It recently came to my attention that Mike Capuano is apparently the only supporter of Medicare for All in the running for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat via the special election in 2010. For at least three reasons, it would be outrageous if the new junior senator from Massachusetts didn't support single payer health care.
1. The people of Massachusetts clearly support Medicare for All, as this is the most liberal state in the country and polls nationally put overall support at 47-59%.
2. Seven out of ten Massachusetts representatives have endorsed HR 676, which is not only Medicare for All but expanded and improved Medicare for All. One of those seven is Mike Capuano.
3. The official position of the Massachusetts Democratic Party is support for a single payer system. | |
To understand why a Medicare for All non-supporter winning this race would be so abominable, consider a reversed scenario in which Mike Enzi (the Senator from Wyoming, which is about as Republican a state as Massachusetts is Democratic) was unclear about whether he would vote against the public option. This is actually a considerably less extreme example than the senator from Massachusetts being unclear on Medicare for All, because at least Enzi would be in line with national opinion if not local opinion in doing so, since national opinion favors a public option by about 56-62% according to Nate Silver. But by not favoring Medicare for All, a hypothetical Massachusetts senator would be not only out of line with opinion in his state, but probably national opinion as well!
Should we allow the infliction of a wound deeper to progressives than the senator from Wyoming refusing to oppose the public option would be to his corporate backers? Should we allow ourselves to be trampled on this manner? I say no!
Such a senator would also be defying his own state's Democratic Party on health care. Consider Massachusetts Democrats' health care platform:
HEALTH CARE
• The Democratic Party gave the country the original single payer systems: Medicaid, Medicare, and the Veterans Health Administration.
• Massachusetts Democrats continue to advocate for a single payer health system for all citizens.
• We believe that healthcare is a fundamental right.
• We support a constitutional amendment that affirms the right to universal coverage and to quality healthcare.
Is it too much to ask the future senator from Massachusetts to support the principles of his own state's Democratic Party?
Most of Massachusetts' representatives in the US House have also endorsed HR 676, The United States National Health Care Act, which would create a single payer system. Representatives with an X are cosponsors:
Rep. Olver, John [D] X
Rep. Neal, Richard [D]
Rep. McGovern, James [D] X
Rep. Frank, Barney [D] X
Rep. Tsongas, Niki [D]
Rep. Tierney, John [D] X
Rep. Markey, Edward [D]
Rep. Capuano, Michael [D] X
Rep. Lynch, Stephen [D] X
Rep. Delahunt, William [D] X
That makes seven out of ten representatives for Massachusetts who cosponsor HR 676! Is it too much to ask that the future senator be a supporter just like the majority of the representatives of Massachusetts? I think that any future senator needs to represent the people of his state on health care!
Ted Kennedy's nephew, as well as Barney Frank, have also endorsed Mike Capuano.
Capuano was apparently trailing badly according to Rasmussen earlier this month, but at that point he had not even announced his candidacy and several competitors have since declined to enter the race. If we cannot successfully elect a single payer supporter in Massachusetts, in a Senate election with no incumbent, then prospects for change are dim indeed. I will most definitely be writing more about this election in the future because I feel it is a kind of "last stand" against the domination of corporate America in politics on this issue.