March for the Public Option - September 13th

[cal04]

by kindofblue
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/21/770295/-March-for-the-Public-OptionSeptember-13th


Robert Reich has called for a 'march on Washington' in support of the public option on September 13th. This will be the day after the tea-baggers plan to astroturf the capital.

We need all who support the public option to get behind a nationwide rally to support it on September 13th, to show how much stronger our support is than the teabaggers. While the central element will be a march on Washington, we need similar demonstrations in cities across the country. Reich's proposed timing couldn't be any better - the weekend after Congress reconvenes, the day after the teabaggers rally, and two days before Baucus' imposed deadline.

Remember the national day of protest last November about Proposition 8? Well we need that again, but bigger, and this time before we lose! Do we really have to get kicked in the stomach again before we speak up? Do we really want to cede the spotlight and the media attention to the teabaggers?

A website has been set up, there is a Facebook group, and now Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA) has also lent his voice to the effort.

If two million people can go to Washington to celebrate Obama's victory in the middle of winter, surely we can get a huge crowd out for what is the biggest healthcare fight of our generation.

You are needed to help get the word out! Please rec this diary, join the facebook group, and pass the word on. In particular, pass the word on to our grassroots leaders, other organizers, progressive media, bloggers, diarists, and anyone else who can help this event succeed.

We need supporters of the public option to get the attention of Congress, the administration, the media, and the entire nation. We can't wait any longer! We need to give the public option a huge push for the fall session. Please join us in organizing a nationwide rally on September 13th.


links
March For Healthcare
http://www.marchforhealthcare.com/

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118144661546

http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/08-20-2009/0005080882&EDATE=

[patrice]

1. We should ask our "Leaders" if events such as this receive any Weight in their assessments of where

the people are on an issue; said weight being justified because events such as this do not have the apparatus of all of corporate media mongers, like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, behind the action - making it immensely easier to produce a crowd - so the people who show up represent DEEPER COMMITMENT than astro-turf does. We should get our "leaders" to speak publicly about this question.

[frazzled]

2. The website you link to

is "just one guy" and there is no information on it. It mentions marches in cities across the country, which would be great, except who is going to organize that? You need permits, organization, speakers, etc.

This is a great idea--what I've been calling for. But I think people are naive if they think this happens without a great deal of planning.

I'd be for marches in cities across the country rather than just Washington: I, for one, couldn't get to Washington that weekend, and with the recession what it still is, it's asking a lot from people to get on an airplane and pay for a hotel. Since it's "Grandparents Day," we want to have lots of seniors participate, so young folk, don't tell us we don't need a hotel.

The immigration May Day marches of a few years back garnered hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in each of a number of major cities. I believe that churches and social organizations were behind that turnout. And it was extremely organized. Why can't we do this? Who will do it?

Also, what we don't want is a typical lefty march in which the message is confused. So it's got to be about what Reich is calling for: marching for a health reform bill with a public option. Not signs for single-payer, not signs for a Palestinian state, not signs to pull out of Afghanistan. A single message. Heh, that'll be a tall order.

[cal04]

3. Rep. Fattah calls for healthcare march on Capitol grounds

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rep.-fattah-calls-for-healthcare-march-on-capitol-grounds-2009-08-21.html

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) said he wants to hold a national rally and march for healthcare on the grounds of the Capitol the week after Congress returns in September.

Fattah plans to introduce a resolution calling for a national march on Sept. 13. His goal is to mobilize supporters of a public option component of any attempt to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system. The measure would authorize the use of the Capitol grounds for the march.

“The confusion, misinformation and scare tactics about a ‘public option’ trumpeted by the opponents of real healthcare reform have dominated the national debate long enough,” Fattah said in a release issued Thursday. “It is way past time for the vast majority favoring healthcare reform with the public option to show up and speak up at the Capitol’s doorstep and make their views known to their elected representatives.”

Robert Reich, a former Labor secretary under President Clinton, first suggested the idea to coincide with National Grandparents Day, Fattah explained.

But some in his own party are warning him off the idea — arguing that the event could very well wind up looking like a recess town hall on steroids. They think angry conservative opponents of healthcare reform could flood into D.C., and that nasty or even violent clashes could break out between advocates and opponents of President Barack Obama’s plan.

[reverend roy]

4. I'll be there!

(if I can make it)