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New Social Contract ArchivesMovement Building, the Market and a New Progressivism
Progressives must build an intellectual framework for their politics, or the movement will fail.
With the election of Barack Obama, we are entering a new period of progressive governance in America, but not necessarily a new era of progressivism. Progressivism in this country is still defined by its opposition to conservatism. Opposition is easy. All a movement in opposition must do is deflate the reigning movement's intellectual principles and debunk that movement's narrative. All you have to do is criticize. But now, as Barack Obama assumes the presidency, the time has come for progressives to create. We must build our own intellectual principles and or own defining narrative. This is the only way for a new progressivism to be born out of this political moment. We must build an identity that is more than "non-conservative." Continue reading "Movement Building, the Market and a New Progressivism" » Daschle to Serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services
Daschle entrusted by Obama to steer health care reform forward.
From the Wall Street Journal Online: Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services, according to an official familiar with the situation. Its interesting how many of Obama's appointments are people who have experience in the legislative branch, including Joe Biden. With talk of either Clinton or Kerry at State, Rahm as Chief of Staff, and now Daschle accepting the HHS position, it is starting to look like many key members of the Obama administration will have spent significant time in Congress. Hopefully this points to Obama's willingness to work closely with legislators, a departure from the past eight years and Bush's less-than-Constitutional expansion of executive power. Health Care and Moral Hazard
Does insuring more people really cost less?
From the Obama Campaign Health Care Plan FAQ: "Q. Obama says his plan will save $2,500 annually for my family. How? The claim that we can reduce spending by reducing costly and inefficient emergency care by extending health care to more people certainly made the rounds this past campaign. Obama mentioned this fact in the debates and in his stump speech. It is an ultimate political winner--think about it: "we are going to lower everyone's costs by giving health care to more people." Is there anything that people would support more than this idea? What is Health Insurance?
To understand issues surrounding health care reform in America, it is important to understand the difference between health care and health insurance.
One of the leading causes of confusion when it comes to health care reform is the misuse and conflation of the terms "health insurance" and "health care." This sort of confusion manifests itself throughout the debate. Insurance is the pooling of risk. The members of an insurance plan pay a premium that is used to help those members who face an adverse event. In the case of auto insurance this could the cost to repair a rear-end collision, in the case of health insurance this might be the cost to repair broken bone. Insurance as it exists is marked by two pillars: Barack Obama: Health Care Nation?
Barack Obama campaigned with one of the most progressive health care plans America has seen in decades. But before he moves forward, he must recognize the technological and political barriers to making America a healthier nation.
As Barack Obama takes his place in the oval office, he will be working with the political mandate of an electoral landslide to work towards implementing the pragmatic progressive agenda that he set forth in his campaign. His bold push to expand health care coverage will be among the most scrutinized projects he embarks upon. Throughout the campaign and in the debates he consistently touted his plan to create a public health insurance plan available to every American, creating a large insurance pool that would help keep prices low, in turn making it more appealing to uninsured Americans. He also claimed that the plan would pay for itself by reducing the need for inefficient emergency care. But are his policy goals realistic? And perhaps more importantly, would America be healthier if more Americans had health insurance (or better access to health care)? Will the Financial Crisis Make America Rethink Social Policy for the 21st Century?
The financial crisis can be partly attributed to good intentions translating into bad social policy. Will we learn our lesson and rethink the way we conceive of solutions to social problems?
I've spent the past few weeks learning about the financial crisis, but it has felt more like a crash-course in economics and society. One thing that stands out to me is that depending on who you read, and his or her ideological leanings, you will get a different explanation for what caused this crisis. But more often than not, the people writing for "typical-slightly-right-of-center-libertarian.blogspot" and the people writing for "left-wing-trending-socialist-progressive.wordpress" write about all the same causes, but then point to this one thing that made the crisis really bad. Everyone is more than ready to recognize the confluence of variables that caused our current problems, but depending on ideology, one of these variables was obviously wrong and a mistake. Well, I am taking a stand here and now. As a self-proclaimed progressive (or according to facebook, "pragmatic progressive"), I am choosing to write about one of the causes of our financial crisis that I take the least issue with: trying to create pathways to homeownership for people lower down on the economic ladder who wouldn't be able to otherwise. Network Nation: Building American Empowerment
Breakthrough Senior Fellow Dalton Conley argues that the social safety nets of the 21st Century may be modeled more on the open source communities of the Wikipedia era than the government programs of the Roosevelt age.
By Helen Aki, Breakthrough Generation Fellow. Continue reading "Network Nation: Building American Empowerment" » |
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