I have only seen national DSA leadership oppose the idea or turn it into a personality contest with Jimmy Dore.
How is that democratic at all?! They are openly contradicting the democratically-decided party line…
What an absolutely shit organization.
Here's the quote:
2019 presents a unique opportunity for the Democratic Socialists for Medicare for All campaign: to be a key player in pushing HR 1384, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, to a vote in the House of Representatives. DSA is not alone in this work. National Nurses United, along with nearly 30 other national and local unions and progressive organizations are coordinating to take advantage of this moment. Since Bernie Sanders’ presidential run in 2016, single-payer advocates have been successfully turning Medicare for All into a litmus test for politicians. A floor vote in the House will force representatives to finally reveal whether they’re on the side of healthcare profiteers or the side of the working class.
Well i know m4a organizers are advocating for it to the npc, not sure on details but thats internal stuff. I dont think theres anything specifically important about this whole thing, and it certainly doesnt warrant anyone getting angry at each other over dumb shit. Im not against it but i can understand why people wouldnt want to actually go this route, tho i think even if DSA came out in full support tomorrow it still won't happen. People are acting like its literally the end of the world. You cant be saying that electoralism isnt how you win and then turn around and say actually we need these politicians to do this thing or else everything is over.
This has been the largest mass struggle for health care since the Bernie campaign. We are in the middle of a pandemic. It is a strategic mistake to say there's nothing important about this moment.
The conversation in the socialist movement must be "how do we engage the masses who turned out for Bernie". Advocating for the immediate implementation of a popular, socialist platform is a valid strategy to this end.
But you arent advocating for that and tweeting hashtags wont get you that, nor will a failed vote. Forcing a failed vote makes sense in the context of a few things, including having the legislators to want to go along with it (which we very well might not) and having an organized movement to apply real public pressure (which we dont currently but could) and it can bring things into the public eye which might incline people to get involved in movement organizing, which is what actually matters, but it might also just turn out to be struck down through some sort of procedural way and be over in a day and without any room for floor debates and then you're not gaining anything but embarrassment. This only really works if the entire CPC is behind it and we have unions, organizers, and a mass movement to go along. Otherwise the vote wont happen, and you wont gain anything from it if it does. This is just liberalism, people want shortcuts instead of wanting to do the real work necessary to build a real mass movement. Like I said I dont think theres any harm to dsa supporting it so idk why ppl are so against it, and if it plays out right it could do well to heighten these apparent contradictions and build up the movement, but these are real issues that need to be weighed on that people are casually dismissing thinking they've found some sort of secret strategy or something.
??? That is exactly what people are advocating for, M4A immediately. The vote is one tactic to that end.
The most important factor is that it can demonstrate to more people that the existing bourgeois democracy is fundamentally incapable of addressing the contradictions in today's society. M4A needs to happen now, but it won't.
We need to prove to the masses that it won't happen, and we need to replace our state with one that will.
The rest of your post does a great job highlighting how easy it is to teach people the futility of this project. We need to work with the people and teach them this information.
There is a faction of the progressive media pushing people into action. I have not seen this happen since the Bernie. That should not be opposed.
Teaching people things is great, but like I said just saying "vote for m4a" isn't gonna make that happen when we dont have any way to exert power over politicians. If it does happen it could be good, but I just dont think it will happen, thats why i dont think this is all that important. I agree it shouldnt be opposed cause theres no reason to waste energy opposing something like this unless i'm really missing something that could potentially actually backfire and make things worse, but I dont see how that would happen, tho again im not fully familiar with how a vote or the whole actual process itself would work, but I just dont think the politicians will think its worthwhile. Maybe the whole FTV thing itself failing should demonstrate to people the futility of tying your movement building around just demanding things from politicians?
The current effort is to exert power over progressive politicians over something they can achieve by themselves - a floor vote on M4A.
If we cannot get progressive politicians to push for a political tactic in DSA's M4A strategy, that is important information for the socialist movement.
I am advocating this in every organizing space I can find on forcing the vote. Pressuring politicians is a tactic we can use right now. We must use it, and also discuss the next set of tactics once this tactic has run its course.
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