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Why Katie Thinks "Specter Visit" a Success

Posted by Ming Shem Lu, Nov 13, 2009.
Ming Shem Lu
Why Katie Thinks "Specter Visit" a Success
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Posted by Ming Shem Lu, Nov 13, 2009
It’s about taking ownership of the political process, as Katie Ernst eloquently attests to in the essay below.

Katie, a young, law-school graduate who herself has had some harrowing experiences with health insurance, was among the group from GMC who visited the Philadelphia office of Senator Arlen Specter last Thursday.

Just to add my two cents: I call our visit a success because, as we spent some time together that morning, I got a glimpse of the true HOPE that was so talked about during the 2008 election. It’s not found in Obama but among the young voters, in their 20s and 30s, who helped elect him. An energy has been unleashed, and we HOPE its beat will go on. No more will they—and we—stand by while powerful forces hijack our nation's politics, whether these be special-interest lobbyists, spineless or shamelessly obstructionist politicians, the right-wing fringe and their establishment enablers, or media giants the gatekeepers of who gets heard.

Those of us involved in healthcare reform know this: It’s not just about healthcare reform. It’s about taking ownership of the political process.

A note about making an appointment to visit your Senator’s or Representative’s office: Jenny Anne Hortz-Martz writes that this is the single most effective way of getting through to elected officials. In our case, I went online to Senator Specter’s website, then clicked on “Constituent Services,” chose “Scheduling” from the pull-down menu, and completed the form. I did that on Monday, Oct 19, and didn’t get a call back until Tuesday, Nov 3, two weeks later. So be patient—you will get scheduled!

Katie mentions in her essay that Specter supports singer-payer healthcare—in fact, he even went so far as to pledge to sponsor an amendment (to the Senate bill) that would remove any roadblocks states might face while enacting a single-payer system. Read more here. If you visit or call his office in the near future, you may want to ask his staffers about that.

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Meeting with Arlen Specter: Moving the Political Establishment One Politician at a Time
By Katherine Ernst

Progressives are not feeling quite as hopeful as they were a year ago. The Bush Administration is now no more than a bad taste in our mouths (well, that is, unless you are among the 1-in-6 Americans who are unemployed or underemployed), and increasingly the fact that Obama is not Bush is no longer enough to placate us.

Americans have been expecting to experience the change that was promised to us in many eloquent campaign speeches, but have seen precious little of it. What happened to the urgency of now? On the campaign trail we were promised healthcare-for-all by August. Now Democrats are saying that we might not even get healthcare-for-some by the end of 2009.

What is a progressive to do? Anna Quindlen has suggested that “if the American people want the president to be more like the Barack Obama they elected, maybe they should start acting more like the voters who elected him, who forcibly and undeniably moved the political establishment to where it didn’t want to go.” Personally, I have a problem with this notion. Americans worked hard to elect Barack Obama so that he could replace the political establishment that wasn’t moving, not become the political establishment that isn’t moving.

Be that as it may, matters are what they are, and notwithstanding the fact that a majority of Americans continue to support a robust public option, Democrats have come to embody the worst qualities of their party’s symbol. They have become stubborn asses that Americans have no choice but to drag inch-by-inch to a healthcare reform bill which will embody our will and live up to their promises.

So considering these political realities, what actions can progressives take to move their representatives in Congress? One of the things that constituents can do that makes an impact and takes very little time is to go and speak to them in person. Since most people do not take the time to contact their Senators and Representatives, those who do are disproportionately heard.

Four of us (Greg Kinnison, Doug Alderfer, Ming Lu, and myself) did just that. We visited Senator Arlen Specter’s office on Nov 5, 2009 and spoke with one of his staffers. We related to him our concerns about the current healthcare bill. Our primary focus was to emphasize that we support a robust public option. Beyond that, we discussed our feelings regarding a single-payer system (strongly support it, although we are realistic that it is currently not politically viable), tort reform (conservative buzz word for avoiding real health system reform), and allowing drug companies to extend drug patents (a gift to drug companies that would hurt the poor), among other topics.

We also talked politics—both the recent democratic defeats as well as Arlen Specter’s own 2010 primary. First, we emphasized that Democrats should not read the latest elections as a referendum on their policies, including healthcare reform. Those elections were local elections that at most can be extrapolated to show Americans’ displeasure at political business as usual. Second, we discussed how Democrats are growing weary of empty promises. People of all political stripes in Pennsylvania like Arlen Specter. He is clearly a kind and good man. Democratic voters, however, will be voting in the 2010 primary not on likability, but rather on the work that Arlen Specter is doing for progressives and for Pennsylvanian’s interests.

So at the end of the day, did our trip to Senator Specter’s office make a difference? The honest answer is probably not, only because Arlen Specter has already publicly come out in favor of a robust public option, and even (gasp!) single payer. Senators clearly do take letters, calls, and meetings with constituents into account when making calculated political decisions. The amount to which they do so, however, will vary both from Senator to Senator and from issue to issue.

Regardless of our ultimate impact, it was a relief to finally to feel like our voices were being heard. Moreover, it was a great reminder that Senators and Representatives are the public’s servants—they serve you and me. They are not celebrities or gods. They are humans whom we have chosen to represent us. How better to ensure that our representatives are representing our will than by letting them know how we feel?

In short, whether our trip to Senator Specter’s office affects him remains to be seen, but I can say for certain that it affected me, and so at the end of the day, I call our visit a success.

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