Forcing the Vote on M4All to Own the Libs

Some on the far left are trying to block Pelosi's speakership unless she promises to bring Medicare for All up for a vote. Here's why that's a bad idea.

This morning on CNN, incoming Democratic Socialist members of Congress, Cori Bush (D-MO) and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), refused to say whether they’d vote for Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House when Congress reconvenes in early January.

Bowman explained that he wants Pelosi first to commit to bringing slavery reparations and Medicare for All up for a vote before he’ll consider voting for her:

Mac 🍽 @GoodPoliticGuy

Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman refused to commit to voting for Nancy Pelosi as speaker. Force the vote. Let’s do this.

The movement to force a vote on Medicare for All (Bowman threw in reparations on his own) is called “Force the Vote,” and is being coordinated by a former Bernie Sanders staffer who couldn’t bring herself to vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016. And while you might think that taking a vote on legislation you like is always a good thing, that’s not the way it works in politics. Sometimes, a losing vote can help build momentum around an issue. But at other times, a big loss makes you look weak, and sends the message that your proposal is unpopular — which can make it even harder to get votes in the future. And finally, sometimes you intend a losing vote as a weapon with which to bash your opponents, and hurt them at the next election (such as when Pelosi recently tried to force a vote on upping stimulus checks from $600 to $2000).

In the case of Medicare for All, the goal is apparently to hurt our own:

It’s actually an extremely useful tool for losing control of the US House, and not getting the US Senate back, in 2022, a year which will already be perilous for congressional Democrats (midterms rarely hold good news for the party in the White House).

I believe in universal health coverage. I’ve seen it in action in Europe, and it can work amazingly well. But I also believe in having an actual strategy for achieving your political goals — not just doing things because they feel good — and I haven’t heard a good explanation for how forcing a vote on Medicare for All advances the legislation itself.

Now, sure, maybe the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) can win a few more primary victories by attacking Democrats who won’t vote right now for Medicare for All. But it’s just as likely that the Medicare for All vote (and especially reparations) will be used against Democrats — regardless of who wins the primary — by Republicans looking to take back the House in 2022.

Then there’s the notion of electing even more Democratic Socialists to Congress, and how that will play with the American voters in 2022 and beyond. Mind you, DSA calls itself “socialist,” so it won’t be any stretch for Republicans to truthfully claim that our party is turning socialist:

Now, some say, “Republicans have always called us socialists anyway.” And that’s true. But up until now, no one responded by saying, “why yes we are!” Even Bernie Sanders eschews the “socialist” label. But not DSA. It’s all over their Web site.

I am all for universal health care. But I want us to have a plan to get there, and not just do things, even if they set us back, because they make the far left feel good. Politics isn’t about feeling good, it’s about doing good. Any political advocacy you do should be specifically tailored to winning, or you shouldn’t be doing it at all. (And don’t listen to people who tell you that the purpose of activism is to make people feel uncomfortable. The purpose of activism is to win. You only make people feel uncomfortable — or force votes on legislation, for that matter — when it advances that goal.)

And even AOC agrees with me. At the beginning of the last Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended a sit-in at Speaker Pelosi’s office. Two years later, and AOC is now the voice of reason, opposing “Force the Vote,” because, as she put it, “So you issue threats, hold your vote, and lose. Then what?”

Then what? Then they primary Democrats in the next election.

With AOC defending Pelosi on this one, the “Force the Vote” effort is sure to peter out (though it still got Bowman and Bush on board). But this ongoing effort to demonize Democrats isn’t going away. It’s a constant refrain from the DSA left, and it’s doing damage, and will continue to, until we take the threat seriously, and start fighting back.