----- Original Message -----
From: joanna
Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 2:06 AM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] health care polls
How about a commercial during the super bowl?
Joanna
Gar Lipow wrote:
On 3/26/06, Jim Devine <jdevine03 at gmail.com> wrote:
I recently (30 minutes ago) took a 15 minute telephone poll on medical care reform. The questions didn't allow me to say "I like the idea of tax-payer financed state- (or federal-) organized single-payer." It's also clear from the questions that many people will answer contrary to what they would like, since many don't understand that having a bigger insurance pool would cut per-person cost. So take any poll numbers you hear with a spoonful of salt. --
Sure. But for just this reason I think it is possible to be overoptimistic in reading these polls. Without education, there are all sorts of ways people can be scared out of supporting single payer in spite of stongly leaning in that direction. They can be told it would cost them more or that they would have less choice of doctors and care or face lower quality treatment, or have to pay more. It is easy to document the opposite, that single payer would lower costs, improve quality, give more medical choice, but most people (including a suprisingly large number of leftists) don't know this. So any single payer campaign has to educate a large percent of the population. This by the way reinforces Carrols point about "talking to ourselves". How do you educate a large percent of the population about anything? Ultimately you have to talk to them. Yes there is the Internet, brochures, pirate radio, public access cable (at least for the moment), speaking gigs and occasional cracks in the corporate media. But for any or all of these to reach people you have to get their attention which is done by reach one at a time or a few at time, via events, house parties, tabling, door-to-door and other really time consuming means. So that takes a lot of people. So really you have the reach the people who are already actively support left causes, educate them about the importance of single payer, and persuade them to put time into this. If you can do that, they can help reach others.
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