Bernie Sanders unveiled his Medicare for All bill this week,and 16 Democratic senators signed on as cosponsors. The last time he introduced a bill like it, not one senator was willing to join him. They considered the opinion impossible, and utopian.
Times contain changed.
The senators who shared a podium with Sanders understand this bill won’t pass in nowadays’s Republican-dominated Congress. They signed on because it’s a good opinion,and because they recognize that by doing so they can both reflect and reshape a shifting political landscape.
They’re aware that Sanders’ presidential campaign triggered a wave of energy and activism that continues nowadays. They recognize that this nascent political movement is a powerful political engine, and its diverse millennial base makes it the Democratic engine of the future.
They understand how change happens: as an ongoing dance between street-level activism and electoral politics.
A Declaration of PrinciplesWith this bill, and 17 senators – nearly one-third of the Senate’s Democrats,including several presidential prospects – are saying health care is a human right and a public good. That’s a declaration of principle.read more
Source: crooksandliars.com