One man’s tea is other another man’s poison...
There is a fascinating article on Slate entitled, Bernie Sanders Is Right That Reparations Would Be Divisive Jamelle Bouie.
The debate stemmed from how forcefully Bernie smacked down the radical notion that a Reparation Policy could pass in America. When asked, he said:
“No.” “Its likelihood of getting through Congress is nil,” he said. “Second of all, I think it would be very divisive.”
More:
The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates:
“Critiqued Sanders’ response for betraying a selective radicalism. “Sanders is a lot of things, many of them good. But he is not the candidate of moderation and unification, so much as the candidate of partisanship and radicalism,” writes Coates. “Unfortunately, Sanders’s radicalism has failed in the ancient fight against white supremacy.”
The sad commentary is that Sanders is too tone-deaf to understand that Obamacare is freakin’ Reparations for poor and middle-class African Americans and he wants to blow it up with fairy dust!!
OBAMACARE IS REPARATIONS!
We had an ACA sign-up at my dad’s church that was coordinated through the old Organizing for America team. I’ll never forget this young blood who was a single dad; raising 5-teenage girls. He’s not political and doesn’t have time to blog all day about this stuff. He reluctantly went to the fair because his pastor preached that this was the first time a DC pol did something that would affect him personally.
He had gone a decade without insurance because $650-per month was just a bridge too far-- so he relied on self-medication and prayer.
After completing his application, he learned that he could cover the whole crew for $35 per month! I kid you not; this brother couldn’t contain himself with joy.
SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH BERNIE?
Bernie wants to give this guy “better” insurance called a Single Payer...I know Bern’s true intentions but this brother doesn’t want him messing with his insurance. You see, even republicans are claiming to “repeal and replace” with something better. Can’t trust them.
More troubling is the argument that Bernie Radicalism was Political Designed for White People. Sure, he and his followers claim that he will deliver a better banking system, cheaper college and single payer.
But, in the process, he promised to raise this brother’s taxes and start over with a better plan the $35.00 dollar per month Reparations that he’s earned for the first time.
Check this from the article:
Reparations are unpopular because they run into the strongest headwind in American politics: White opposition to programs that target on the basis of race. That includes everything from affirmative action and welfare (pre- and post-reform) to a program like the Affordable Care Act, which some perceived as a racial entitlement that took from the healthy and insured (largely white and middle-class) and distributed to the less healthy and uninsured (disproportionately black and Latino). At least one prominent critic even attacked the plan as a kind of “reparations.” Overall, white attitudes toward blacks are tightly tied to their attitudes toward the welfare state.
BANKRUPTING HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES WOULD DEVASTATE THE BLACK MIDDLE-CLASS
I agree whole-hardheartedly with this article. Sanders is the Occupy Wall Street candidate who is teaching a pedagogic course on the evils of corporations. Brothers don’t think Allstate and Nationwide are the problem; that’s where many of us work. Shut down the Walmart and Dollar General warehouses in this town and you’ll have yourself a serious problem.
If Blue Cross, Aetna, AvMed and all the other insurance companies went bankrupt because of single payer, the freakin’ bottom would fall out of the black middle class! Obviously Bernie doesn’t understand that.
Bernie’s experiments may not touch those who are self-employed or have special skills, but, it would devastate so many people I know!
I know his fans love him, but Bernie and many of those who support his radical plans truly don’t understand the heart and soul of the black middle class.