A time to talk: Progressive politics can lead to the best solutions from the grassroots level

Mary Magee

guest columnist

Progressive Democrats of America. I like the sound of that. It’s an organization I heard about from friend Roberta McNair, who I met during Barack Obama’s extraordinary presidential campaign.

Since then, Roberta, a Gig Harbor resident, has committed herself to forming a PDA chapter in our congressional district. We are in the 6th district and Norm Dicks is our longstanding congressman.

If you go to PDA’s Web site, pdamerica.org, you’ll find the organization was founded in 2004 and chose to focus on five main areas of concern. It’s a big agenda, but much more achievable now that we have a Democratic president.

Here’s what they want to do:

First, end the war in Iraq and redirect funding to social needs at home and humanitarian aid in Iraq.

Second, provide health care for all. They write, “It is immoral for a country as wealthy as ours to have 45 million people with no health coverage and tens of millions more with inadequate or overly expensive coverage.”

Third, promote economic justice, which includes progressive tax reform, fair trade and economic security measures.

Fourth, have clean, fair and transparent elections. They say, “The U.S. election system is in crisis. Big money interests dominate U.S. politics in ways unknown in other industrialized countries, with social and environmental progress often blocked by officials who cater to big donors to ensure election funds.”

Fifth, stop global warming. They add, “No issue reveals more clearly the flaws of the U.S. political-economic system than global warming — the dominance of greed and corporate power over the public good, and the near-sighted focus on the short-term over the welfare of future generations.”

Like I said, it’s a big agenda and it may seem overwhelming. However, the leaders of PDA have broken things down into empowering steps for people to follow at the grassroots level. PDA uses the legislative process to bring about change, using lobbying techniques that get results.

For example, in January, they asked members throughout America to call their representatives in Washington, D.C., to get them to co-sponsor the National Health Care Act, HR 676.

John Conyers, the representative from Michigan’s 14th congressional district, first introduced HR 676, a single-payer plan, in 2003. He’s re-introduced it annually in revised forms since then. This year, he again introduced an improved version of the bill.

After folks called to advocate for the bill, the list of sponsors grew by 12 members, which proves these efforts do make a difference. There are many familiar names of congress people from across the country on the list, including Jim McDermott from Seattle.

The more representatives who co-sponsor a bill, the better its chances of moving forward through the legislative process. That’s why we would like our congressman, Norm Dicks, to become a co-sponsor.

Across the state, other PDA chapters are working on lobbying their respective representatives.

Another way Progressive Democrats of America builds support for its goals is to encourage groups to endorse a bill. The list endorsing HR 676 is huge and it includes medical students, nurses associations, churches, teachers, health care workers, retirees, postal workers, carpenters, city and county legislators, and steelworkers.

I’m focused on the health care goals of PDA because I believe it has to be a priority.

I hear from those who know more than I do that our health care system is crashing, with outcomes both predictable and frightening.

Our family has always had excellent medical care and good medical coverage, but we’ve seen costs rise for all involved. Let’s support PDA and, more specifically, HR 676.

Join up online, and get involved in our 6th congressional district chapter.

A Time to Talk columnist Mary Magee can be reached by e-mail at marymagee@harbornet.com.