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Medicare for All Town Hall
Timeline: January 17 – January 30
Discussion Thread
At the General Meeting, we planned to organize a Medicare for All Town Hall. We had a discussion about what it would look like during the meeting, but we need to settle on a more concrete plan. Then we can start advertising it and hold it mid-February.
After the GM, a few of us talked more about it. Here are the notes from that:
Similarly to the Tenant Union Workshop, there are questions around who are audience should be, what the goals of this town hall, what do we want people to do after attending this town hall, etc.
@Turcotte and @Raiken_202, did either of you want to meet to talk more about the Medicare for All town hall? We could discuss how we might go about collecting the stories or doing outreach.
Meeting Notes and Proposed Agenda (Original notes here)
We held a meeting the other day to discuss how we could frame this town hall. Below is a proposed outline out of the ideas we covered. This is a work in progress though! and suggestions are welcome.
Reframing the Conversation
Asking the question: Whatever happened to Medicare for All?
Revisiting CALL Stockton and its status.
Instead of doing a generic M4A or something that implies we can help in the short term
Town Hall Agenda
1. Welcome & Introductions
This will be more than a policy-lobbying discussion.
Focus on how campaigns like M4A expose capitalist limitations and how they can spark bigger “systemic change.”
2. Context: Crisis of Healthcare and Capitalism
Present the current healthcare challenges.
Highlight broader systemic issues driving these issues.
3. Personal Healthcare Stories
Encourage participants to share their real-life experiences.
4. Why M4A Mattered and Why It Stalled
Explore the reasons many activists and progressives, including CA Nurses, used M4A to gather support for the Democratic Party.
Examine why M4A isn’t politically feasible at this moment.
Include discussion of elected officials who may co-opt left wing movements (AOC).
5. Beyond Policy: Building Class Consciousness
“Killing CEOs isn’t going to help” (by itself).
Why does class consciousness matter?
Transforming anger into collective action.
Recognize how politics tends to lose traction when it fails to deliver.
6. Local Solutions
Strategic sectors that employ many local workers (nurses, logistics). These workers could create disruption, but greater organization is needed first.
Check in on CALL Stockton.
Review Mutual Societies during the 1930s Great Depression (later purged during the 1950s red scare).
I put together an example agenda (with more information that we will probably be able to fit) based on the outline we had above to give us something more concrete to discuss / vote on during the General Meeting.
Death of the Left II: Whatever Happened to Medicare for All?
The Healthcare Crisis
We still have millions of Americans with no health insurance; millions more underinsured
Two-tier healthcare system where half the population has inadequate or no healthcare access
The half with “good” insurance still deals with rising healthcare costs, it cutting into their paychecks for less coverage
The Capitalism Crisis
Profit-driven
Market Failure: Healthcare does not even operate as a normal market.
Profit over people.
Personal Healthcare Stories
Why M4A Matter and Why It Stalled
The Promise of Medicare for All
Universal coverage
Cost control
Freedom from employers
Free up time/money/ties to employment that would make it easier for socialists to organize
The Political Moment (2016-2020)
Bernie Sanders made it central to his presidential campaigns
70% of Americans supported the policy
Primary way ‘progressives’ differentiated themselves from centrist Democrats during primaries (this was actually an issue…)
Why It Stalled (Sheepdogging and Co-optation)
Despite momentum, it has been abandoned:
Kamala Harris endorsed and then backed firmly away from it
Even AOC suggested M4A might just be a negotiating tactics for a public option
Democratic Party never on board (why)
Corporate Influence (never fully unleashed)
Sheepdogging (California Democrats)
Policy Dilution (top-down demand/slogan easy to twist)
The Failure of Conventional Politics
Healthcare costs are not higher than before Obamacare
Networks have narrowed, limiting access
The ACA preserved and entrenched industry profit extraction
Continued consolidation of the entire industry
But we need to move beyond trust-busting
Faith in the Valley TU Example
Movements that on their face challenge capitalism directly are often redirected into channels that do not fundamentally threaten the system
CALL Stockton Example
Not Just About Policy - It Is About Building Class Consciousness
Beyond Single-Issue Reform
Build Class Consciousness: Develop shared understanding that workers’ interests fundamentally differ from those of the capitalist class
Create Independent Organizations: Working-class institutions independent from Democratic Party and Donor control
Develop Political Education: Helping people understand how capitalism works and how it perpetuates crisis
Why is building class consciousness important
Breaks political dependency: Helps workers see beyond the Democratic/Republican false choice
Creates solidarity: United people across differences around shared economic interests
Enables strategic action: Allows for an analysis of and coordinated pressure at key points in the system vs only relying on lobbying and electoralism
Provides an alternative vision: shows that another society is possible centered around different interests, not just profit and capital
Builds lasting power: Well-educated and experienced workers become lifelong organizers who can recruit and develop others
From Frustration to Organized Power
The Medicare for All campaign’s failure reveals a critical lesson: popular policy campaigns cannot succeed without organized working-class power. Our strategy must build independent power beyond lobbying politicians.
Develop materials showing links between local healthcare problems and capitalism
Host regular study groups on healthcare political economy
Train members to articulate connections between healthcare issues and systemic problems
Maintaining Revolutionary Politics
Long-Term Vision
Frame Medicare for All as removing a burden that facilitates future organizing
Focus on building working-class power beyond policy asks
Maintain independence from Democratic Party
Politics
Assess relationships between reform campaigns and revolutionary goals
Prevent politicians from co-opting the movement
Connecting to Broader Movements
Link local organizing to statewide and national Medicare for All campaigns
Share organizing models and lessons with other groups
Winning single-payer in the U.S. will require working people organizing across many sectors. By building independent working-class power through local organizing and start and coordinating more broadly from there, we can create the conditions where Medicare for All becomes not just popular polling-wise, but an active campaign where people see it as a stepping stone to overcoming capitalism.
We also started working on an outline of the presentation here.
During that meeting, we discussed delaying the Town Hall to give ourselves enough time to do outreach (and presentation prep). But since the date was set at the General Meeting, we would need a vote to do that. Since quorum was 5, would need 6 votes total to reschedule it to April 26th.
@Tanner@HipGnosis let me know if the date is right/wrong before we start voting.
Here is a draft for a second media post: Google Docs Please make any edits and reply here if you are okay with the language!
We should meet at least one more time to finalize a presentation. If you would like to particpate in putting it together, please reply below with which times will work best for you:
