You may be thinking, “When was health insurance in America ever great?” Point taken, but at least there was a time when health insurance was more affordable and individuals were better able to buy what they wanted, not what the government demanded. And the good news is Republicans can take steps toward getting us moving in that direction again.
For 30 years Democrats have tried to make health insurance “affordable” — or even “free” if Sen. Bernie Sanders (I...
Opinion
A new agenda for a new Democratic Party
Following Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat — which also saw Democrats lose the Senate and fail to retake the House of Representatives — one thing is fundamentally clear: The Democratic Party needs a new agenda if it hopes to win in the future.
Quite simply, Democrats cannot continue with the same playbook they’ve used for much of the past decade. It has alienated their base and threatens to relegate the party as a whole to minority status for years to come....
What big change in health care really looks like
Health care reform is an evergreen topic that keeps thousands of health policy wonks busily wringing their hands. Yet, little meaningful reform ever takes place, while spending continually rises at an unsustainable rate.
It’s as if we’re watching the famous psychology experiment where participants are so focused on counting basketball passes that they fail to notice a person in a gorilla suit walking through the scene. In health care, we’re so fixated on the min...
Trump thinks he won a mandate to change America. History says otherwise.
In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory, a wave of fear and reflection has taken hold across much of America. Much like Trump’s initial 2016 win, when journalists rushed to small-town Ohio diners to gauge what “real America thinks,” there’s a renewed sense that large swaths of experts and elites — not to mention the entire Democratic Party — may be out of touch with the zeitgeist and the electorate.
This feeling isn’t unwarranted, and it’s worth taking t...
How a French political movement from the 1950s helps explain Trump’s win
In the 1950s, France was swept by a right-wing populist movement founded by a rural bookstore owner named Pierre Poujade.
Poujade, a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II and a powerful orator, found his business squeezed by taxes and price controls. His complaints struck a note among other small business owners, tradespeople, service providers and farmers who felt oppressed by the government. His individual protest gained traction and ignited a political movement — “Pouja...
How a French political movement from the 1950s helps explain Trump’s win
In the 1950s, France was swept by a right-wing populist movement founded by a rural bookstore owner named Pierre Poujade.
Poujade, a Royal Air Force pilot during World War II and a powerful orator, found his business squeezed by taxes and price controls. His complaints struck a note among other small business owners, tradespeople, service providers and farmers who felt oppressed by the government. His individual protest gained traction and ignited a political movement — “Pouja...
State attorneys general are the last line of defense against Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris has done what Hillary Clinton did before her — gracefully and powerfully conceded the presidential election to ensure that our Constitution is upheld in a time of deep political divide. But a concession and transfer of power after the electorate has voted does not mean an acceptance of Donald Trump’s agenda.
Democratic governors and state attorneys general could be the last line of defense when Trump takes power again in January and beg...
State attorneys general are the last line of defense against Trump
Vice President Kamala Harris has done what Hillary Clinton did before her — gracefully and powerfully conceded the presidential election to ensure that our Constitution is upheld in a time of deep political divide. But a concession and transfer of power after the electorate has voted does not mean an acceptance of Donald Trump’s agenda.
Democratic governors and state attorneys general could be the last line of defense when Trump takes power again in January and beg...
Democrats aren’t the only ones who need a soul-searching
For better or worse, post-election analysis is now the country’s favorite sport. Wherever two or three Americans are gathered, there are at least a dozen reasons given for why Donald Trump won and Democrats got shellacked.
Among many, the most common is that Democrats need a good soul-searching over how they lost touch with the working class. I agree. Although the real questions is: How did Democrats do so much for working-class Americans — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,...
Attention Democrats: Don’t mourn, organize!
In a Former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), my former congressional colleague, recently offered advice for Democrats’ post-election blues. He suggested that first we stop feeding the “end of democracy woes”; second, that we “embrace the suck”; and third, understand voter anxiety in a time of change.
I have a more concrete list.
We need to engage in voter registration efforts, especially in minority communities, on an ongoing basis. Black Americans and Latinos gave the ma...