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<div id="x_divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font color="#000000" face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size:11pt"><b>From:</b> The Pen <theteam@peaceteam.net><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 21, 2016 12:22 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> annxpress@live.com<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Medicare For All Is The Winning Strategic Line, Precisely Because Republicans Will Try To Cut Back Medicare</font>
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Dear Ann, <br>
<br>
We promised you a major strategic and prophetic piece on the winning <br>
path going forward and here it is. <br>
<br>
To plan a winning strategy it is necessary to have a firm grip on <br>
reality as it stands. <br>
<br>
The first reality is that the so-called Affordable Care Act (ACA) <br>
cannot survive. It's toast. And the more those on the Democratic side <br>
now try to fight to preserve it, by perhaps trying to filibuster its <br>
full repeal, the more ADDITIONAL seats in Congress they will lose. <br>
<br>
Because the dynamic we sadly foretold in 2010 REMAINS in effect <br>
UNDIMINISHED. <br>
<br>
You think you are hurting now??? It's going to get WORSE unless we <br>
take the correct decisive action immediately. <br>
<br>
We told you the ACA was doomed the day it was passed. And we also <br>
ruefully predicted 6 1/2 years ago that over a series of successive <br>
elections the Democrats would lose control of both Congress and the <br>
White House, behind a recurrent Republican election pitch that more <br>
Democrats needed to be removed from office so that the bill could be <br>
repealed. <br>
<br>
What the Republicans will do now, with the political power they have <br>
grabbed so far, is to cripple the ACA in budget reconciliation, which <br>
cannot be filibustered, which will make it an even worse deal, and <br>
then argue that to end the filibusters of full repeal MORE Democratic <br>
senators need to be defeated in 2018, a year in which a <br>
proportionally inordinate number of current Democratic seats will be <br>
at risk. <br>
<br>
The second reality is that beyond a couple corporate sales gimmicks <br>
as window dressing, there is nothing in the ACA worth saving. <br>
Otherwise it's just a pile of byzantine bureaucratic junk. <br>
<br>
Notwithstanding anecdotal stories of individual people saving money <br>
over what they were paying before, we are STILL paying absurdly more <br>
for our medical care than any other first world country, because the <br>
ACA corruptly put the medical insurance companies in charge of <br>
setting prices, which are already dramatically escalating, in what <br>
are now degenerating into single provider "markets" with no actual <br>
competition. <br>
<br>
The third reality is that there will necessarily be a debate on what <br>
to replace it with, and THAT is our opportunity and our opening. <br>
<br>
Republicans have sworn a nauseous number of times that they will <br>
replace it (they just refuse to say with what exactly). The majority <br>
of Americans agree with them that it's not good enough. . and SO MUST <br>
WE, and make that majority our own by demanding that the ACA be <br>
replaced with something truly better, Medicare For All. <br>
<br>
If Democrats had passed Medicare For All in the first place, they <br>
would still be in power today. They had bigger majorities in 2008 <br>
than the Republicans have today. And they poured all that power down <br>
the drain by trying to con the American people with a corporate <br>
boondoggle masquerading as health care reform. <br>
<br>
The fourth reality is that Medicare is not only very popular, it is <br>
popular with the highest participation segment of the electorate, <br>
which are the seniors. These are people who VOTE, and this is the <br>
most important point of all. When the Republicans try to turn <br>
Medicare into some privatization scam, as they will, these VOTERS are <br>
not going to like it. <br>
<br>
We can and must make a powerful political argument that the best way <br>
to strengthen Medicare is to bring more people, younger people into <br>
the system, at the same time getting them covered and cutting their <br>
health care costs as well, in a system with 2-3% overhead and <br>
bargaining power for the people, versus 20-30% administrative losses <br>
under corporate rule plus out of control costs for the medical care <br>
itself. <br>
<br>
It is an election winning argument. <br>
<br>
There are other issues we care about and will also fight for. But for <br>
example, as urgent as WE know the climate change crisis is already, <br>
average people in their everyday lives do not have enough of a <br>
personal connection with this threat to win elections against it on <br>
this bandwagon. And by the time the water is at enough of their doors <br>
for that to happen it will be too late to keep 50% of FL from going <br>
under water. But the same politicians who will pass Medicare For All <br>
we can get to vote to fight climate change. <br>
<br>
So there you have it. We have given you the winning line. <br>
<br>
We are told that 5 million people signed petitions this week to get <br>
the members of the electoral college to stop Trump, and the <br>
initiative was a miserable flop, again just as we predicted. <br>
<br>
Why was it such miserable, embarrassing, naive, desperate flop? Can <br>
we deal with reality here? <br>
<br>
The most obvious explanation is because these PARTISAN operative <br>
electors are not up for election again (technically they were shadow <br>
elected by the votes by state) in an identifiable way so we have no <br>
leverage on them. By contrast the Republican party has massive <br>
leverage on them by threatening to essentially excommunicate them if <br>
they had gone rogue. <br>
<br>
But show us 5 million petition submissions, directed at members of <br>
Congress who ARE all up for reelection, calling for Medicare for All <br>
NOW, and we'll show you more political power than you can possibly <br>
imagine. We only have about 5,000 submissions so far, that's short by <br>
a factor of 1000 to 1, so you folks all need to get busy immediately <br>
sharing this action page . . . presuming you actually want to start <br>
winning again. <br>
<br>
Medicare For All NOW action page: <br>
<a id="LPlnk219364" href="https://www.utalk.us/?a=medicare_for_all_now" previewremoved="true">https://www.utalk.us/?a=medicare_for_all_now</a>
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<a id="LPImageAnchor_14823370248510.4461340441849073" style="text-align: center; display: table-cell;" href="https://www.utalk.us/?a=medicare_for_all_now" target="_blank"><img width="250" height="185" id="LPThumbnailImageID_14823370248520.5079508060611626" style="border-width: 0px; width: 250px; height: 185px; vertical-align: bottom; display: inline-block; max-height: 250px; max-width: 250px;" aria-label="Preview image with link selected. Double-tap to open the link." src="https://www.utalk.us/UTalk_single_payer2.jpg"></a></div>
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<a id="LPUrlAnchor_14823370248540.6474806904460235" style="text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.utalk.us/?a=medicare_for_all_now" target="_blank">Action Page: Replace The ACA With Medicare For All #TrumpTheFraud</a></div>
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www.utalk.us</div>
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The Republicans have promised to replace the Affordable Care Act with something better. President-elect Trump yesterday promised</div>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
And for the McAfee challenged, you can always submit our classic <br>
action page at <br>
<br>
<a id="LPlnk923546" href="http://www.peaceteam.net/medicare_for_all_now.php" previewremoved="true">http://www.peaceteam.net/medicare_for_all_now.php</a>
<br>
<br>
We are giving away free Medicare For All NOW bumper sticker to anyone <br>
who requests one. Show us 5 million bumper sticker requests and we'll <br>
show you a Congress with hardly a Republican in sight. <br>
<br>
Medicare For All Now bumper stickers: <br>
<a id="LPlnk510667" href="http://www.peaceteam.net/medicare_for_all_stickers.php" previewremoved="true">http://www.peaceteam.net/medicare_for_all_stickers.php</a>
<br>
<br>
We have "Single Payer Health Care" caps. <br>
<br>
<a id="LPlnk419171" href="https://www.utalk.us/?g=2:H" previewremoved="true">https://www.utalk.us/?g=2:H</a>
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<a id="LPImageAnchor_14823370784050.5445502987580897" style="text-align: center; display: table-cell;" href="https://www.utalk.us/?g=2:H" target="_blank"><img width="250" height="185" id="LPThumbnailImageID_14823370784060.4834657267260416" style="border-width: 0px; width: 250px; height: 185px; vertical-align: bottom; display: inline-block; max-height: 250px; max-width: 250px;" aria-label="Preview image with link selected. Double-tap to open the link." src="https://www.utalk.us/UTalk_trump_the_fraud2.jpg"></a></div>
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<a id="LPUrlAnchor_14823370784080.1044771550357626" style="text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.utalk.us/?g=2:H" target="_blank">Action Page: Get your Single Payer Health Care cap at utalk.us</a></div>
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Or do it not. <br>
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And two years from now we can do yet another post mortem on how not <br>
just Democratic party, but progressives in general, became a <br>
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