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This morning on CNN, incoming Democratic Socialist members of Congress, Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), refused to say whether they’d vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House when Congress reconvenes in early January.
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Bowman explained that he wants Pelosi first to commit to bringing slavery reparations and Medicare for All up for a vote before he’ll consider voting for her:
The movement to force a vote on Medicare for All (Bowman threw in reparations on his own) is called “Force the Vote,” and is being coordinated by a former Bernie Sanders staffer who couldn’t bring herself to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. And while you might think that taking a vote on legislation you like is always a good thing, that’s not the way it works in politics. Sometimes, a losing vote can help build momentum around an issue. But at other times, a big loss makes you look weak, and sends the message that your proposal is unpopular — which can make it even harder to get votes in the future. And finally, sometimes you intend a losing vote as a weapon with which to bash your opponents, and hurt them at the next election (such as when Pelosi recently tried to force a vote on upping stimulus checks from $600 to $2000).
In the case of Medicare for All, the goal is apparently to hurt our own:
It’s actually an extremely useful tool for losing control of the US House, and not getting the US Senate back, in 2022, a year which will already be perilous for congressional Democrats (midterms rarely hold good news for the party in the White House).
I believe in universal health coverage. I’ve seen it in action in Europe, and it can work amazingly well. But I also believe in having an actual strategy for achieving your political goals — not just doing things because they feel good — and I haven’t heard a good explanation for how forcing a vote on Medicare for All advances the legislation itself.
Now, sure, maybe the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) can win a few more primary victories by attacking Democrats who won’t vote right now for Medicare for All. But it’s just as likely that the Medicare for All vote (and especially reparations) will be used against Democrats — regardless of who wins the primary — by Republicans looking to take back the House in 2022…
You can read the rest of this piece over at my new Substack newsletter: CyberDisobedience.
The post Forcing the Vote on M4All to Own the Libs appeared first on AMERICAblog News.
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