No comments

The Silence is Deafening—Our Broken Politics and the Schools

  By Education, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Under tremendous financial pressure that is the result of recession and drastic cutbacks in funding from Harrisburg, the SRC is about to blow up our school system. The SRC plan reshuffles the chairs on the Titanic but as far as I can see does little to stop the ship from sinking. They Mayor tells us we have no choice (and by the way, support my property tax proposal.) And so far, not one politician in this city, not one member of Council, not one State Representative or State Senator has made a public statement about this devastating news. Why not? Continue reading

One Comment

Will Mayor Nutter Lead a Movement to Save Our Schools?

  By Education, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

Michael Nutter talked a great deal about education during his reelection campaign. His inaugural speech focused on education. He said he wanted to take on responsibility for the schools. But today the SRC announced that the School District in Philadelphia is going to be drastically downsized. Many schools will be closed. More students will attend charter schools. In a school system that has already suffered devastating cutbacks, even if some of these changes make for a more efficient use of resources, the overall consequences for our kids cannot be good. None of the suggested administrative changes deal with the fundamental problem–we don’t have the resources to provide our kids with the minimal requirements of a decent education. We don’t have money for enough quality teachers, teacher training, school books, and counselors. And the financial problem we face comes from Harrisburg and Governor Corbett’s relentless attack on school funding. That has me… Continue reading

No comments

About That “Sex Offender vs Kids” Flier

  By 2012

I’ve been a little perplexed about that odd mailer that the Brian Sims campaign has circulated, accusing Babette Josephs of siding with “sex offenders” instead of “Philadelphia’s Children,” partly because I’ve never thought much about those laws and partly because it struck me as a strange issue to raise. So I’ve been doing a little research on the subject. And what I’ve found is disappointing, both with regard to Brian’s policy views and his political acumen. The only clue to the vote of Babette’s that Brian is criticizing is a citation of a 2006 Daily News article which does not mention any legislation at all. Instead, it quotes Lynn Abraham attacking Babette for such a vote while endorsing her opponent in the Democratic primary that year. So it is entirely unclear from the flier what vote the Sims campaign is criticizing and so far, I haven’t been able track down… Continue reading

No comments

Send Tim Holden Packing on Tuesday

  By 2012, Health Care

Voters in the 17th Congressional District in Pennsylvania have an opportunity to do something really important, not just for themselves, but for the entire country: defeat Congressman Tim Holden. who represents the Republican wing of the Democratic party.   It is obviously important to the 17th District to have a member of Congress who actually support their interests, not those of the corporate rich. And it’s important to the Democratic Party and the country as a whole to rid ourselves of members of Congress who fail to do the minimal in standing up for the ideals of our party. Defeating such members will send a critical message throughout the Democratic Caucus: Democratic members of Congress are accountable to us. And, as I explain below, defeating Tim Holden will remove from office a whining, gutless, dishonest example of the American politician at his worst. Continue reading

One Comment

Lighten Up—and Keep Fighting—with Babette Josephs in the 182nd

  By 2012

I had my say about the 182nd State House race a few weeks so ago and hadn’t planned on writing anything else. But the recent controversy over a mailer sent out by the Josephs campaign—and even more a piece written in response to it by Tom Ferrick—led me to think a bit more about what we progressives should want in a Democratic State Representative at this point in our history. There really isn’t much to say about the controversy over the flier except that everyone ought to lighten up. The Sims camp says that it is unfair because it accuses Brian of holding right wing views he does not hold. But anyone familiar with the issues, or rather non-issues, of the campaign, and who has any sense of humor at all would recognize that the flier is put forward tongue in cheek. Everyone knows that there are no real issue… Continue reading

No comments

Cohen and Josephs for State Representative

  By 2012, Philadelphia, Politics, Progressive Politics

There are some difficult State Representative races for progressives in the city this year. In two of them, long time advocates of progressive causes, Babette Josephs in the 182nd  and Mark Cohen in the 202nd, are in races with younger and ambitious challengers, Brian Sims and Numa St. Louis. How do you choose between candidates who have no differences on issues? There are few if any differences on policy between the incumbents and the challengers. Babette and Mark simply have the best voting records in Harrisburg. (When I ran my own race as a challenger and was looking to find questionable votes taken by my opponent, Rosita Youngblood, I quickly compared her votes to those of Cohen and Josephs. There were many differences and, in each case, Cohen and Josephs had taken the progressive view.) So when there are no issue differences, how do you make up your mind in… Continue reading

One Comment

Stacie Ritter, Obamacare, and Me

  By About me, Health Care, Progressive Politics

This is a story mostly about what Obamacare means to my colleague and friend Stacie Ritter. But is not just a story about a woman whose family has and will continue to benefit from the Affordable Care Act. It’s also about how the struggle for health care for her family has changed Stacie and made her into one of the most important health care activists in Pennsylvania and in the country as a whole. And it’s also a story about me, because in my four years of work as a health care activist and as Director of Health Care for American Now in Pennsylvania no one has inspired me more than Stacie. Meeting Stacie Ritter I met Stacie almost by chance in early September 2009. She was scheduled to speak in support of health care reform in Carlisle, Pennsylvania at an event organized by the premier labor and progressive radio… Continue reading

One Comment

Why is This Mandate Different From All Other Mandates?

  By Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties, Health Care

One of the central concerns that conservatives have about the individual mandate is that it would lead to unlimited federal authority over our individual lives. If Congress can require us to purchase health insurance, conservatives sometimes ask, can’t it require us to purchase cars or broccoli or cell phones? Defenders of the mandate have been so concerned to show that it is justifiable under the Commerce and Necessary and Proper clauses—and there the argument seems quite straightforward—that we have not been focused enough on making sure that we don’t prove too much. And that’s partly because we tend to be political progressives and are not as worried as conservatives about limiting federal power over our economic lives. We are not libertarians, after all. While we progressive are adamant about defending civil liberties, we generally don’t believe that there is a general right to economic liberty. And thus, unless government forces… Continue reading

No comments

The Founding Fathers and Health Care

  By Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties, Health Care

Revised version of an article published in The Philadelphia Public Record, March 15, 2012 under the title The Founding Fathers and Health Care Later this month the Supreme Court will consider the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There is a narrow question concerning the Commerce Clause and the individual mandate. Most lawyers who have thought about the issue or read the decision of conservative judge Laurence Silberman understand that the mandate is constitutional. There is also a larger debate about not just the ACA but much else the government does. Contemporary right wingers say that the Federal government has gone far beyond its constitutional limits in regulating, taxing and subsidizing economic activity. Libertarians such as Ron Paul argue that the Founders wanted to create a “limited government” that protects our “liberty.” They suppose that by “limited government” the Founders meant what libertarians mean today, a government that does… Continue reading