oned most frequently by far (28%). Status Quo Joe Biden (8%), Kamala Harris (6%), Amy Klobuchar (3%), Elizabeth Warren (2%), or Cory Booker (2%) are men􏰀tioned by far fewer likely voters (above). 42% of respondents were undecided. But when asked to pick between names provided to the pollsters, it was only Bernie, Status Quo Joe, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Beto who have 5% of more. 14% were undecided.

The chart below shows which candidate these voters think is the most progressive. No one gets anywhere near Bernie on that axis.

Some of the more conservative Democratic candidates-- both presidential and congressional-- are hoping that voters confuse anti-Trump with progressive. They're not necessarily related. Plenty of conservative Democrats have realized that posturing against Trump is popular with the activist Democratic base. Even more popular with the activist Democratic base, however, is Medicare-For-All. The new Medicare For All Act (H.R. 1384) was introduced this week by Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) with 106 co-sponsors-- from full-on progressives like AOC (D-NY), Joe Neguse (D-CO), Ted Lieu (D-CA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Jamie Raskin (D-MD), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Ro Khanna (D-CA) to members normally thought of as part of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party like Gregory Meeks (New Dem-NY), Adam Schiff (New Dem-CA), Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX) and Ann Kirkpatrick (New Dem-AZ).

A couple of months ago, Jake Johnson wrote that "Confronting the question most commonly asked of the growing number of Americans who support replacing America’s uniquely inefficient and immoral for-profit healthcare system with Medicare for All-- 'How do we pay for it?'-- a new paper released Friday by researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) shows that financing a single-payer system would actually be quite simple, given that it would cost significantly less than the status quo. 'It’s easy to pay for something that costs less,' Robert Pollin, economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and lead author of the new analysis, declared during a panel discussion at The Sanders Institute Gathering in Burlingon, Vermont, where Pollin unveiled the paper for the first time."

According to the 200-page analysis of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Medicare for All Act of 2017, the researchers found that “based on 2017 US healthcare expenditure figures, the cumulative savings for the first decade operating under Medicare for All would be $5.1 trillion, equal to 2.1 percent of cumulative GDP, without accounting for broader macroeconomic benefits such as increased productivity, greater income equality, and net job creation through lower operating costs for small- and medium-sized businesses.”

The most significant sources of savings from Medicare for All, the researchers found, would come in the areas of pharmaceutical drug costs and administration.

In a statement, Pollin said his research makes abundantly clear that the moral imperative of guaranteeing decent healthcare for all does not at all conflict with the goal of providing cost-effective care.

“The most fundamental goals of Medicare for All are to significantly improve healthcare outcomes for everyone living in the United States while also establishing effective cost controls throughout the healthcare system,” Pollin said. “These two purposes are both achievable.”

As Michael Lighty, a Sanders Institute fellow former director of public policy for National Nurses United, put it during the Gathering on Friday, “We really can get more and pay less.”

...“Medicare for All promises a system that is fairer, more efficient, and vastly less expensive than America’s bloated, monopolized, over-priced and under-performing private health insurance system,” [Columbia University professor Jeffrey] Sachs said. “America spends far more on healthcare and gets far less for its money than any other high-income country.”

Josh Harder ran for Congress in a northern portion of the Central Valley, CA-10, which runs from Turlock to Modesto and north to Riverbank, Ripon, Manteca and Tracy. The district has been trending blue and he ousted Republican incumbent, Jeff Denham. Obama beat his two GOP opponents by 3 points each and Hillary beat Trump by 3 points. Harder beat Denham more thoroughly last year-- 115,945 (52.3%) to 105,955 (47.7%), winning in both Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.

All 7 of the California freshmen campaigned on a version of single payer, but only 4 of them-- Mike Levin, Katie Porter, Katie Hill (New Dem) and Harder (New Dem)-- have signed on as co-sponsors of Jayapal's Medicare-For-All legislation. McClatchy reporter Kate Irby noted that Harder ran and was elected on Medicare-for-All and wrote Harder's sponsorship "will be a test of whether districts outside of the solidly Democratic will support the bold effort at health care overhaul as it takes steps towards becoming law-- which Republican groups have painted as a socialist dream." A strong majority elected him because of-- at least in part-- Medicare-for-All. Most people in the establishment don't understand that kind of common sense popularity for something so helpful in people's lives.

“The key piece I’ve heard again and again and again ... is ‘please keep the promise to work for Medicare for all,’” Harder said, citing constituent concerns he heard during a listening tour on health care he’s been holding in his district.

“People want to see major progress on the No. 1 issue they care about,” he added.

...Members of the Blue Dog Coalition, a moderate [poor Irby doesn't understand the difference between the word "moderate" and the word "conservative... maybe some day, but I doubt it] group of 27 Democrats focused on fiscal responsibility, have said they would not support such a proposal without a clear way to pay for it. It’s unclear how that would be done, and most are unwilling to consider a tax increase or furthering the country’s debt.

“I think it’s important to have the conversation, except without talking about how you’re going to pay for it, it’s a hollow promise,” said Blue Dog Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno. “It puts us in a position of further increasing Americans’ debt, which we all loathe.”

A slight majority of Americans favor a health care plan where everyone gets government-supplied health care, especially when they feel it will eliminate costs and guarantee coverage... Harder said he’s confident this is what the people of his district want and need, despite large price tags. Though he’s not an author of the legislation, he said he’s had frequent conversations with Jayapal over the past two years to make sure the bill addressed the needs of districts like his own, such as guaranteeing coverage and improving quality of care.

“People already pay way too much for health care,” Harder said. “We need a system that drives down costs and improves patient outcomes.”

Health care is a significant issue in Harder’s San Joaquin Valley district, where unemployment is consistently higher than the national average and air and water quality problems worsen the issue of pre-existing conditions. Harder and Democratic groups repeatedly spotlighted his Republican opponent’s votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act in a campaign Harder ultimately won by about 10,000 votes.

There are over 350,000 uninsured individuals in the Central Valley, according to Harder’s office, one of the highest proportions of uninsured people in the state. Most of those who are uninsured in California are Latino and a quarter are millennials, and a third earn less than $25,000 per year.

It's a winning issue for people-- even if establishment politicians and corporate journalists don't understand that yet. The Democratic Party establishment should embrace the progressive agenda; its base has. And by the way, a new poll of Democratic primary voters in California, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina shows that addressing the climate crisis is a top tier issue for Democratic primary voters, shared only with universal healthcare coverage. So Medicare-For-All and The Green New Deal, the two most popular issues among Democratic voters-- and both totally unembraced and sabotaged by the party's congressional leadership which is too doddering to understand either.