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Building
Our Party |
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Election
has
Message for
Labor Party
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Although the November election produced
uncertainty about who would be the next president, it sent the
Labor Party a clear signal: that national health insurance has
broad public support.
As we report elsewhere in this
issue, the
Labor Party overwhelmingly won ten separate nonbinding local
ballot initiatives in November, four calling for Just Health
Care and six calling for education reform.
The Just Health Care initiatives set into
motion by the Labor Party in Massachusetts and Florida
demonstrate that the desire for national health insurance
crosses political party lines.
Consider the vote in Alachua County, Florida:
of the 79,155 votes cast, our initiative received 51,050.
Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all cast votes for
our health care referendum, which explicitly called for
replacing private health care insurance with a public fund.
The same lesson applies in Massachusetts. Of 74,680 people
voting in three local districts, 49,230 said yes to Just
Health Care.
PRESSURE NEEDED
After this election, the Just Health Care
campaign is more vital than ever. As a result of the vote,
there will now be, for all practical purposes, a standoff in
the House of Representatives and the Senate. Even incremental
approaches to securing health care reform through legislation
are likely to be stymied.
We believe that far-reaching reforms like Just
Health Care can only pass when there is a swelling grassroots
movement pressuring lawmakers from below. And so, our strategy
is to develop a mass popular movement in support of our
uncompromised single-payer national health insurance
proposal.
Our first step is to build a Committee of One
Million for Just Health Care. Unions and Labor Party bodies
are signing up Just Health Care supporters to the national
roster. Simultaneously, we will be conducting educational
programs for Just Health Care trainers in unions and community
groups around the country.
STARTING POINT
As the recent election results show, advisory
ballot initiatives are another good organizing and educational
tactic. Campaigning for such initiatives is a way of doing
direct issue organizing: to win requires us to explain and
discuss the issue itself with voters. This kind of local
grassroots organizing is just what we need practice doing if
we are to mount successful electoral campaigns. Whats more,
unlike binding initiatives, campaigning for nonbinding ballot
initiatives requires only a modest amount of money.
States that allow for nonbinding ballot
initiatives vary in their requirements. Since the Labor Party
has members in all fifty states, it would be extremely useful
for our affiliates, chapters, and local organizing committees
to research provisions for nonbinding initiatives in their own
states.
Lets put our ideas to the test and on the
ballot in as many states as possible.
— Tony Mazzocchi |
