Last edited Wed Jul 8, 2015, 04:26 PM - Edit history (1)
I think that so many people showing up at his appearances is amazing and really great. He has amazing ideas and worthwhile ones like free education. and single payer. However as I see it. and this is jut my opinion: This nation can't just disregard this mess we are in (and we have a mess that is much much better than it was in 2007) , toss it out (as it were) and start over. We would have to have a time machine that takes us back to the Carter/Reagan election to make all this happen.
So, from where I sit, I feel like O'Malley has a plan to further turn this mess around. With Clinton I am not seeing it— not a knock, I just don't see the actual policies proposed to further the progress. With Sanders I see us throwing everything out and pretty much starting with something completely different (which is great on paper, but I am not seeing how it can be applied.) and with O'MAlley I see see a way to further changing the nation to a more progressive direction.
I read this article from 2009 regarding the ACA debates. It's called Getting here from There and it prompted me to write this about the ACA at the time. I ended my post with this:
Our system is path-dependent. It can and has evolved since the ACA rolled out in 2010. It's a huge leap forward, but like the P.S.T.N., we cannot just scrap everything and start all over with single payer. We can, however, work towards that goal. We're building upon a system that we already have by improving what works and removing what hurts the population. We can't go back to the broken system the ACA was designed to fix. Perhaps Vermont is a sign of things to come. Massachusetts proved the path-dependent process works. That system provided the foundation to what we now call ObamaCare. Maybe that same process will take place with Vermont leading the way to single payer.
It can't happen overnight, but it can happen. I support single payer and I truly appreciate our allies like Senator Sanders and Representative Grayson, but the reality, for me at least, is that this will take time and patience.
The basic point is that we are path dependent as a nation. We always have been, and O'Malley's proposal is a great way to be path dependent in changing our higher education system.
I would love to see free education for all, but we don't get to that point for anything in this nation by just saying it is going to happen. The states really are laboratories in many respects — healthcare and education — are good places to make that change the way we saw marriage equality become the law of the land.
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