I will be there on Oct. 6 in DC too and will blog from there as often as I can. Margaret is one of the reasons I am going. She is steadfast in the idea that we have to build a movement independent of the political parties. Hopefully this will be the start of it and I echo Margaret's invitation to join us. Linda
EXCERPT from Interview w/Margaret Flowers about October 6 Occupation in DC:
MF: A specific example of where October2011 differs with MoveOn and Rebuild the Dream is in the area of health care, one of my top priorities. The majority of people in the US support improved Medicare for all, also known as single payer. This is one of many issues in which the people want real change but the Democratic Party leadership refuses to consider real change that would end insurance company domination of health care. If you read the Rebuild the Dream platform, you will see that they have taken the single payer term "Medicare for all" as well as other single payer language such as the administrative savings of a Medicare for all system. It is not until the last line of their health care summary that you find they are not really advocating Medicare for all, but rather they merely support giving people the choice of buying into Medicare. This is essentially a public option which is very different from a national improved Medicare-for-all health system. The public option is the same thing progressive Democrats were pushing in 2009 that was rejected by the single payer movement because it fails to address the fundamental problems with the health care system in this country.
By using the language of real health care reform - Medicare-for-all - Rebuild the Dream misleads people into thinking they are advocating for single payer and fools well-meaning people into using their energy against their own best interests.
We've seen groups like MoveOn use these tactics before. They use progressive language or convince their constituents not to ask for too much and then compromise for the Democratic Party agenda that protects corporate power. This is not something to treat lightly. Tens of thousands of people in the US are suffering and dying needlessly each year. We are already spending enough money to provide high quality comprehensive health care for every person living in the US. We should not be protecting corporate power and political parties at the cost of human lives.
RB: It's probably hard to rebuild the dream when it's actually turned into a nightmare.
To borrow a metaphor from your profession, it increasingly seems that our entire democratic system is on life support at this point. Or, to paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, the corporatist plutocrats riding the poor and middle classes into the ground are "in the saddle and ride humankind." The corporate aristocracy appears to be convinced that they've got us right where they want us.
MF: The October2011 Movement is about being independent, clear in our language and uncompromising in our call for transformative policies that are proven to address the crises faced by the United States and the world. October2011 is a people-led movement, not a top-down organizationally-led movement. If you look at the polling on a number of important issues, supermajorities of the people in this country support solutions that would address our crises, yet the politicians are going in the wrong direction on each issue. The people are making better decisions than the rulers. That is why we believe in creating a truly democratic society, one in which people have a voice in how our resources are used and have more control over the economy. We must have self-confidence in our abilities to make decisions about the issues that affect our lives. We are advocating an end to corporatism and militarism. We support policies that put human needs before corporate greed. And we invite all who support our call for a peaceful, just and sustainable world and who believe in the strength of nonviolence, to join us.
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