Julien Baker is a queer, Christian, socialist — we had to talk to her
We Stand with Maya Little
North Carolina Piedmont DSA stands with UNC Chapel Hill graduate student worker Maya Little, who was arrested last week for demonstrating the true meaning of UNC’s monument to white supremacy, Silent Sam. By contextualizing this racist statue with red paint and her own blood, Little sent a clear message to UNC’s moderate liberal leadership and reactionary Board of Governors, who have chosen to ignore students and community members, appease neoconfederate and racist groups, and mobilize the police to surveil, infiltrate, and disrupt protesters. Silent Sam must fall.
NCPDSA calls for any judicial or UNC Honor Court charges against Little to be dropped. Fighting against white supremacy is not a crime; it models the utmost honorable character. Additionally, we call for Chancellor Carol Folt to acknowledge the harm her leadership has caused students and the community and to accept responsibility for the racists threats against Little’s life which Folt’s inaction has permitted. Silent Sam must be removed from campus immediately.
– NC Piedmont DSA Steering Committee
Video - See What Colorado Teachers are Asking For
The Carolina Cares Bill Is Completely Inadequate
Carolina Cares (or House Bill 662) purports to close the insurance gap and provide health insurance to those who can’t afford it. Yet the bill fails to address the most pressing healthcare concerns, because it does not go far enough to address North Carolinians’ needs.
Free at the point of service
The bill operates on the same faulty logic as much of the current healthcare system: it assumes that people need to “get their skin in the game” by paying some money for healthcare. If it’s free, the bill’s architects claim, people will abuse the healthcare system.
But people already have their skin in this game: it’s literally their lives on the line. Their taxes also fund government healthcare programs, among other things. But more fundamentally, healthcare is a human right, and our healthcare system should aim to provide care to all even if it was expensive.
Luckily, though, studies have found that “there is little direct evidence suggesting that connecting premium costs to health outcomes...will greatly improve health behavior.” In other words, requiring payment has no benefits for health—just for corporate profits. In truth, studies show that requiring payment simply prevents people from seeking any care, not just expensive care. To improve health outcomes, we must aim for a system that is free at the point of service.
But this bill goes the other direction. As the bill stands, those above 50 percent of the federal poverty line would have to pay 2 percent of their monthly income as coinsurance—a provision that not only fails to help the uninsured, but also adversely affects existing Medicaid beneficiaries.
No work requirement
Carolina Cares also contains an unnecessary, fallacious, and cruel work requirement, stipulating that only those who are “employed or engaged in activities to promote employment” are qualified.
To start, this requirement is just more fine print complicating who can and cannot receive care. Those complications, in turn, place an administrative burden on both providers and consumers.
For consumers, the problems arise when employment structures create payment burdens. Seasonal workers or people who are self-employed may fall out of coverage quickly, because the bill stipulates that your coverage is suspended if you don’t pay premiums for 60 days. It also requires consumers to pay all backed premiums before being reinstated, which could prevent those with lower incomes from ever being able to receive Medicaid again.
On the provider side, the administrative work diverts money that could be spent on patients to paperwork. It’s also unlikely that North Carolina will allocate any additional funds to state Medicaid offices—which are, unsurprisingly, already understaffed—lengthening application and enrollment times and further harming Medicaid users.
On top of that, there are more unemployed people than there are jobs in the majority of North Carolina counties—especially the rural ones. The North Carolina Justice Center reports that there are “nine unemployed workers for every job opening” in Hyde County, for instance. These findings aren’t unusual, either. The number of people who are “choosing” not to work is small. Those who don’t have jobs are retired, disabled, or busy parenting or going to school.
And those who were “out of work” were “more likely to be older (aged 51 to 64 years), more likely to be in fair or poor health, have a chronic mental health condition, or a physical or mental functional limitation,” one expert wrote. “It’s possible that some who report being unable to work might be caught up in new work requirements and lose their coverage. That would be a tragedy, because having a disability or illness likely leaves individuals especially vulnerable to deteriorations in health.”
The work requirement also puts those with criminal records at risk. Those who were formerly incarcerated have well-known difficulties finding employment (not to mention housing and other services). Harming their ability to receive healthcare is simply cruel.
Lastly, according to Andrea Callow from Families USA, work requirements are illegal. Instituting them would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, as it would disproportionately impact people with disabilities—whether or not they receive disability from the government. Medicare was originally designed as a welfare program to provide insurance; adding a work requirement turns it into a punitive employment program.
Dealing with the underinsured
Medicaid expansion with a work requirement will do nothing to address other fundamental failings of healthcare system.
The first is the number of people who are underinsured with terrible, high-deductible plans that prevent them from receiving any real kind of care. To quote from one paper on Medicare and Medicaid:
“As of late 2016, 28 percent of U.S. adults ages 19 to 64 who were insured all year were underinsured—or an estimated 41 million people. This is more than double the rate in 2003 when the measure was first introduced in the survey, and is up significantly from 23 percent (31 million people) in 2014. Rates climbed across most coverage sources, and, among privately insured, were highest among people with individual market coverage, most of whom have plans through the marketplaces. Half (52%) of underinsured adults reported problems with medical bills or debt and more than two of five (45%) reported not getting needed care because of cost.”
Second is all of the other factors that inhibit people from receiving quality healthcare. Insurance only goes so far, because lack of reliable transportation; lack of disposable income to spend on quality housing and affordable food, exercise options, and other factors in good health; inability to take time off work to go to the doctor; and just finding nearby healthcare providers, especially in rural counties, all present sizable barriers. Current trendy options to reduce those, like wellness programs provided by employers, have not been effective.
Aim higher
Often, Carolina Cares supporters claim that we should support the bill because “it’s the only thing that will pass.” But passing a bad bill that institutes work requirements, expands administrative budgets, and backs bad healthcare logic will not help North Carolinians. We must push back against this slide into the kind of thinking that gave us our current, failing system, and demand something better.
Heather Kim and Ross Gains
NC Piedmont DSA members
Statement in Support of Demilitarize Durham2Palestine
These comments were delivered by NC Piedmont DSA member Jake Stanley at a Durham City Council meeting on April 18.
I am here representing the North Carolina Piedmont chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, a sponsoring partner of the Demilitarize Durham2Palestine campaign.
As democratic socialists, we believe in government truly by, for, and of the people. We are fighting alongside the groups here today to transform our country so everyone—particularly Black, indigenous, immigrant, LGBTQ, Muslim, and other oppressed communities—can thrive, not merely survive on the scraps of a wildly unequal capitalist system.
Freedom from the fear of state violence is essential to creating that thriving society. But as we have seen in the past decade in the streets of Ferguson, Chicago, and Baltimore, the sidewalks of Staten Island, the neighborhoods of South Sacramento, and countless places in between, Black and Brown people are disproportionately threatened and killed by law enforcement. The militarization of police—municipal and county forces that look more and more like an army—compounds this systemic problem.
We reject the idea that US police, from leadership to officers, have anything to learn from the Israeli military or police, the enforcement arm of a racist apartheid state and violent settler colonial project. We are encouraged by Durham’s efforts to reform the police toward support of and accountability to Durhamites, especially our communities of color, although we agree with Mayor Schewel and the council that there is much more to do.
We want to focus on improving other measures of public safety, like affordable housing and healthcare, strong public education, and a livable wage.
Therefore, we join the call for the Durham City Council to create a new policy that unconditionally bars police training exchanges with Israel or other foreign militaries and police.
Thank you.
Jake Stanley
NC Piedmont DSA member
Resources
"If religion doesn't allow us to build bridges, it becomes a drug" —Rev. Juan Carlos Ruiz
DSA Special Election (Updated)
Date March 20th
Location: Xanadu, Idaho Burners Alliance
Time: 7 PM
Boise DSA is holding its first election! We are electing 4 positions:
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2 Spokespersons
Primary contacts for media
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Treasurer
Responsible for tracking chapter finances
Chair of the Finance Committee
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Secretary
Responsible for archiving committee minutes and other important records
Chair of Records Committee
All elected members must participate in the Steering Committee
Nominations will be accepted at the election. Members may nominate themselves. Elections will use the the Schulze Method.
New York Times Article:
Minutes:
Boise Democratic Socialists of America
Special Election Meeting
Burner’s Alliance Xanadu Building
3/20/2018, 7pm
Facilitator: Rachel
Scribe: Alex
Present: Andrew, Ashley, Rachel, Marr, Chris, Robert, Sammi, Kent, Ty, Alex, Ryan
MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER AT 7:17pm
AGENDA WAS APPROVED
GENERAL DISCUSSION
Ashley: we have a direct contact with the field director with Reclaim Idaho and have discussed what other chapters are doing with Medicaid. Because of commonly shared values, we propose the establishment of a working group for Medicaid.
Passed
We propose a meeting to be held in the next month for Medicaid expansion
Passed
Update: Governor candidate open forum BSU Student Union building 5:30-6:30
Andrew, Ashley, Rachel: We propose the formation of an education working group
Passed
12th of April 7pm Boise Public Library for first meeting
Kent: I propose the formation for a direct action working group.
Passed
Proposal in conjunction with other socialist organizations around the nation, we hope to distribute literature to the migrant working community.
Sammi: NSP reading update: we finished “Kill All Normies”. We are now reading Engel’s Utopian and Scientific Socialism.
Alex: Do we want to join the DSA bioregional chapter?
Amendment: tread lightly and push for consensus voting process. Boise DSA members participate on a volunteer basis.
Passed
Matt: Action item proposal: In three weeks, on the weekend, start on one end of the greenbelt, clean up waste, and hand out fliers for the DSA.
Passed
Sammi: We can also clean up table rock and other landmarks
Andrew: Steering committee meetings will be held on the first week of every month. The next will be on April 4th at Goldy’s Corner in Boise at 7pm. Working Groups will coordinate and report to the steering committee
EXPLANATION OF VOTING PROCEDURE
Andrew: We have four positions open. Ashley created the ballot. We will select our nominations by rank through mathematical symbolization of inequalities. The votes will then be put into an algorithm that will select the median representative.
OPEN NOMINATIONS
Treasurer
Chris- Nominated by Robert
Rachel- Nominated by Ashley
Secretary
Andrew- Nominated by Ashley
Spokespersons
Sammi- Nominated by Dave
Ashley- Nominated by Andrew
Alex- Nominated by Dave
RESULTS
Treasurer: Rachel
Secretary: Andrew
Spokesperson: Sammi, Ashley
NEXT MEETING:
4/17 Xanadu, Time TBA
IRAQ INVASION DISCUSSION:
Andrew led discussion for the critique of the Invasion of Iraq on the anniversary.
Movie Social: Trumpland
Date March 31st
Movie + Social
Location Xanadu, Idaho Burners Alliance
Time 8-11 PM
We will be watching the movie Trumpland: Kill All Normies based on the book Kill All Normies by Angela Nagle. Bring drinks, snacks, and friends to watch and discuss the movie. How culturally and politically powerful is the Alt-Right? How accurate is Nagle's analysis of the left's role in fueling the Alt-Right? How can the left create a rival movement? Join us!
Description of Kill All Normies from Zero Books:
Recent years have seen a revival of the heated culture wars of the 1990s, but this time its battle ground is the internet. On one side the "alt right" ranges from the once obscure neo-reactionary and white separatist movements, to geeky subcultures like 4chan, to more mainstream manifestations such as the Trump-supporting gay libertarian Milo Yiannopolous. On the other side, a culture of struggle sessions and virtue signalling lurks behind a therapeutic language of trigger warnings and safe spaces. The feminist side of the online culture wars has its equally geeky subcultures right through to its mainstream expression. Kill All Normies explores some of the cultural genealogies and past parallels of these styles and subcultures, drawing from transgressive styles of 60s libertinism and conservative movements, to make the case for a rejection of the perpetual cultural turn.