At the risk of sounding a bit preachy and simplistic, Canada is not a more progressive country because its people are more progressive - its a more progressive country because, when confronted with right-wing electoral success, the Canadian left has never tried to emulate the right - they have simply figured out better ways to sell their ideas.
The American left needs to accept temporary political losses for the long-term benefit of both their party and the country. Lose an election by running on single payer. You might not lose the next one⌠and then youâll get single payer.
They also built a left party by focusing on a single province (Saskatchewan) and showing they could run it well. Single payer health and many programs were started there and expanded nationally. In the US, everyone wants to start at the top and be President. Much as I like Bernie Sanders, i wonder if his efforts wouldnât have been better focused on getting Vermont to implement single payer, which they have backed away from, rather than running for President.
There is a thing called Section 1332 waivers that allow states to wave certain portions of the ACA if very, VERY stringent requirements are met (have to cover the same amount of people, canât get rid of required health benefits, etc) and approved. The idea is that states can help find efficiencies in the law. Vermont is looking into using this waiver to create single payer within the state. I donât know how far it will go, but itâs something to watch.
My understanding is that Vermont has given up on that. I live in NY, near VT and we get some coverage of them on our local NPR and that is what they have said.
Trump and the wingers have lost their fâing minds, not that there was much there in the first place, and what it does highlight is that wingers didnât learn anything from the eraâs of Wallace , McCarthy, WWII Hitler, Mussolini etcâŚ
Itâs possible. I havenât checked lately, but they wouldnât be available until at least next year, so if theyâve given up, it seems a little early. Thatâs unfortunate. Thanks for the update.
Thatâs actually different. The 1332 waivers are a new approach Vermont has been considering. Those waivers can only be applied for starting in 2016. Iâll try to pull a link later, but my info comes from Spring and Summer of 2015.
The scary scary faces of âterroristâ refugees⌠I donât think the family pictured is even ethnically Arab or muslim. Their last name is Armenian and the the childrenâs names are Christian.
Depends on what weather you like. Here in Vancouver BC we donât get cold and rarely get any snow. But you can waterski or sail on the ocean and 30 minutes later be snow skiing in the mountains.
