Senate Speech Heralds New Social Movement
O U T * W I T H * T H E * O L D * a n d * I N * W I T H * T H E * N E W, 23.12.2009 17:29
If you do only one more political thing this year as we put 2009 to bed--RIP, let it be to listen to Bernie Sanders on the floor of the United States Senate speak about Health Care Reform which boots out corporate greed! Sanders speech is being heralded the "New Social Movement" and this couldn't come at a better time...
For 2009 reflect for just a minute on all the garbage we have been subjected to pertaining to Health Care Reform and realize that from the start the campaign has been designed by the corporate greedy who literally buy reform that makes them lots & lots more money. Profit over people wins again. The campaign for healthcare reform loses, but out of it we have the "New Social Movement"
So let us do put 2009 to bed and permanently behind us. It has been a horrible year, however we deserve to end it on a high note. We need this. If you do only one more political thing this year listen to Bernie Sanders uplifting speech describing a wonderful vision for 2010. Not a campaign, a movement!--In solidarity, Wes Brain, Chair, Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice, CARRY ON!
The Bernie Sanders speech is at: 
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=9083042
Following distributed by "All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676" "Senate Speech Heralds New Social Movement" by Margaret Flowers and Andy Coates. Keep on reading....
Senator Bernie Sanders
Our New Social Movement
Greedy Corporate Health Care
Andy Coates of Albany is a physician at a New York State hospital where he is a member of the Professional Employees Federation (PEF), a joint statewide AFT/SEIU affiliate. Coates and Baltimore Pediatrician Margaret Flowers have written the following article that appeared on Common Dreams.
Both are stalwarts in the single payer movement and members the National Board of Physicians for a National Health Program.
The Bernie Sanders speech is at: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=9083042
Published on Sunday, December 20, 2009 by CommonDreams.org http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/20-0
Senate Speech Heralds New Social Movement
by Margaret Flowers and Andy Coates
This week the sincere effort of millions of people across the nation once again proved effective in the face of determined opposition from the White House and Congress, as single payer health reform reached another milestone in its historic journey.
When the Senate initiated its debate on health insurance reform, Senator Bernie Sanders offered a single-payer amendment, with co-sponsors Sherrod Brown and Roland Burris. Initially Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid skipped over it, allowing other amendments to come to the floor instead.
But nationwide events on International Human Rights Day, the delivery of paper "bodies" to the senate offices, non-violent civil disobedience including nine arrests at Senator Schumer's office, and hundreds of thousands of emails and phone calls and faxes to the Senate evidently changed Reid's mind.
When Sanders introduced his amendment the Senator from Oklahoma, Dr. Coburn, rose according to the rules of the Senate to insist that the bill be read in full. It was estimated that reading the 767-page bill would take days, stalling a galloping Senate process.
We wondered: Could this be an unexpected gift? If Senator Lieberman could make an intransigent stand on behalf of the insurance companies, would Sanders make a stand on behalf of the health of the people?
Reading the bill would prompt our movement to swing into action yet again. We would invite the nation to tune in to C-SPAN to hear how a national single payer health system would provide comprehensive high-quality health care to all citizens. Yet Coburn's maneuver had its effect.
Reid demanded that Sanders withdraw the amendment, for the Senate timetable leading up to Christmas could not be delayed. Besides insurance reform, there was the pressing issue of funding the wars.
Within 3 hours Sanders agreed. In return he got 30 minutes on the Senate floor.
Sanders' speech was riveting. He spoke the words that we have been waiting to hear for so long. He spoke about the beauty and simplicity of Medicare for All. He spoke about having the courage to stand up to the medical-industrial complex which profits at the expense of human suffering.
Most importantly, Sanders spoke about the national movement for single payer being led by nurses, doctors, medical students, faith and labor organizations and people across the land of all backgrounds and beliefs. He declared that this strong movement is not going away and he announced that we will succeed.
So we will remember December 16th, 2009 as a turning point in the struggle for health care justice. Single payer started this year "off the table." But the accumulating efforts of millions of people delivered it to the floor of the United States Senate.
To win single-payer health reform it will take many more speeches on the floor of Congress. And the only force that will propel Congress forward is a great social movement. In 2009 we have seen that movement rising up - and getting results.
Every day more people see that an effective and just health system is already at hand: a single-payer national health program modeled on the Medicare system. And every day that the White House and Congress delay single-payer reform, people suffer needlessly and die preventable deaths. Yet the Senate blunders on, with a colossal gift to the insurance industry.
It is time for the health of human beings to prevail. It is time to end the insurance cartel. Please join us as we continue forge the movement that will win Medicare for All.
Onward to single payer.
Margaret Flowers is a pediatrician in Baltimore, co-chair of the Maryland chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and PNHP Congressional Fellow. Andy Coates is an internist in Albany, secretary of the Capital District (NY) chapter of PNHP and co-chair of Single Payer New York.
Distributed by:
All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care--HR 676
c/o Nurses Professional Organization (NPO)
1169 Eastern Parkway, Suite 2218
Louisville, KY 40217
(502) 636 1551
Email: 
nursenpo@aol.com http://unionsforsinglepayerHR676.org
12/22/09
| Download this article in pdf format >> |
| Add this article to your pdf newsletter selection >> |
| Checkout and Download your PDF-newsletter selection >> |
| Email this article to someone >> |
| Make a quick comment on this article >> |