Poll: Let's have a reality check on Bernie's single payer health care plan

[CajunBlazer]

Do you honestly believe that Bernie Sanders will be able to push a single payer health care plan through Congress if he is elected President when even Nancy Pelosi says "It isn't going to happen"?

29 votes, 2 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes, Bernie Sanders will be able to push a single payer health care plan through Congress.
	21 (72%)
	No, Bernie Sanders will not be able to push a single payer health care plan through Congress.
	8 (28%)
	2 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
Show usernames Disclaimer: This is an Internet poll

[still_one]

1. yeah right, DU will be able to influence the republican controlled house to make that happen.

[Katashi_itto]

8. And Hillary Will? Lololol

[still_one]

9. I was addressing the inane poll's question, and IF YOU NOTICE, my answer wasn't specific to ANY

candidate

[hobbit709]

10. She won't even try-it's too hard.

[still_one]

12. For gosh sakes, my answer was a GENERIC answer, NOT directed AT ANY DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE

what a screwed up conditioned reflex, that some assume everything is an attack against someone's candidate

[hobbit709]

15. A little touchy about the truth are we?

[Katashi_itto]

16. Fair enough

[kenfrequed]

23. Oh yeah

Better to not try at all.

I mean, why bother to stand up for our own beliefs. Surely somehow it will magically manifest if we all just sit on our thumbs.

Do you think that is how the Republicans have consistently moved the ball to the economic right over the last thirty plus years?

[Betty Karlson]

37. Sanders' cross-over appeal is likely to come with tailcoats.

And that will make all the difference for control of House and Senate. And this time, the president won't squander the majority by going Third Way (like Obama did in 2009 / 2010).

[TCJ70]

2. I'm a Sanders guy...

...and I don't think he'd get single payer past this congress. I'm not supporting him for his proposed social programs, though. So it's not a deal breaker for me.

[still_one]

13. That is a valid answer. It is a stupid poll

[gilpo]

3. The premise here is all wrong

Bernie is not the important part of the equation. Bernie is just going to channel the vast energy of a dedicated active network to pressure congress to do these things. People completely miss the point of his campaign by asking if Bernie can/cannot do something. This is not and has never been just about Bernie. It is about building and leveraging the power of people in large numbers.

[Myrina]

43. ^ this

n/t

[dmosh42]

4. Just like Obama, maybe not Republican controlled. If Dems don't turn out like 2012, the ......

country will have another useless Congress.

[cali]

5. All I care about is that he fight for it but first comes the fight

to deal with our corrupt, big money flooded, political system. Bernie has been clear that we need reform before trying to tackle heath care.

[hobbit709]

6. Didn't you get the memo? Today's claim is Bernie's not religious enough.

[gyroscope]

7. If the Bernie Sanders political revolution extends to the midterms

which the momentum of such a sea change in US politics could very well do
(that sea change being the election of an FDR-type figure into the oval office)

then no doubt single payer has an excellent chance of becoming reality.

[livetohike]

17. LOL. The Congressional Districts are so gerrymandered right now that there is no way enough people

from Bernie's revolution will win. No way.

[gyroscope]

22. There's more than one way to skin a cat

and I'd rather have some chance than no chance under Obama who would cave as soon as a Republican said boo. You don't push your agenda by playing patty cake with the enemy and caving to their demands from the start. Even if single payer fails there are a whole host of issues (banking, campaign finance, TPP, etc.) on which Bernie would be better in every conceivable way than Clinton.

Clinton said she is just like Obama and like Obama she would fold and cave almost immediately like a cheap suit in the face of republican pressure.

[livetohike]

24. What will Bernie do? Stamp his feet? Wave his arms around? He couldn't convince enough Democrats to

join him let alone Republicans.

[gyroscope]

26. He wasn't the president back then

nt

[Art_from_Ark]

60. Yeah, Max Baucus was calling most of the shots in the Senate at the time

He didn't even want to listen to advocates for single-payer, or even public option.

And the man with the bully pulpit at the time only made a half-hearted effort at best.
Hell, if he had tried as hard for at least public option as he did for TPA, the public option might have had a chance.

[kenfrequed]

27. Yup...

I will not just give up completely. I do not think that promising to slightly modify Obamacare in some minute fashion will definitely inspire tons of people to show up on election day to knock out those gerrymandered districts.

Again, if we are unwilling to stand up for our ideals then who will? Our opposition? The media? The insurance industry?

Without some kind of transformative politics we are not going to move the ball very far. I personally think that Bernie actually MIGHT function to change the way people think about politics and where they end up on the spectrum

[CajunBlazer]

29. Do you even know what the word "Gerrymandered" means

If you know anything about politics at all you would know that the chances of any Democrat wining those Republicans districts is 0%, much less a Democrat so far to the left that he/she has adopted Bernie's values.

[kenfrequed]

31. Uhm no

It means that the odds have been stacked against Democrats by shifting around the lines of voting districts to try to create party majorities in as many districts as possible.

Please don't make absurdly pedantic arguments in order to score illusory points.

[Art_from_Ark]

61. Nice avatar you've got there

忍, meaning "persevere"

You certainly are persevering at trying to disillusion people who want meaningful, beneficial change.

[DrDan]

11. he can - just like how he pushed through all those other bills he sponsored

[CajunBlazer]

30. LOL!!!

Now that's a funny one.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. So when Hillary speaks of a world where all women have equal rights knowing she can't deliver that

at all would you say she's not being realistic or that she's trying to instigate progress in the right direction?

I tell you this, straight white man, your bigoted culture has yet to manage to pass an ENDA or Equality Act, legislation offering protection from discrimination in housing and employment for LGBT Americans. Democrats Ed Koch and Bella Abzug first introduced such a bill in 1974. Of course they could not get it through Congress, just as the many other introduced versions have not gotten through the Congress.
But that legislation is the right thing to do. When it eventually passes much credit will go to Koch and Abzug for starting a process early when that process was sure to be extended endlessly by ignorant bigots.

What you seem to suggest is not introducing such bills, not attempting to make progress on difficult things because they might not fly though the Congress first shot out of the gate. That's just a horrible idea. Horrible.

[frylock]

45. fuckin-a

[Fumesucker]

47. The only way of finding the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible

-Arthur C Clarke

This straight white man agrees with you, Bluenorthwest.

[Cali_Democrat]

19. A very straightforward poll. nt

[JonLeibowitz]

20. I replied "No" and I support Sanders.

At least he isn't bought and paid for by health insurance industry and is speaking to his true vision for America.

My hope is that with a significant enough push we can get a public option. That alone would be HUGE. Sanders is a pragmatist when it comes to actual governance, so I'm not worried. I just hope we can mobilize enough people to effect a central tenet of the Democratic party platform.

Oh yeah, and all the other reasons Clinton would never get my vote over Sanders.

[ieoeja]

48. Same here. n/t

[99Forever]

21. Which Congress?

Ya mean the one that not only isn't in office yet, but hasn't even been elected? I think theyll be busy giving out unicorns and rainbows.

[CajunBlazer]

25. Yes, that Congress

The Republican majority in House which will be elected by Gerrymandered districts.

And the Democrats in the House who will be led by the Woman who just told you it ain't gonna happen.

[99Forever]

28. And "THAT Congress" will be in place forever.

Got it. Guess I should just join in with the Surrender Monkeys and give up without a fight.


Cuz Republicans.

[Warren Stupidity]

32. Obviously no democratic programs are getting through

this congress. MFA needs a democratic majority in both chambers. As do any other proposals that represent our party's principals.

[nichomachus]

33. He probably can't - and doesn't have to

Presidents don't push things through Congress unless they control the Congress. Look at how Hillary's plan fizzled out.

But the president can energize the American people -- and if enough people on both sides of the aisle decide they want it, then the Congress will eventually follow suit.

Hillary has already signaled that she likes corporate control of health care. So she wouldn't energize the people at all. She'd merely wine and dine with the healthcare corporation executives.

[CajunBlazer]

39. How will Congress follow suit

Republican's will absolutely control the House for the next there 3 two year election cycles at the absolute minimum and very likely the one after that. If you think they hated Obama care...

Nearly every Democrat in the House and the Senate who has made an endorsement has endorsed Hillary. Almost no one has endorsed Bernie. There is an excellent reason for that - they don't want the the President, the leader of the Democratic Party, trying to push through proposals which call for raising taxes to pay for programs which that only a segment of the Democratic electorate favor and which the majority of Americans will consider radical. Nancy Pelosi has already spoken for those House members and Senators and made that clear.

No matter how much enthusiasm you guy generate, no matter many idealist proposals you dream up, Bernie supporters don't even make up the majority of Democratic voters and you are but a small segment of the American electorate. You will not get to dictate government policy.

That's reality.

[gcomeau]

34. Current Congress? No chance in hell.

If he gains enough visibility and generates enough awareness for enough people to finally wake the fuck up and realize how thoroughly and deliberately that Congress is screwing them and can instigate a shift in it's composition in upcoming elections? Then maybe.

[CajunBlazer]

40. See my post above

I don't want to repeat myself.

[gcomeau]

42. Well I wouldn't want you to repeat yourself...

Since nothing you said contradicts anything I said however I assume you're just pointing me at it as a general FYI because you think I'd find it interesting?

[katsy]

35. IF Bernie wins its a big deal.

It will mean he's able to deliver a huge # of voters.

#s like that would translate into wins down ballot.

#s like that is what gives a prez a mandate.

Should that happen, Nancy Pelosi & co would fall in line if Bernie's policies make sense, the majority voters back him and the #s work.

I think he can get it together. No, I think he WOULD get it done with the backing of voters if he forcefully enlists voter help.

I will never forget when PBO took the public option off the table and the ensuing anger among the electorate. The democrats better never shy away from doing what's right for the majority again IMO.

Yes the gop pigs will obstruct but I wonder how many of them will last.

Idk, but maybe if Bernie is loud and forceful enough he may, at the very least, bring some integrity to our leadership.

In no way am I disparaging PBO... He is amazing but the racist obstructionists were never going to act in the country's best interest.

[thesquanderer]

36. He could have 8 years and 4 congresses to try...

...and even incremental moves and motivating people toward that goal are worthwhile things, even if it takes until he's out of office for it to happen. If you don't start somewhere, you never get there.

In other words, the answer to your question doesn't really matter.

[bigwillq]

38. Probably not, depends on the make up of Congress

I hope he can.

[CTyankee]

53. this should be discussed more because we don't want a president who in 8 years can't

get his health care reform through congress. I support Bernie but I'd like to see some Dem Party plans to retake the Congress of the U.S. We need a HUGE army of dedicated progressive Dems to do this...I'm safe here in liberal blue CT but I worry about the rest of the country.

[Skwmom]

41. It's good for business and the American People. Will it be easy - no. But I'll bet on the American

People.

[pinebox]

44. He can

Just like all the major reforms he pushed through.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/bernie-gets-it-done-sanders-record-pushing-through-major-reforms-will-surprise-you

[CajunBlazer]

46. So far 28 yes, 20 no - There are more realistic people that I thought

[JonLeibowitz]

49. We don't actually believe in unicorns and ponies.

We prefer Sanders' vision for America, even if only a fraction of it is completed.

[CajunBlazer]

58. Name what fraction of Bernie's plans do you expect him to get through....

the Republican controlled House of Representatives and why do you think he can get that through when the Republicans are going to hate him more than Obama.

[JonLeibowitz]

63. Even if none of his legislative agenda was enacted I would enthusiastically support him.

His judgement is clearly superior and I trust him to appoint SCOTUS judges who are opposed to Citizens United. Clinton's super PAC donors would not benefit from a reformed campaign finance system so I am not able to trust her as much.

His executive agenda, i.e. no wall st. insiders at treasury etc for other executive departments is also well worth the fight to put Sanders in the congress.

Oh yeah, and he is not dishonest and a hawk like Clinton is.

So I reject the premise that I have to believe his legislative agenda has a chance in order to support him.

[winter is coming]

50. Other: I don't know whether Bernie can swing it or not.

I do, however, believe he'll do his best to make it happen, and he's a tireless campaigner, so he's got my vote.

[HassleCat]

51. I voted yes, but...

I know it's not going to happen. Neither Sanders nor Clinton would get a single thing through Congress. Nominees would be secretly blocked for months, and so on.

[CajunBlazer]

56. So why didn't you vote no?

[HassleCat]

59. Because thee DU polls are just for fun. (eom)

[Z_California]

52. I couldn't vote because the correct answer isn't there

The correct answer is "It Depends"

If Bernie is the transformative figure I believe him to be, it's possible we could get a Democratic super majority in the Senate and simple majority in the House, maybe not in 2016 (or maybe, who knows) but possibly by 2018.

"None of the above" has won every Presidential election in my lifetime by a landslide. People don't vote when they don't believe candidates are really representing their interest. If these people do come out and vote Bernie I believe most will also vote for whoever Bernie endorses on the rest of their ballot.

I think a Bernie nomination will significantly increase the turnout of "none of the above" voters. A Hillary nomination will increase the turnout of Republican voters. But that's just my opinion man.

[Kalidurga]

54. I voted Yes.

Because 6 months ago Bernie was polling at about 5%. Everyone said he had no chance to win. He would never go anywhere we were definitely going to be nominating Hillary. Now he is tied in Iowa. Bernie has remarkable powers of persuasion.

[eggplant]

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[William769]

57. No way in hell!