Turning Polarity in Progress: How Progressives Can Win

Having a divide along political lines is far from a new phenomenon. What we must never forget is that issues can unite us where politics divide. For instance, while national healthcare has been politically divisive, there are few that would argue that our current form of health care coverage is successful. So it may be surprising to know that of all the people who had Medicaid or ACA coverage in 2016 , nearly three-quarters of adults said they are satisfied with their plans. According to The Hill, "Overall, 71 percent of people who have plans through the ObamaCare marketplace or Medicaid said their healthcare plans were good, very good or excellent, according to ... the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund." And yet, when Trump and the Republicans were successful in eroding funding and limiting access for the ACA, satisfaction went down to 22% in 2017.

So, what we now know is that people are again going without health coverage and still believe it is important to address. Governing listed health insurance as the second top priority for states for 2018. An AP-NORC poll showed that healthcare is the #1 concern on domestic and economic issues.

What is missing is a push from the public to make it front and center to our expectations from our legislators. Not uncoincidentally, voters believe that their lawmakers won't get far with their priority this year as 72% believe the government won't make progress on this as the survey below shows.

As usual, as long as politics divide us, progress on the things that matter to people get side-stepped. In this less than optimistic time, it is important to note that when we join together on the things that we hold in common, stuff gets done. A popular catch phrase is "pick a lane" and we all need to do it around the issues we mostly agree on.