Meanwhile, the Democrats Feel Comfortable Pushing Single-Payer Now

In 2016, amid all the chaos that was the Republican Party Primary for President of the United States (I prefer the shorter term for that election cycle, Wait We Did What???), there was another movement being ignited.

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The man who lit the fuse was a little old madman with thoughts and dreams not unlike the wide-eyed liberal socialists of today’s college campuses. In fact, he became their hero. That man was Bernie Sanders, and he provided a grassroots challenge to Hillary Clinton that took the Democratic Party by surprise and almost took the nomination away from her.

Of course, the political powers that be would not allow that to happen. The system was rigged and Clinton won. Sanders fell in line but kept stoking the flames.

The movement he started now seems to be ready to claim its first major victim – Senator Dianne Feinstein, who just yesterday lost her endorsement from the California Democratic Party.

However, that is not the only way in which the Left is preparing to spiral further and further into its own madness.

We knew it was the ultimate goal of the Affordable Care Act, but now the real plans are reaching the light of day.

In a sign of the party’s move to the left on the issue, the Center for American Progress (CAP), a bastion of the Democratic establishment, this week released a plan that comes very close to a single-payer system.

That’s a dramatic change from just two years ago, when Hillary Clinton — tied closely to CAP — dismissed Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) push of “Medicare for all” as politically unrealistic.

The CAP plan, called “Medicare Extra for All,” would provide government-run health insurance for everyone, though people would still have the option of obtaining coverage from an employer.

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That’s exactly what it sounds like, gang. The Democrats feel like it’s a safe position now. And it’s all thanks to Bernie Sanders, according to CAP.

“I think Bernie Sanders has definitely laid out a vision and created a movement toward Medicare for all, and no doubt that has been a big factor,” said Topher Spiro, vice president for health policy at CAP.

Part of the need for the next step, he said, is “it’s become clear we’re not going to get any cooperation from Republicans in terms of making the current system work optimally, and there’s a lot of frustration there.”

I love that there is no hiding the fact that this was the plan for the post-Obamacare era all along, especially after years of hiding it really really poorly.

The Medicare Extra plan is a way to take the “final step” to universal coverage after ObamaCare, Spiro said, and “we’re beginning that debate now, which will continue for a few years on how best to finally reach that goal.”

“I don’t think there’s any question that a lot of Democrats think this is very safe ground now,” said Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), who signed onto a Medicare for all bill in the House, along with 120 other Democrats, which is a majority of the conference.

The Democrats are making a calculated move here. They are convinced that the American public’s response to Donald Trump is going to be swift, vicious, and good for the Democratic Party. They are banking on sweeps in 2018 and Trump’s re-election defeat in 2020 in order to get the agenda through.

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However, the Democrats are not completely unified in this plan, and challenges from the party’s left are nipping at the heels of the more established members of the caucus (like Feinstein). It is a very chaotic time for Democrats in D.C., who see the potential for power in their grasp, and yet problems around every corner.

It is not unlike the Republican Party’s issues over the last decade. That the Democrats are now facing a potential civil war in their own party is kind of funny, but at the same time extremely worrisome – if the Farthest of the Progressive Left wins, then it could be bad for the nation.

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