A rising tide of anger and frustration spreads across America, generating positive actions

This is exactly what America needs, what it must have, at this most critical time in its history.

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Why would the people of America be so angry and frustrated? A better question might be; why wouldn’t they be? They have, for some time now, been watching a government that is badly malfunctioning because its leaders are simply incapable of governing, i.e., conducting the policy, actions, and affairs of this country.

When we have a government and leaders that are clearly not up to the task of solving this nation’s many problems, then it’s time for others to step forward, provide that leadership, and initiate positive actions to make things happen. So let’s take look at some of the positive actions being taken by states, local governments and the American people.

Right now what could be a more important issue than health care?

Right now what could be a more important issue than health care? This pathetic attempt to replace Obamacare looks like some variation on a three-ring circus, with a bunch of clowns performing in the center ring. It’s more than a bit disheartening to see the gross incompetence of those who are supposed to be developing a new health care program.

What the Republicans have come up, in the words of Sen. Bernie Sanders and many other observers, is a total disaster and cruelty in the extreme. The Congressional Budget Office has issued a report indicating that 22 million Americans enrolled in Obamacare will lose medical coverage by 2026, 15 million in the next year; and that will result in a transfer of some $600 billion in tax cuts to the richest Americans.

Why in the world come up with such a piece of trash? All the Republicans had to do was to take the Obamacare program and fix the areas that are not functioning in an effective manner; that are driving up premiums and deductibles and causing insurance companies to opt out? That was entirely achievable and it would have solved the problem. But Republicans had only one objective and that was to kill Obamacare.

Republicans were not able to approve this legislation before they went on their summer recess. And as they return to their states and districts guess who’s going to be waiting for them? Huge numbers of really angry people who want real answers and not a lot of empty rhetoric. These politicians are going to feel the fury of those who believe that they are being betrayed.

In these groups of angry Americans, there are going to be many Trump supporters who are a part of the working class that helped greatly in getting Trump elected. These supporters believed everything he told them during the campaign.

He repeatedly promised that in his health care plan no American would lose medical coverage; he promised that “We’re going to have insurance for everybody;” he said that he would “save Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security without cuts.”

Well, I guess we should say he lied or deceived or issued a “fake statement” because the CBO report just issued indicates the opposite; that many millions of those under Obamacare will lose coverage.

The promises Trump made on pre-existing conditions are nowhere to be found in the plans submitted by the House and Senate.

The promises he made on pre-existing conditions are nowhere to be found in the plans submitted by the House and Senate. These plans would also be devastating for the women of America, especially those on Medicaid. Planned Parenthood, an essential program that helps women in many different ways, would be defunded, at least in the first year.

Talk about positive action, I think we are going to see just that when more and more Trump supporters are going to wake up to the fact that this clever manipulator really “did a number on them”, that he simply used them as a political tool to get elected; and that he has no intention of following through on his fake promises. There is a good chance that they will pay him back in spades for this betrayal.

Here’s another example of positive action also relative to health care. The states of California and New York are intent on developing state-managed single-payer health care systems for all their citizens. Vermont has been attempting to do this in the last few years and New Jersey is giving it serious thought. This is a good sign for the future and maybe the very best solution for this health care issue; stop waiting for the U.S. government to do something when it is not up to the task.

These states are, in effect, telling this government, “Lead, follow or just get the hell out of the way.” They are taking these important matters into their own hands. Hopefully, this is a sign of the times and the wave of the future.

While there is a high degree of enthusiasm in these states for developing single-payer health care systems officials and legislators know full well that this will not be easy to do and the main obstacle to overcome will be the funding. That’s a mountain to climb but they are confident that it can be done.

If large states like California and New York are able to find the ways to put these systems into practice then it will open the door for a great many others to use those programs as a model for their own. How great would that be? There would no longer be the agony of having to watch the government in Washington tie itself into knots trying to figure out how to use health care as the means by which to pour more money into the pockets of the wealthiest Americans.

Here’s a headline from a recent article entitled, “US Mayors: Instead of War, Spend Big on ‘Human and Environmental Needs.” More than 250 U.S. mayors and city leaders that make up the U.S. Conference of Mayors, both Democrats and Republicans, are demanding that this government shift funding from the bloated military budget into human and environmental needs. Here are their major demands:

Conference members want the government to reallocate funds from military spending into “restoring full funding for Community Block Development Grants and the Environmental Protection Agency, to create jobs by rebuilding our nation’s crumbling infrastructure, and to ensure basic human services for all, including education, environmental protection, food assistance, housing, and health care.”

They want it to make a commitment to climate action, to reverse the rollback of regulations that apply to clean water and air and to auto fuel emission standards. They also stressed the need for the U.S. to join with almost every nation in the world in the Paris Climate Accord.

Those Americans who will confront Republicans when they return to their states and districts, those states which are intent on creating single-payer health care systems, and the members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, are all to be commended for stepping forward and providing badly needed leadership and taking action on key issues.

They are using the immense power of the people to demand that this current government do what is right for this country and its people. Convincing a government such as this one to do that is another mountain to climb. But once this movement gains momentum it will be unstoppable.

This is exactly what America needs, what it must have, at this most critical time in its history.

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Michael Payne is an independent progressive activist. His writings deal with social, economic, political and foreign policy issues; and especially with the great dangers involved with the proliferation of perpetual war, the associated defense industry, and the massive control that Corporate America holds over this government and our election process; all which are leading this nation down the road to eventual financial ruin if the conditions are not reversed. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and a U.S. Army veteran.

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