There's more support than Doug describes. The organizations-- Physicians for a National Health Program, California Nurses Association, Healthcare Now-- that are leading the fight for single payer aren't so small. And far from being just "a few union locals," an impressive list of union organizations has endorsed John Conyers's single payer health care legislation, HR676: 378 union organizations in 48 states including 95 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 32 state AFL-CIO's. More union bodies are signing on every month. They need to do more than pass resolutions, but these endorsements reflect significant grassroots success in beginning to move the labor movement in a good direction.
There's a lot more to be done, and we don't yet have the mass campaign we need. But support for single payer isn't as dinky as Doug seems to suggest. Joanne Landy
At 12:13 PM 2/19/2008 -0500, you wrote:
>On Feb 19, 2008, at 11:54 AM, Marvin Gandall wrote:
>
> > I was especially struck by this last
> > week when one enthusiast, a fan of Carrol's, proposed that the LBO
> > list (!!)
> > take the lead in promoting universal medicare on behalf of all
> > Americans,
> > blissfully unaware of the number of unions and other broadly-based
> > organizations representative within the population have been
> > campaigning on
> > this issue for decades.
>
>Having this list be the core of such a campaign is a bit, um,
>ambitious, but you're exaggerating the scope of organized agitation
>here. A few union locals have signed on, and a few small
>organizations are pushing it. But there's nothing like the campaign
>you seem to think exists.
>
>Doug
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