There is a little-known group called “the Flippables,” created by smart young people to focus energy on state and local political races. They identify crucial down-ballot races and help the candidates that represent liberal, progressive values..
Over the past dozen years, Tea Party Republicans have concentrated on gaining control at the state and local levels. They have knocked out moderate Republicans, driving Republican policy to the far right.
Democrats have wrung their hands and lamented but that was fruitless. Republican governors now control most state houses and legislatures.
The Flippables showed their power in Delaware over the weekend, where the Democratic candidate Stephanie Hansen beat her opponent. If Hansen had lost, Republicans would have gained control of the Delaware Senate. Currently, Republicans control 25 states–governor and legislature–Democrats control only 6. Flippables raised $131,600 for Hansen, enough for her to compete and about half f what she raised.
https://apple.news/A6-ZAvvxMSq2id7gn7__M2Q
One-party control is not good for democracy, especially when that once-venerable party is now led by white nationalists who scapegoat religious and national groups and excoriate the free press.
I am sending money to the Flippables. I have also sent gifts to the ACLU, People for the American Way, and other important defenders of our rights and freedoms.
I just made a contribution to the campaign of Jon Ossoff, who is running for an empty Congressional seat in Georgia’s 6th District, vacated by radical conservative Tom Price, who joined Trump’s cabinet in charge of HHS, where he hopes to repeal Obamacare and stop funding Planned Parenthood. Jon has been endorsed by civil rights icon John Lewis.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
We’ve had many debates about the inclusion of non-education issues here and we generally agree that there is a lot of overlap with other issues and that’s why we need to be aware of and comment on them. I would argue that the one issue that affects all of us is health care. Last night, Jon Oliver explained the stakes of health care as simply and accurately as anything I’ve ever seen. I do hope everyone will take time to watch this. If you do, you will be more informed about the issue than 95% of the American population: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEGpriv2TAc
Agreed. How can we not talk about Trump and his gang of gargoyles who represent an unprecedented attack on democracy and democratic values. This is an educational blog but the far right coup of our government impinges on all aspects of our lives including education. It is a sin, an obscenity that we do not have universal health care in 2017. The GOP deserves 99% of the blame for this. Truman proposed a national health care system in 1947 but was defeated by the GOP and the AMA. By some miracle, LBJ created and signed into law Medicare and Medicaid.
Quite a few miracles performed by the school teacher from Texas.
GregB
Obamacare sucks, of course with my Union provided multi employers plan and Medicare that is easy for me to say . But if the
Republicans want to replace it here is a suggestion.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/obamacare-repeal-replace-repair-aca-ryan/
If you caught the Sanders / Cruz debate. Bernie when challenged about the flaws in A.C.A. basically asked Cruz to join him in the above solution.
I’ve got only minor complaints about the ACA, mostly about annual enrollment time. I’ve been self-insured since 1998 and in the first year of premiums alone, the ACA saved me more than $18,000 and the insurance was better and more comprehensive.
GregB
The article was actually a call for single payer healthcare .
However my sons experience being a young 30 something and paying 6,000 in premiums with a 5,000 deductible is where much of the complaints come from. That is quite typical for those above the subsidy. It also puts people in the same conundrum that they were in before , high deductibles cause people to ignore symptoms and not seek care .
Forget Sanders , non other than Zeke Emanuel has had to admit that it presented an increasing problem. From my perspective insurance companies in this country are getting away with murder ,figuratively and literally. They do not have to treat the two riskiest populations . Those over 65 on Medicare and the poor who are on Medicaid . God bless the memory of LBJ.
Time to give the American people exactly what they crave, universal healthcare . We lost this election not because we were too bold but because for decades the American people were not given a vision that countered the right wing narrative . Trump kind of proved that in a strange sought of way, as he blew through the conservative Republican establishment, With some sort of a convoluted populist message, that he will not live up to and never expected to have to live up to it. .
Two other things Blow on Friday knocked it out of the Park and I am beginning to like Krugman again when he does not mix his political views with his economic view., as he did with Bernie.
Purely political and you will love it.
No time to proof read so forgive . I usually do a terrible job anyway.
I’m all for single payer too. I’ve seen it work very well in western Europe. The term “deductible” is something they don’t understand and when I explained it, how it deterred many from seeking health care despite having insurance, they all thought it was barbaric.
Three cheers for DE, says the person from DE. I knew the campaign was very visible, all over the media to the point where my husband thought WE had to vote (wrong district!) but I did not realize the historical impact. Party or Senate control was not really mentioned in the ads- it focused on Hansen’s qualifications and strenghths For the whole state. Well played, Flippables!
What is Flippables’ position on privatization of America’s most important common good- public schools?
If Flippables’ agenda is to elect politicians who will fight for single payer health coverage, it’s progress. If Flippables elect supporters of ACA, as it is currently designed, then, for the corporations, it’s a lesser win than repeal would be, but, it’s not a big loss for them. They designed and profit from ACA.
If Flippables elect more “Blue” politicians who work for tech billionaires and Wall Street, with no commitment to democracy, it replaces Trumpfuhrer, the Narcissist and mentally unstable kin. But, selling one set of rich oligarchs over another set, is going to be tough.
I attended a resist event, at the office of my Republican representative. I disparaged DeVos, as Sec. of Ed. When I turned the discussion to Gates and Walton, the Democratic county chair, who was present, looked sheepish.
Linda,
I don’t know. Flippables is helping to elect Democrats and prevent total Republican domination of the states.
I’m on board with that.
I agree that one party control is not good for democracy. Would you make that statement if you lived in California? One party has a supermajority, the Democrats, and they don’t need to work with Republicans. Are you making that statement because your preferred party is not in control, or do you think it’s never good?
Janet,
I liked the system we had when there were two sane, responsible parties vying for control. Sometimes Democrats won, sometimes Republicans won. The loser didn’t worry about being jailed by the winner. No matter which party won, our democracy was not at risk. Now I feel that this is no longer the case. We have a president advised by a Rasputin-like Leninist who says he wants the “destruction of the administrative state.” He has appointed a Secretary of Education who wants to destroy public education. He appointed a director of Environmental Protection who is a tool of the fossil fuel industry. He appointed a Secretary of State who was notable for negotiating a $500 billion oil deal with Putin. His original choice for Secretary of Labor is contemptuous of working people. His Secretary of the Treasury comes from Goldman-Sachs, which he excoriated during the campaign. His Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is a renowned surgeon who knows nothing of housing or urban development.
At this moment in time, we are no longer a stable democracy. In a stable democracy, the republic survives no matter who wins. I fear we now have a president who is either ignorant or naive. He seems to want to destroy the minimal social safety net we have.
Given the current Republican control of all three branches of the federal government and 35 states, we have lost the healthy balance that a democratic society needs. The Republican Party is so drunk with power that it has lost any sense of social responsibility.
So, yes, I think that all of us who care about restoring a sense of decency and justice must unite to elect Democrats. Even now, Jeff Sessions has begun to withdraw the federal government from lawsuits to protect minority vipoting rights. No, we must not let them roll back the Civil Rights Revolution, Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program’s, even the New Deal. I do not want to live in a society where people die in the streets because of hunger, homelessness, or lack of medical care.
This is not my America. I hope it is not yours either.
Thank you for your response. I wholeheartedly agree that we need balance in all branches of government at all levels. This extreme partisanship isn’t something new; it happens on both sides of the political spectrum. We Americans need to get back to listening to one another and respecting views that don’t align with our own. I firmly believe that it must begin in our schools and universities, not by pushing our views on young minds, but by allowing students to think critically, look analytically at differing views, and to be encouraged to form their own opinions without fear of backlash because their views may differ than the majority’s. I may not agree with all of your political views, but I respect them and read your posts with an open mind. And, of course, we always agree when it comes to being a champion for children and public education!