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).