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Head v. Heart

In the eight years since he lost the Election of 2000 — and was installed as President anyway by a lawless Supreme Court — Bush managed to wreck America big time:  from two badly-fought wars, to the worst deficit in American history, to the worst Depression since the Great one.

And now that Obama can’t undo all of Bush’s catastrophic errors in 12 months, particularly with a Republican Party determined to make America fail, some voters are turning against him.

Is anyone surprised?  Demagoguery works.  It never hurts to play to voter’s emotions over their intelligence.  Sadly, populist anger without solutions works.  Nihilism works.  And it’s a heckuva lot easier to tear a country apart than to build one up.  Just ask Al Qaeda.

A Publicly-Funded Charity Should Serve the Public

My op-ed was published today in The Washington Post.

A publicly funded charity should serve the public
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So Much For Loving Thy Neighbor

Mark’s editoral was published today in The Washington Blade.

Mark is in a Slew of Newspapers for his Work on DC Marriage Equality

The Washington Post:
Same-sex marriage foes vow court fight

The Washington Post a second time:
Cases against gay marriage don’t hold up

Washington Examiner:
Same-sex union foes seek ballot initiative to define marriage

Washington Times:
Debating gay marriage

Washington Blade:
Marriage referendum supporters pack BOE meeting

MetroWeekly:
Marriage Meetings: Monday set for full day of marriage-equality arguments

The Associated Press (several newspapers):
DC same-sex marriage language debated in hearing

In addition, you can read the briefs Mark wrote for the DC Board of Elections on behalf of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club:

Gertrude Stein Brief; Gertrude Stein Reply Brief

And his testimony before the DC City Council:

Testimony of Mark Levine

The Mark-Levine One-Sentence Solution for Health-Care Reform

Many on the Right and even some on the Left have complained that Democratic bills for health-care reform, from Hillary Clinton’s to Barack Obama’s to those in the various Congressional Committees, are too complicated. Even John Stewart mocked the 1000-page bill.

Well, I, Mark Levine, can fix America’s health-care problems in one sentence.

And no, I’m not joking.

So now, without further ado, I present a one-sentence bill to resolve the health-care problem.

H.R. LEVINE
“Medicare for All”
Section 1: The current Medicare system shall be available to all Americans regardless of age.

That’s it!  The entire bill.  Ta-dum….

Here’s the beauty of it.

1.  Medicare is a known commodity, not some new-fangled thing the Republicans can create scare-tactics about (like “the public option” or “single-payer”).  And folks like it.  An astounding 94% of Americans on Medicare are satisfied with it.  (Poll: Suffolk University)

2.  Medicare is cheap.  My parents are both on Medicare and they pay 1/3 to 1/2 of what I do.  And I’m healthy (and relatively young).  So Medicare would help me if I could join it.

3.  Adding all of us under 65 would FIX Medicare’s financial problems.  Medicare currently takes care of the oldest and sickest among us and has a shortfall of funds.  But that’s because it charges so much less than private insurance and takes care of the most difficult health problems.  If young people joined Medicare and paid premiums, that would financially benefit Medicare because Medicare would take in more money and pay out less in health care bills (because young people, on average, are healthier than the elderly).  So I would help Medicare if I could join it.

Win-Win

When younger Americans join Medicare, they get a sharp discount in their insurance.

When younger Americans join Medicare, Medicare makes a sharp profit.

Sure it’s functionally the same thing as single-payer.  (Shhhhhhh….that’s our little secret.)  But Medicare for All helps everyone, from the elderly (who benefit from a financially-stronger Medicare that can pay for their needs) to Americans under 65 (who get cheaper insurance) to doctors, medical professionals, hospitals, and even drug companies (who get more patients, including those who are currently uninsured and underinsured because they can’t afford health care) to the insurance companies (who….ooops…guess it doesn’t benefit the insurance companies who would lose a lot of their profits.)

Oh well, 6 out of 7 ain’t bad.  Sorry insurance companies.

What do you think?

Any comments on the Mark-Levine One-Sentence Bill to Reform Health Care?

Build me a movement and I’ll run for Congress.  🙂