This week hopefully signals a historic push in the battle for universal health care in Massachusetts.
They say the states are supposed to be proving grounds for new ideas in governance. We've all been watching the Grover-Norquist experimentations that the right would like to inflict on Mississippi and Louisiana. So how about a progressive experiment of our own?
Lead by Charley on the MTA of Blue Mass Group, we MA blogs have joined MassACT in their push to get 100,000 signatures in two weeks for their ballot initiative which would help cover most of the uninsured in Massachusetts. This is the first step in the campaign to push for some sort of universal health care coverage in our Commonwealth.
Why 100,000 signatures in two weeks when only 66,000 are needed and we have a lot of time to get them? Because we want to prove to the legislature that this issue is hot and they should be on the progressive side of it.
Leverage.
In the first two days of our week-long blitz, many progressive blogs in MA have written posts with stories, policy analysis, and ideas about framing the issue. I wrapped up today's posts here. There's a fairly comprehensive list of the last couple days' stories at the top of my main page, which I will try to keep updated. Here's today's post:
I thought I would gather all of today's blog posts around the MA blogosphere and give a rundown of what bloggers are saying. And, you can always click on the LeftyBlogs.com icon on my side bar to get the conglomeration of almost all lefty MA blogger posts all at once! It's a handy tool and I use it all the time to keep up on the progressive blogs I like to read.
On to the health care blitz. Charley at BMG has this review of the almost-official MA Lefty Blog Book Club book of the week: Uninsured in America, by Susan Starr Sered and Rushika Fernandopulle. Walk In Brain's Wes will also be commenting on this work soon.
Wonk NOT! has a good post on keeping this debate about health care focused on the people who are hurting and dying with the words, "...its easy and frequent that people take off onto intellectual arguments about health care, forgetting that we are humans who have pain and suffering, who have loved ones, and whose bodies wear out."
Charlie also has an excellent listing of the current players in the health care debate. He sums up the different plans nicely.
And last for now (I'll add more to this entry if more posts are written), Mass Marrier jumps in with a great entry about the MassACT ballot initiative petition. If you want to join in all the fun and excitement, then go print up a few petitions yourself and get to it! Be sure to follow the instructions carefully, as a whole sheet of signatures can be disqualified for a number of reasons. They have the rules here in PDF format.
Anyone interested in hopping to downtown Lowell sometime this week and getting petitions signed? Then email me!
[Update: Fred has this post on gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick's stance on health care. As an aside, I caught part of a rerun of Patrick's recent Greater Boston interview, and the man was polished and had good answers even to impertinent questions. I like him more and more every time I read about or see him.]
[Update #2: Cape Cod Works has an interesting story on grassroots power and health care.]
[Update #3: Left Center Left has health care by the numbers, and Charley assuages concerns we all might feel about this particular ballot initiative.]
If you're a Masshole and want to see us win this first battle, come and tell your unique health care story on any of our blogs, leave comments, and best of all, go forth and print up petitions so you can collect signatures from your friends and neighbors! Be sure to read the instructions carefully [PDF] before you do.