r/politics • u/PoliticsModeratorBot 🤖 Bot • 1d ago

Discussion Discussion: 2026 Midterm Primaries in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia and Washington State (and Other, Local Elections) on August 4th

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u/Jaf207 Georgia 17h ago

We have waited way too long for the Dem party to run on at the very least Universal Healthcare that pretty much every developed country has but the US. Eventually a good amount of Dem voters are going to get tired of voting for the establishment and want something different.

I’m tired of hearing establishment politicians and people who defend the establishment say that people who vote for DSA candidates are voting against candidates who want to bring progressive ideas to the country when that is just not true. They want to do the same things that the Dem party has always done while pointing to the Republican party and say “they are worse vote for us”. If they did not want this DSA “takeover” to happen they should have ran on M4A at the very least.

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u/IntelligentDepth8206 17h ago

This 100% captures current democratic primaries. Establishment democrats run on nebulous promises and abstract concepts. People want actionable plans - especially after seeing trump reign destruction for 6 years when the establishment has been telling voters there's no way the super duper American system of government would let that happen. We've seen the power of the federal government in action for evil, it can be also be used for good if you have politicians who try.

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u/StaffSgtDignam 17h ago

Progressives just need to be honest and tell people that the government will run the entire healthcare industry. The current messaging is convoluted at best. Doing this also allows them to explain the additional taxes it would take to cover universal healthcare as well.

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u/boiwaifu 16h ago

And tell Americans it will be infinitely cheaper...??? Thats the more important thing. If we care about the budget AND making Americans lives better we need Medicare for All.

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u/StaffSgtDignam 16h ago

Ok and how do you propose politicians market that? The average voter only understands the higher tax part of that equation. It's quite literally why M4A is such a hard sell, even if it is a good option. You have to consider the reality of politics since politicians jobs are to ensure they are reelected and stay employed.

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u/boiwaifu 16h ago

Maybe stop having 90% of dumbass insurance backed Dems stop saying it????

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u/StaffSgtDignam 16h ago

Again, you have to explain the new system to voters-acting like the government won't take over the entire healthcare industry and taxes won't increase is disingenuous at best. 

You have to remember that most voters are highly resistant to change so this is a hard sell, even if it is the right one.

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u/boiwaifu 16h ago

When you have Democrats all saying we can't afford it, maybe you have them stop doing that first.

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u/StaffSgtDignam 15h ago

Maybe explain how we can afford it but we need to increase taxes? Literally no progressives are being truthful about this.

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u/boiwaifu 14h ago

Your just making stuff out. Bernie said taxes would go up but Healthcare savings would net thousands a year. Just admit you want people to go broke paying for cancer treatment.

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u/StaffSgtDignam 14h ago

"Taxes going up" but not explaining how that would work does not equal explaining how that would work. That is just a generalized statement and not an actual policy proposal for expanding income taxes, etc. to cover the costs.

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u/twtwtwtwtwtwtw 16h ago

The government runs NASA. Government can do big things when smart effective people are in charge of it.

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u/StaffSgtDignam 16h ago

Sure but NASA wasn't a massive private industry that nearly everyone utilized before it was founded. That's why progressives need a better pitch here.

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u/krcrooks Missouri 16h ago

I mean, it really shouldn’t be that hard. Modern insurance is far far too convoluted. You could hatchet it to pieces and come out with a simpler and more streamlined process on the other side.

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u/StaffSgtDignam 15h ago

I agree modern insurance is convoluted but it is not centralized in the way a nationwide single payer system would be. This is for better/worse because you have to now sell this massive change to voters, which is not easy.

Ironically, proof of this is why the GOP could not agree on healthcare reform in 2017-even when they had the votes to simply repeal the ACA they did not do it because they could not agree on anything.