A Health Care March on Washington
All this hand wringing over teabaggers at town hall meetings!
Republicans don't want a debate, they want a debacle, something to distract the media from any serious consideration of what's actually at stake. But it's futile to worry the point. The media need a narrative. Let's give them one. Let's march on Washington. (I know this idea has been raised before; if there's anything in the works I'm unaware of I invite your commentary.)
There are advantages and pitfalls to planning a march. Does sufficient interest exist? My gut tells me its out there. In spades. If that's true, and we produce the type of rally I'd expect, the teabaggers get dunked.
We should be careful not to step on our own message. The likely participants are a diverse group with varied interests and a range of opinions on what's needed. The rallying cry, I believe, should be non-specific: "A Health Care March on Washington!" The goal is to frame only the problem, not the solution; there are better venues for that.
Imagine an endless stream of speakers taking turns at the podium, real people, each with a deeply personal story to tell. We'll hear from those who could not obtain insurance, whose claims were denied or whose policies were rescinded. We'll hear from doctors who've been thwarted in their ability to help those in need, from family members who've suffered along with a loved one, from mothers and fathers bankrupted by caring for a sick child...the list goes on and on.
How many column inches could we fill? Who would dare shout us down? This could be a watershed moment, a truly historic event. And what politician wouldn't think twice about being on the wrong side of history?
---s
You have a great call for action! I support the action as a way to send the loudest and claerest message; thus daring the obstructionists to stop reform! I hope your post here can gain some traction. Maybe over Labor Day Weekend and set the table for EFCA! Mobilzing and organizing is exactly what we should do!
August 4, 2009 11:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well the single payer rally was poorly attended in DC despite the fact that we have five TPM bloggers representing us there and meeting with reps etc.
While I feel confident that we at TPM could pull off a better and bigger rally than Healthcare Now was apparently capable of, I think it takes organization.
If you decide to go for it I will help but I think you'd have to try to track down every community organizer that worked to elect President Obama and others during the last election and get them on board. Then get them to plan at least one local rally in nearby major cities to build momentum and do some fundraising to get everybody to DC and pull together a real rally.
Or you pick the date time and location (make sure you reserve it) and you start a
Make A Stand For Health Care Rally in DC, x, x 2009... PASS IT ON! And you filter that through the community leaders media, publicity, etc.
Anything's possible!
August 5, 2009 2:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Okay,
Look what you got me to do. I wrote to Moveon.org and asked them to get together with Howard Dean's organization and others and put together a massive rally in DC right when congress gets back from recess.
I am a very passionate single payer proponent. I think the public option is going to screw us in the behind politically... but that's me looking at the political games and battles that are likely to be waged before reform ever takes effect.
So do if I were to go do DC. I would be wearing one of those health care/justice for all shirts.
But I would rather see people get off their behinds and fight for what 'they' believe in, than allow the sick battles being waged against us go unchallenged.
So, what the heck. I'll write other organizations until I hear at some point that someone is going to sponsor it and make it happen.
I'd love to show the lobbyists et all that are paying people to disrupt the argument that we are willing to organize, demonstrate and that their mindless tactics will result in us getting more organized and active in response.
August 5, 2009 4:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
Could you talk to jane hamsher, too, at firedoglake?
August 5, 2009 8:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
What about multiple marches in several cities? Spread it out, (and also, not everyone can get away to DC). That is what the teabaggers did (not to emulate them, but they did get a lot of press).
August 5, 2009 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good point. I would have like to have attended the two single payer rallies in DC, but the timing/cost/late notice made attending difficult, and I have more flexibility than most in my schedule.
August 5, 2009 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
For a long time I've been advocating a simple kind of demonstration, which would not involve people traveling. You call a day and time. Everyone leaves their home and assembles in the street. With flashlights, whatever. I've always envisioned this in the evening. Could be with candles. Whatever. Everybody simply stands there and talks to their neighbors. No agenda. No nothing. For 20 minutes, half an hour. It's a happening. Traffic comes to a halt. People pull off the freeways.
Google earth takes note of the whole thing.
If you make this really, really easy - involving no travel, no cost, no gasoline wasted, no needing to take time off of work or other responsibilities, you'll get a much larger turn-out. Just assembling peacefully in every neighborhood, every street.
Asking people to travel is fraught with so much complexity. It costs a lot to get to. To clean up from. To police. Etc.
Doing a street thing is so easy to organize. No cost. No clean-up. And almost impossible for the thugs to interfere with! And it fits with our more frugal socio/economic situation at the moment.
August 5, 2009 3:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great concept, TheraP. I have the same sense that the numbers are out there. Anything that helps to drive this home can only increase the pressure for real reform. I love the visuals.
---s
August 5, 2009 4:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, there are stories right in our neighborhood! People having trouble getting health care due to inherited illnesses or past surgeries, whatever. And a terrible anxiety about all this. Not in every household. But many. And so people getting out there. In your own neighborhood. We have 2 doctors. One gave a kidney to a spouse. People across the street, many health problems. Wife in disability. Son has same illness as the wife - and can't get insurance. If we just all got outside for something like this, the stories would multiply. It's so easy to do! If people are on vacation, you do it in the campground! Or at the pool! On the beach. Everywhere!
August 5, 2009 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
A march on DC would be great. If it could be spread to other places that would be icing on the cake. Washington is a must though. Fifty to a hundred thousand for DC would be a target number of marchers to have enough cred to get congress to move in the right direction. It'll take a lot to get them to do the right thing.
August 5, 2009 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Switch to tea, now. Collect many used teabags. Wrap in tiny clean bandages. Mail with get well cards to the Blue Dogs and wingers in their home and Hill offices.
August 5, 2009 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Howard Dean is THE MAN! I believe we can get more people to support him on HCR then we did for President. He has his own organization already. Other organizations, like MoveOn.org, would work with him. We do need a pervasive program around the country, but maybe we should start the wave in our local communities. Rather then do them all on one day, we should start on the West Coast, soon, and build a weekly series across the country moving further east each week until we get to DC with the biggest of them all. I think we could generate momentum locally and then many of those people lit up at the local events would also go to DC. It is at the local events they might find partners/ride shares to get to DC.
BTW, we should be doing these things in front of hospitals where families are actively being effected by health insurers, although, if they are in the hospital, they are the lucky ones who actually made it to treatment in the first place. Anyway, I believe there is a reaction to the agitators suppression of the voices of others in the recent town halls that we might tap to create a bigger rally next time.
Synchronicity, I adore your determination and prompt proactive responses to these calls to action.
August 5, 2009 3:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've imagined things like that too TheraP but I am not sure that we trust each other strongly enough to do it.
I've been a person sitting on a busy main street corner holding a homemade sign remind everyone that the primary election is happening and they can vote today. It takes a certain amount of moxy to do something like that. I think if you had rallies regular group rallies and built up to it... americans could learn to take to the streets and trust that some of their neighbors would be standing there with them.
I would really like to see us learn how to demonstrate and fight together non violently for the things that are worth fighting for:)
August 5, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
oops this was meant to be a reply to TheraP
But while I am at it, back at you Gregor, you are awesome!
August 5, 2009 4:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Got it! ;)
August 5, 2009 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know what might work is if you had major rallies across the country linked up by satellite with big screens so that you could switch from state to state and arrange major speakers, celebrities in each city to draw turnout and they could all speak and be played on screen in turns.
Maybe get Michelle to go speak in Chicago with Oprah and Durbin and I think you have one in Denver, CO, definitely one in CA, not sure where they should be but it that were possible... that you could join the rallies together and watch the speakers at each rally in turn... you could have a massive country wide turnout for health care.
Hey, I'll pitch it to Dean's organization. You never know until you try. I have no idea if it's feasible or not but it seems possible:)
August 5, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
What would be great is to preface a neighborhood gathering with some kind of speechifying. But really, the power is in the people! And most of us are not afraid of going out our front doors and assembling in the street. Or on the sidewalk. No biggie!
August 5, 2009 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I like Sync's idea. Localize it.
Funny, I dreamt last night of confronting the idiot yelling 'liar'!!! Ha. So much air time to that fool.
August 5, 2009 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah! Can you believe the media gave a guy so much air time, over and over again, shouting liar at the healthcare reformers. It's alomst like the media were actually wanting to perpetuate his accusation as somehow emblematic of the country. That's so strange!
Wait a minute!?!?!? Is it?!?!
August 5, 2009 5:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm let's see Lou Dobbs is a birther and still has a show. CNN won't run the ads about Dobbs or now some other health care ads?
And the media is basically controlled and operated by corporations... are we being duped?
oh it must be my imagination...
August 5, 2009 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can try and go to Washington -- any news of any good group organizing a march on Washington or separate marches in Cities on the same day?
September 12, 2009 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink