In my new article in The Nation magazine today, “Waffling Democrats’ Health Care Hypocrisy,” I note that Sen. Joe Lieberman, the former Democrat-turned-Indepedent, and six key Democratic senators smear the public option. But each one supports the Veterans Health Administration– the nation’s efficient and high-quality version of government-run “socialized” medicine. How do we explain this ideological contradiction? And what can health reform advocates do to get them to vote for real reform? Here’s the magazine’s home page.
Lots of other good reading there this week, including articles by Katrina vanden Heuvel and Tom Engelhardt on Obama’s Afghanistan speech and the need for a progressive national security policy. Also, Ben Ehrenreich’s great piece on the fast-growing student activist movement in CA challenging the huge increase in fees and tuition at the University of California.
In the new issue of The American Prospect, Paul Starr has a great article on what the Dems need to do – on jobs and health care, in particular — to show voters immediate progress in order to set the stage for the November 2010 elections.
In his article today’s Huffington Post, “The Housing Crisis and Wall Street Shame,” Robert Reich describes how the banking inddustry is fighting legislation to help troubled homeowners, even as the federal government is still shoveling billions of dollars into the pockets of Wall Street executives and stockholders. Dean Baker addresses the same issue in “Mortgage Modification: Bank Bail-out by Another Name?” Also on Huffington Post, Robert Kuttner explains how Obama and Congress can stimulate the economy to create more jobs and reduce the deficit.
In the new issue of Dollars & Sense magazine, Sam Pizzigati’s article, “Have the Rich Won,” summarizes the incredible upward concentration of wealth and income over the past three decades — and argues that progessives need to focus on the widening economic divide.
In the current issue of The American Prospect, Dalton Conley has a very different view. In “Don’t Blame the Billionaires,” he says we shoulded focus on the excesses of the rich, but on the plight of the poor.
Peter Dreier
