[Peace-discuss] #ForceTheVote voting: "The Squad" shows who they really are -- against Medicare for All (no matter what they say in speeches)

[J.B. Nicholson]

According to Jimmy Dore in https://twitter.com/jimmy_dore/status/1345830710628683776 
(which was later unpublished)
>  . at AOC WITHHOLDS HER VOTE!! PRESSURE WORKS!!!! 
> 
> Thank you @AOC!
> 
> NOW MAKE SURE YOU DEMAND MEDICARE FOR ALL FOR YOUR  VOTE!!
> YAAAAAAAY!!! 
> 
> #ForceTheVote


In case any of you saw that post, it's incorrect -- AOC voted to re-elect Pelosi as 
Speaker. She, like so many self-styled progressive Democrats, voted to install a 
bulwark against ever bringing Jayapal's bill to the floor for a vote. This speaks 
more loudly than any speech she has or will ever give (no matter how many so-called 
analysts are fooled into believing a Congressperson's speech matters as much or more 
than a Congressperson's vote). As a reminder, objecting to Medicare for All is not 
new: The Democrats didn't bring HR676 (John Conyers' Medicare for All bill) to the 
floor of the House for a vote when the Democrats had control over both houses of 
Congress during the Obama/Biden administration. Democrats are apparently effective 
opponents of Medicare for All.

Dore got it right in https://twitter.com/jimmy_dore/status/1345843712102813696
> SHAME on the house progressives for NOT fighting for #ForceTheVote & #Med4all 
> 
> What is the point of voting for progressives inside the Dem party again? 
> 
> They won’t fight, they are selling you out & ABANDONING YOU. 
> 
> SHAME.
> 
> We are a FAILED STATE as is the progressive movement


Jayapal's vote is noteworthy because it is comparable to Sen. Sanders' take on 
Medicare for All: both Jayapal and Sanders have endorsed the concept of Medicare for 
All in the abstract, and both have written bills to ostensibly implement Medicare for 
All. Then both made moves that worked directly in opposition to making Medicare for 
All a reality: Jayapal's vote to keep Pelosi as House Speaker, and Sanders' 
campaign-ending messages to his 2020 POTUS supporters: "Let me be clear: I am not 
proposing that we pass Medicare for All in this moment. That fight continues into the 
future." without saying when "the future" is, and "This is not Medicare for All, we 
can’t pass that right now." in his campaign ending video 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uQV83U5Dk. This is no different than the current 
#ForceTheVote objectors who insist that fighting at a different (and usually 
unspecified time) -- "not now" -- is the correct way to (somehow) get Medicare for 
All in the midst of a deadly pandemic. The HMOs probably understand that they need a 
carrot of a bill or two as unobtainable goals so that the US can be plausibly strung 
along with the status quo for another term.

So it's time for the public to follow through by getting rid of any Congressperson 
that doesn't vote in the way we need to send a message that this choice deserves 
punishment. After all, re-electing progressive imposters sends a clear message that 
they can ignore public opinion again. Most of the American public (around 70%[1] 
holding steady from 2018 through 2020) is on the side of Medicare for All. I presume 
that support will only grow as more Americans are impoverished due to losing their 
job (with that their income and likely the ability to pay for medical care paid for 
by their job-supplied insurance), their homes, and yet always needing medical care.


[1] 
https://thehill.com/hilltv/what-americas-thinking/494602-poll-69-percent-of-voters-support-medicare-for-all 
and 
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/28/most-americans-now-support-medicare-for-all-and-free-college-tuition.html 
are recent articles discussing surveys on this topic.