Public Option Petition Update

by: Chris Bowers

Thu Sep 17, 2009 at 18:29


Yesterday, we launched Open Left Action with a petition to Harry Reid to keep the public option in the Senate version of the health care bill when it is brought to the floor. I didn't know what would happen when we launched this new endeavor, but what did happen blew me away: in less than one day, 15,688 of you signed the petition. On Monday, CREDO action will deliver the petition to Harry Reid.

Now, 15,688 may not seem like a huge amount compared to what some online communities out there can accomplish, but I am thrilled with this in our first effort. Nearly 20% of you who took part in one of our previous actions signed this petition on the first ask. Thank you so, so much!

This is just the beginning. Our community is growing, and so are our capabilities. What would you like to see Open Left Action do in the future? Continuing the public option campaign is a must, but there are other campaigns besides health care--not to mention a future of action after health care. There are also other actions we can take besides the petitions and whip counts we have focused on over the summer. I have always thought that this community has a wealth of knowledge and insight, and I would love to hear your thoughts on moving forward.

Right now, our health care fight continues. Howard Dean and Democracy for America have launched the next step in the public option campaign--America can't wait. Based on research that you guys have been instrumental in providing, we can now show that there are majorities in favor of a public option in both branches of Congress, and the procedural options to use those majorities. And so, as Howard Dean wrote today, it is time to demand that Democratic leaders pass the public option and stop waiting. Go take part--we are entering a new phase of the fight.

Finally, one of the activists in our community who signed the petition yesterday put together a cool music video in favor of progressive health care reform. Like the progressive netroots in general, it is both DIY, and a demonstration of the creative energy we all have together.

So, what should we do next?

Chris Bowers :: Public Option Petition Update

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Public Option Petition Update | 37 comments
Wow (4.00 / 3)
According to the site meter we get 14,054 visits a day at Open Left.  To get more than that number to sign the petition in 24 hours is amazing.  Was it cross-posted somewhere?
I posted it on my blog & Facebook... (0.00 / 0)
And I'm sure there were others that did the same.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
[ Parent ]
Twitter as well (0.00 / 0)
Can you tell how many incoming links you got from twitter onto the petition page?

I glanced a few hours after I had signed, with the same bit.ly link, and there were a lot of folks that had tweeted post-petition-signing.

Of course there are also some people that retweet but never clicked on the link to sign the petition, but they spread the word, at a minimum.

[ Parent ]
iirc (0.00 / 0)
somewhere between 1,100-1,200 came in from the emails, tweets, and facebook "tell a friend" feature.

Probably 1-2K came in directly from the blog--but i don't know that for sure. 12K-13K were from the email list.

[ Parent ]
so did I - on my Facebook page (4.00 / 1)

[ Parent ]
Sent to our new email list (0.00 / 0)
We finally gathered up all the emails for all the petitions and other campaigns we had conducted over the past two years.

It came out to 81,000 emails. 15,000+ signed on, about 120 unsubscribed. Not a bad ratio, and most of those who unsubscribed just said they were on too many lists already. I don't blame them.

From what I understand, a 19% action rate is pretty good.

[ Parent ]
What's next (4.00 / 4)
Education. NCLB is overdue for renewal and will likely be centerstage
next spring. Education, as I'm sure I don't need to remind you, is perhaps the ultimate feedback loop for achieving a more progressive society.  

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch...
That's great, Chris. (4.00 / 2)
Happy to be one of the many.  Look forward to future opportunities.
Question: How many Nevadans signed? (4.00 / 2)
I really think that with Harry Reid, it's important to show him that real Nevadans are part of this effort. That's why I shared it with friends here. With any petition like this going to a specific elected official, it's quite important to make sure one has a significant number of local constituents on board with the petition.

Yes, Virginia, there are progressives in Nevada.
Haven't broken that down yet (0.00 / 0)
But I will try to find out.
[ Parent ]
restore majority rule (4.00 / 6)
take it from a Californian, a 2/3 rule is bad news.

i guess you'd have to start with at least one Senator offering a proposal. but it seems like the kind of whip-count/interview process that's been done for the public option could be useful. So, Senator, exactly why again are you opposed to majority rule? Let me write that down...

not everything worth doing is profitable. not everything profitable is worth doing.

I like it (4.00 / 4)
Not only do i believe in it, I think the activism could be interesting and different. Like calling offices when senatos go off about the need for "60 votes," and quoting them the constitution. Or asking them if they even know you don't need 60 votes.
[ Parent ]
Great Idea (4.00 / 1)
Even just a touch of press would be great.  This is one of those conventional wisdom issues that really needs to be shot dead.  I'd love the talk shows to start asking: when did 60 become the rule?  Is it even Constitutional?
[ Parent ]
Grassley dodged this question (4.00 / 1)
I asked him at town meeting if he still believed in majority rule.  He said the Senate is the only place where minority views are protected.  I think he said it was in the Constitution.
[ Parent ]
So many possibilities... (0.00 / 0)
What would be the possibility of getting something going with respect to debates? I love the idea, for example, of having, say Joe Sestak and Arlen Specter discuss a single issue or concept or principle to a real conclusion - in contrast to people skimming over issues in 2 minutes and therefore being limited to platitudes and generalities. Have a moderator to make sure that they stay on topic and that they answer one another - otherwise, let them go at it without intervention. The moderator would also fact check and bring up any lies or discrepancies.  The Open Left Debate Process!

I know this is utopian, but I would like access to the thought processes that drive "our leaders". I'd like to know if they actually have thought processes. I want to know what assumptions are driving them and what data they operate from. And I think we'd learn more about any politician by having them have to discuss and defend ONE thing for an hour than we learn from all their speeches and fake debates combined.

I suppose a variation could be that the politician could debate/discuss with an Open Left panel too, but again, keep the topic focused and go for depth instead of breadth.

My thoughts go to monitoring the war and the corrupt Congress (4.00 / 1)
Have people sign on to "Truth Petitions" that tell -

- number of war dead, injured
- number shipped home and receiving care (or not)
- number of troops deployed
- war appropriations

- use Center for Responsive Politics stats to track who/what is funding which members of Congress
- and lobbyists

So many pending nominations (4.00 / 2)
Could we focus on some of them?  Why are so many being held up?  I want Dawn Johnsen confirmed NOW!
Chris, I'd say it would be worth bringing back your (4.00 / 5)
disucssion of progressive positive feedback loops.

  • The Employee Free Choice Act
  • Clean Election Laws.
  • Reversing Corporate Media Consolidation.
  • Colonial Reform.
  • Re-locating government spending.
  • Voting Reform.

Given that the Supreme Court appears to be ready to scrap rules regulating corporate political spending, clean election laws probably get my vote.

Politics is the art of the possible, but that means you have to think about changing what is possible, not that you have to accept it in perpetuity.

Yes to positive feedback loops! (0.00 / 0)
That very well might mean encouraging anything that looks useful in terms of making educational opportunity more accessible. The country needs more people practiced at thinking...

Can it happen here?
[ Parent ]
EFCA is next year? (0.00 / 0)
i gather Harkin is leading that fight? we definitely need to push on that.  

not everything worth doing is profitable. not everything profitable is worth doing.
[ Parent ]
Public financing of campaigns. (4.00 / 1)
It is the key to everything else.  We need to start organizing and the keep organizing until we have it.
What we do next (4.00 / 1)
I think it comes down to three things:

1) get a very strong bill out of the House. If we get only a modest or even weak bill, then it won't matter what happens in the Senate. That means we've got to make it plain to the HPC and House leadership that demand a strong bill, and that our intensity won't be any less in October, November, or December.

2) in the Senate, it seems that many and perhaps most of the "centrists" who oppose a robust public option are completely at odd with their consituents, and not just their Democratic constituents. I like how local polling was thrown back in the face of Baucus and Landrieu, and I think if we keep doing that, at some point the MSM meme changes from "only the centrists are relevant" to "can the centrists survive crossing their constituents"...and if you can make that the story not only in DC but back in their local district....that would really change the atmosphere.

An interesting dynamic in the Senate, where after months of the mods running the whole show, we may have a Senate mini-caucus of progressives forming. If we can get a strong bill out of the House, and back down a few centrists who are dangerously at odds with their district, then Reid and the White House might let a strong PO pass.  

Sorry that was two! (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
the future of the country (4.00 / 1)
Next week the Senate Finance committee will have the future of the country in its hands, in a very real sense.

If a bill lacking a public option gets out of Senate Finance, we are not only probably stuck with ineffective healthcare reform, we are stuck with another generation of anti-government politics.

Senators on the Finance committee who consider themselves progressives need to realize this. Getting a public option into the Finance committee markup isn't just about healthcare - it's about the principle that government can do good, and that government is essential for certain aspects of society to function well.

This isn't so much a showdown about healthcare as it is a showdown about the very idea of government. Progressives in the Senate Finance committee can resuscitate the assumption that government is good, or they can condemn government to another generation of denigration.

Anti-Racist Geo-wiki (0.00 / 0)
Let's map the geography of racism down to the zipcode level.    

USA: 1950 to 2010
here ya' go (4.00 / 1)
SPLC

Save Our Schools! March & National Call to Action, July 28-31, 2011 in Washington, DC: http://www.saveourschoolsmarch...
[ Parent ]
This is very cool! (0.00 / 0)
But I want to go deeper.

OL should host a map tied to our account profiles.  We should past stuff there about our local tea bag bullies.  

This has got to stop while they are still mostly amateurs.  If more of them start making a living as corporate rent-a-thugs, this nation could get a lot worse fast.

USA: 1950 to 2010

[ Parent ]
Here's what we do next. (4.00 / 2)
First, Recognize that these petitions don't work. WE have been signing our names to petitions and giving money for YEARS now, and it has not made one bit of difference. WE are still signing petitions, and still struggling to be heard.  

To heck with spineless Harry Reid. The buck stops with Obama. He is the one who promised change, and he is the one who refuses to fight or take a stand. He is the one who needs to be shamed. Yet, no one seems prepared to go after HIM.

So, what we want to do is this: Get Howard Dean or Jay Rockefeller or some prominent Democrat to say in a VERY PUBLIC FORUM something to this effect:

" If this President signs a health care bill without a public option he will be doing a grave disservice to the American people. It would not be health care reform, but a gift to the insurance industry."

One influential senator saying something like that on NBC and other networks, and sticking to his guns, will be worth more than a million signatures.

This is something I often wonder about (4.00 / 1)
I just assume that all of the petitions that different groups do are just a way to gather email addresses for some other purpose.  I am sure they help somewhat, if for nothing else then to give someone a reason to stop at someones office and say hey, what about this. But honestly if any of the people being petitioned were decent people who responded to the needs/will of the people they wouldn't NEED to get these petitions to do the right thing.

So, let's say we acknowledge that the primary reason to do these petitions and other actions is to build giant email lists to do ... what? Some ideas:

1. Education and message.  Would I even know that Joe Wilson had someone running against him, let alone would that person be sitting on a pile of cash right now if progressive blogs hadn't told me and if it hadn't been pushed out by emails?  We can let people know about progressive candidates running key races that they might not find out about and could support on the ground. And there are a huge number of issues I would never know about but for the 'net.

2. Money. I know that no one likes to think of the netroots as an ATM but it really, truly is a way we can help and can be effective especially if it is well targeted.

3. Recruiting candidates for generals AND PRIMARIES. When you are thinking of running for office it is difficult to think how you will every get the money to do it, especially if you are a non-incumbent progressive grassroots type!  What if we could let potential candidates know that if they run we will help support them with message and money?  We might get some people to take on entrenched interests that otherwise would be untouched.

You know, as I type this I realize that what I am describing sounds very much like DFA! If we are just going to duplicate what they do then it is hard to think why we would do it so maybe what I have said above needs to be scratched in favor of things that are unique to Open Left.  

Just typing out loud here I guess.

[ Parent ]
Climate Change Bill and Patriot Act Revision (4.00 / 4)
We have a little time for both before they become bills, but it would be great for us to put together a push toward making sure that we get progressive aspects in both.

It seems like we'd be lucky to get most of Waxman-Markey passed in the Senate version. We can build on it later (assuming the Progressive bloc holds, and we have a trifecta moving forward), but as much as possible, we should do what we can to have a great bill signed into law.

For the Patriot Act revision, it would be great to not be caught flat-footed like we did for the FISA revision. There's a chance to correct a lot of the mistakes passed last year. We can influence a lot of the revision if we put our collective effort forward.

Waxman- Markey is a great bill? Have you talked to any serious, (0.00 / 0)
knowledgeable environmentalist who agrees with that sentiment?  
[ Parent ]
Reference Page (4.00 / 1)
"So, what should we do next?"

This is just a modest proposal for Open Left.
How about a reference page listing a few of
the major issues that Open Left is pushing
along with links to pertinent reference
information.

For example:

- Link to List of Blue Dog Democrats

- Link to list of the Progressive Caucus

- Link to list of Democrats who have signed
 the pledge to vote against any bill that doesn't
 include a "public option".

- Link to the list of Democrats who have signed
 the pledge to not vote against a bill that
 had a public option.

- Links to groups that are organizing for
 Wallstreet reform.

- And most important, a priority list of
 actions that Open Left readers can take
 right now!

I'm sure the Open Left bloggers have this
type of info memorized, but for the rest
of us, I think it would be really helpful!

Focus (4.00 / 1)
"So, what should we do next?"

As for what actions Open Left should take?

I think you should stick with your founding
principals:

"OpenLeft is a news, analysis and action
website dedicated toward building a progressive
governing majority in America."

I like Moveon.org but I do find them to be
very diffuse. Personally, I like Open Left's
focus.

And I really like Open Left all around.

You guys are doing a great job !!

[ Parent ]
Primary Blue Dogs (4.00 / 2)
Simple, fund to get rid of these DLC clones, and get real Democratic votes.  How about a list of all challengers to the BushDogs!
Jobs (4.00 / 1)
Trade
Off-shoring
EFCA
Buy American

A coalition and large numbers are needed.  Somebody (Dean) needs to get the blogs/netroots/grass roots/unions/etc. organized to work as a bloc.  Then build a list, prioritize the list, and work on the list starting at the top of the list.   If enough people join forces, they might be heard.  Look at the size and struggle involved in the health care fight and the uncertainty of its outcomes.

Thanks for asking.

It's all about passing just laws, repealing unjust ones, and . . . (0.00 / 0)
. . . getting real enforcement on the Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, and so on. So what to do next?

Almost all suggestions deal with laws that must be passed or modified. A few items are of an internal nature which a community such as ours needs or wants about what's going on.

Of course, who passes laws, but Congress, in tandem or coordination, cooperation or lack thereof with the President!

Over the last few weeks I have watched Chris' table of congressional tallies of who's on first, and what's on second, accompanied by our efforts to influence them, such as the petition drive to my own Nevada State Senator Harry Reid.

Demonstrations, petitions, letters to legislators do little or nothing when these have been bought by other interest, or have other fish to fry.

There is NO effective actions short of having real progressives with real mandates from the progressive communities having seats in Congress.

Short of a political party, what else can get a progressive legislator a seat?

I can't think of anything more effective than an official National Progressive Party. We wouldn't really have to compete with Democrats or Republicans that are by their behavior fairly progressive themselves. But we could certainly put candidates up against those Dems or Reps that must be defeated to have a full house to win legislation.

As a party, with registered members, we are a force to reckon with, because they know we exist, and are coordinated and organized. We don't need to run a President against Dems or Reps, but we can certainly apply the right kind of pressure to their primaries to make sure they select a good man; if they refuse, we can diffuse their efforts by running our own man. After all, when there is no difference between Republicrats, we don't care who is president when we have our numbers in Congress.

There's so much power we can exercise as a party!! We can create alliances with the myriad of progressive groups throughout the country, and encourage their members to register to add to the numbers; we can create a central clearing house for information for all issues, so even the smallest of our allies can have theirs visible in what we can consider a general agenda.

The greater majority of Americans hold very progressive ideologies (I'd say easily 65% to 70%), whether they have voted Dem or Rep for the last 30 years. We can publish that ideology, and get people to realize they are our allies, and can count on our agenda...

The possibilities are endless...All the items other folks have posted above, and may post below, would become part of the National Progressive Alliance or Party... no one is excluded...

I know it's a tough task to get a bunch of free spirits and free thinkers to work together in harmony; and the assertion of this personal freedom at the slightest disagreement has broken or prevented past coalitions.

But we no longer have the choice to wait and see, while Sauron gathers hordes of Orks and automatons.

It is time!

A National Progressive Alliance, is the only viable solution.

http://www.openleft.com/diary/...

Time a Post is Open for Comments (0.00 / 0)
Another thought on the side...

I think the time for posting comments should be much longer than it is now; probably two to three months. Alternatively, there might be something like an Open Topic section, for hot items that continue the discussion beyond the article posted.

Also, the Search feature gives two options only: Diaries and Comments. It would be nice to be able to search main articles by author and/or topic.

Am I missing something?

A National Progressive Alliance, is the only viable solution.

http://www.openleft.com/diary/...

[ Parent ]
Public Option Petition Update | 37 comments
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