Vermont Paper Begs Bernie To Stay Out Of 2020 Race

(This photo of Senator Bernie Sanders was found at Politico.com.)

One of the big questions facing Democrats is whether Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) will try again to use their primary/caucus system to run for president (even though he is not a Democrat and does not want to join the Democratic Party). I think he should stay out of the Democratic Party's nominating process. I'm not alone.

A Vermont newspaper (The Barre Montpelier Times-Argus) is also urging Sanders to stay out of the 2020 race. Here is their editorial:

Bernie Sanders should not run for president. In fact, we beg him not to.

That is an unfavorable opinion, especially among most Vermonters and progressives who support the platform that has come to define him. But at this point, there are more things about another Sanders run at the White House that concern us than excite us.

In this space, we have repeatedly hit the senator on where his loyalties lay: Vermont or a bigger calling? We have asked him to make a choice, which he would argue was his recent re-election to Congress. But in his previous run for the presidency, Sanders, an independent who ran for the White House as a Democrat, missed dozens of votes that likely would have helped Vermonters. And, while he handily defeated his challenger, can Vermonters point to Sanders’ record and say definitively, “This is what he’s done for us?”

While he makes regular visits “home,” you are more likely to catch Sanders on Colbert, CNN or MSNBC than you are to see him talking to reporters here in Vermont. Evidently, microphones here don’t extend far enough.

But that’s not our greatest concern. We fear a Sanders run risks dividing the well-fractured Democratic Party, and could lead to another split in the 2020 presidential vote. There is too much at stake to take that gamble. If we are going to maintain a two-party system, the mandate needs to be a clear one. There is strength in numbers, and if anything has been shown in recent years, it is that unless tallies are overwhelming, there can always be questions or challenges raised over what “vote totals” really mean: popular vote vs. Electoral College results.

For us, this comes down to principle over ego. It is one thing to start a revolution, but at a certain point you need to know when to step out of the way and let others carry the water for you.

Sanders is a self-described socialist and a New Deal-era American progressive, who is pro-labor and emphasizes reversing economic inequality. He has developed a noteworthy following.

And, there have been progressive candidates, many of whom have been running under Sanders’ “revolution” banner (and with his endorsement) who are spreading the tenets of Sanders’ decades-old agenda: Rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure; reversing climate change; creating worker co-ops; growing the trade-union movement; raising the minimum wage; pay equity for women workers; trade policies that benefit American workers; making college affordable for all; taking on Wall Street; health care as a human right; protecting the most vulnerable Americans; and tax reform.

As a platform, it is massive. As a candidate, Sanders is exhausting.

All signs point to another run, even with accusations this week that Sanders’ campaign staff, during the 2016 run, engaged in sexist remarks, as well as claims of poor treatment and lower pay for women.

According to the New York Times this week, “Now, as the Vermont senator tries to build support for a second run at the White House, his perceived failure to address this issue has damaged his progressive bona fides, delegates and nearly a dozen former state and national staff members said in interviews over the last month.

“And it has raised questions among them about whether he can adequately fight for the interests of women, who have increasingly defined the Democratic Party in the Trump era, if he runs again for the presidential nomination in 2020,” a Times article notes.

In an interview Wednesday night on CNN, Sanders said he was proud of his 2016 campaign. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that we did everything right, in terms of human resources,” he said. “I certainly apologize to any woman who felt she was not treated appropriately, and of course, if I run we will do better the next time.”

Asked by Anderson Cooper if he knew about the staff complaints, he said, “I was a little bit busy running around the country trying to make the case.” That response alone is inexcusable and insulting.

In recent weeks, a Facebook group for Sanders campaign alumni has become a sounding board for complaints about harassment, lewd comments and gender discrimination. Politico first reported on the claims.

And while none of the staff accusations have been levied against Sanders himself, his personality is abrasive. He is known to be difficult to work with. The 77-year-old can be bombastic and prickly. He can be dismissive and rude in his arrogance. You are either with Bernie Sanders or you are not.

That no-nonsense approach and his politics are endearing to many. But it is as extreme, on the other end of the spectrum in its policy elbow-throwing and idealism, as what we face today from the right in their standard bearer, Donald Trump.

Taken together — ego, electoral math, a tired message and a prickly media darling — Sanders is convincing himself that he’s the person who can win the White House in 2020. We are not convinced he should.

Latest Polls Show The Blue States Solidly Behind Clinton

Donald Trump is having trouble trying to keep some of his red states in the fold (Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina). Hillary Clinton doesn't have that kind of problem with states normally considered blue states.

The chart above reflects the latest polls in 10 blue states -- California, Virginia, Oregon, Maryland, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maine, Rhode Island. Clinton leads in all of them, and is expected to carry them rather easily in November. That's good, because it allows her to put more emphasis on the swing states.

NOTE -- You can click on the state name to get the poll dates, sample size, and margin of error.

Super Tuesday Chances And Predictions From Nate Silver

(The photo above of Clinton/Sanders is from leftfootforward.org.)

Today is Super Tuesday, and 11 states will go to the polls to choose their preference for the Democratic presidential nominee. America's best poll analyst, Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com, has released his chances of winning and predictions of voting percentages for nine of the Super Tuesday states. The other two (Colorado and Minnesota) have caucuses (which depend mostly on turnout, and not the will of most people). Mr. Silver says:

ALABAMA

Chance of winning
Clinton...............99%
Sanders...............1%

Prediction
Clinton...............73.6%
Sanders...............23.5%

ARKANSAS

Chance of winning
Clinton...............98%
Sanders...............2%

Prediction
Clinton...............64.1%
Sanders...............32.5%

GEORGIA

Chance of winning
Clinton...............99%
Sanders...............1%

Prediction
Clinton...............69.9%
Sanders...............26.9%

MASSACHUSETTS

Chance of winning
Clinton...............87%
Sanders...............13%

Prediction
Clinton...............51.7%
Sanders...............45.2%

OKLAHOMA

Chance of winning
Clinton...............17%
Sanders...............83%

Prediction
Clinton...............45.1%
Sanders...............51.5%

TENNESSEE

Chance of winning
Clinton...............99%
Sanders...............1%

Prediction
Clinton...............64.9%
Sanders...............31.8%

TEXAS

Chance of winning
Clinton...............99%
Sanders...............1%

Prediction
Clinton...............65.2%
Sanders...............31.9%

VERMONT

Chance of winning
Clinton...............1%
Sanders...............99%

Prediction
Clinton...............10.8%
Sanders...............86.9%

VIRGINIA

Chance of winning
Clinton...............99%
Sanders...............1%

Prediction
Clinton...............62.5%
Sanders...............34.5%

Bernie Has A Big Problem (And It Won't Be Going Away)

Senator Bernie Sanders (?-Vermont) is a smart and capable politician, and while I'm not supporting him, I do think he would make an excellent president for this country. But that is not going to happen. It won't happen because he has identified himself as a socialist for many years. That may be OK in Vermont, but it's not OK for most people in the other 49 states, and it's not OK to a majority of the general public.

While the United States is not completely a socialist country, the truth is that we have instituted many socialist programs -- public schools, labor unions, Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, Food Stamps, and many other things. But the public doesn't see it that way. They have been convinced by decades of propaganda that socialism is a dirty word (and many even think it is the same thing as communism). It's not reality, but sadly, many times a perception is more important than a reality -- and that seems to be the case here.

The pie chart above represents the results revealed in a new Rasmussen Poll -- done on May 3rd and 4th of a random national sample of 1,000 likely voters, with a 3 point margin of error. It shows that a majority of Americans (53%) would view a candidate being labeled as a socialist in a negative way, while only 13% would view it positively. And Bernie is not about to reject that label (which he's proudly worn for many years) or apologize for it.

I know many of my cohorts on the left probably think this is something a good campaign could overcome, but I don't. As much as I love Bernie Sanders (and I think he's one of the best politicians we have in this country), I just don't believe the country is ready to support an avowed socialist -- and this poll backs me up.

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Meanwhile, the candidacy of Hillary Clinton is still doing very well. The Quinnipiac University Poll questioned 692 likely Democratic caucus participants in Iowa. That survey has a margin of error of 3.7 points, and the results are in the chart below.

Thank You, Vermont

I want to give a big thank you to the citizens of Vermont for sending Bernie Sanders to the United States Senate and keeping him there. They have done a great service to the people of this country by doing that, because Bernie is the best senator we have in Washington. Why do I think that? Well, the quotes below should give you a pretty good idea.

Bernie Says We Can Learn From Denmark

This month, Danish Ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen spent a weekend in Vermont, talking and traveling around that state with Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont). After that visit, Senator Sanders wrote the following article for The Huffington Post. It is well worth reading:

Danish Ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen spent a weekend in Vermont this month traveling with me to town meetings in Burlington, Brattleboro and Montpelier. Large crowds came out to learn about a social system very different from our own which provides extraordinary security and opportunity for the people of Denmark.

Today in the United States there is a massive amount of economic anxiety. Unemployment is much too high, wages and income are too low, millions of Americans are struggling to find affordable health care and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider.

While young working families search desperately for affordable child care, older Americans worry about how they can retire with dignity. Many of our people are physically exhausted as they work the longest hours of any industrialized country and have far less paid vacation time than other major countries.

Denmark is a small, homogenous nation of about 5.5 million people. The United States is a melting pot of more than 315 million people. No question about it, Denmark and the United States are very different countries. Nonetheless, are there lessons that we can learn from Denmark?

In Denmark, social policy in areas like health care, child care, education and protecting the unemployed are part of a “solidarity system” that makes sure that almost no one falls into economic despair. Danes pay very high taxes, but in return enjoy a quality of life that many Americans would find hard to believe. As the ambassador mentioned, while it is difficult to become very rich in Denmark no one is allowed to be poor. The minimum wage in Denmark is about twice that of the United States and people who are totally out of the labor market or unable to care for themselves have a basic income guarantee of about $100 per day.

Health care in Denmark is universal, free of charge and high quality. Everybody is covered as a right of citizenship. The Danish health care system is popular, with patient satisfaction much higher than in our country. In Denmark, every citizen can choose a doctor in their area. Prescription drugs are inexpensive and free for those under 18 years of age. Interestingly, despite their universal coverage, the Danish health care system is far more cost-effective than ours. They spend about 11 percent of their GDP on health care. We spend almost 18 percent.

When it comes to raising families, Danes understand that the first few years of a person’s life are the most important in terms of intellectual and emotional development. In order to give strong support to expecting parents, mothers get four weeks of paid leave before giving birth. They get another 14 weeks afterward. Expecting fathers get two paid weeks off, and both parents have the right to 32 more weeks of leave during the first nine years of a child’s life. The state covers three-quarters of the cost of child care, more for lower-income workers.

At a time when college education in the United States is increasingly unaffordable and the average college graduate leaves school more than $25,000 in debt, virtually all higher education in Denmark is free. That includes not just college but graduate schools as well, including medical school.

In a volatile global economy, the Danish government recognizes that it must invest heavily in training programs so workers can learn new skills to meet changing workforce demands. It also understands that when people lose their jobs they must have adequate income while they search for new jobs. If a worker loses his or her job in Denmark, unemployment insurance covers up to 90 percent of earnings for as long as two years. Here benefits can be cut off after as few as 26 weeks.

In Denmark, adequate leisure and family time are considered an important part of having a good life. Every worker in Denmark is entitled to five weeks of paid vacation plus 11 paid holidays. The United States is the only major country that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation time. The result is that fewer than half of lower-paid hourly wage workers in our country receive any paid vacation days.

Recently the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) found that the Danish people rank among the happiest in the world among some 40 countries that were studied. America did not crack the top 10.

As Ambassador Taksoe-Jensen explained, the Danish social model did not develop overnight. It has evolved over many decades and, in general, has the political support of all parties across the political spectrum. One of the reasons for that may be that the Danes are, politically and economically, a very engaged and informed people. In their last election, which lasted all of three weeks and had no TV ads, 89 percent of Danes voted.

In Denmark, more than 75 percent of the people are members of trade unions. In America today, as a result of the political and economic power of corporate America and the billionaire class, we are seeing a sustained and brutal attack against the economic well-being of the American worker. As the middle class disappears, benefits and guarantees that workers have secured over the last century are now on the chopping block. Republicans, and too many Democrats, are supporting cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, nutrition, education, and other basic needs — at the same time as the very rich become much richer. Workers’ rights, the ability to organize unions, and the very existence of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are now under massive assault.

In the U.S. Senate today, my right-wing colleagues talk a lot about “freedom” and limiting the size of government. Here’s what they really mean.

They want ordinary Americans to have the freedom NOT to have health care in a country where 45,000 of our people die each year because they don’t get to a doctor when they should. They want young people in our country to have the freedom NOT to go to college, and join the 400,000 young Americans unable to afford a higher education and the millions struggling with huge college debts. They want children and seniors in our country to have the freedom NOT to have enough food to eat, and join the many millions who are already hungry. And on and on it goes!

In Denmark, there is a very different understanding of what “freedom” means. In that country, they have gone a long way to ending the enormous anxieties that comes with economic insecurity. Instead of promoting a system which allows a few to have enormous wealth, they have developed a system which guarantees a strong minimal standard of living to all — including the children, the elderly and the disabled.

The United States, in size, culture, and the diversity of our population, is a very different country from Denmark. Can we, however, learn some important lessons from them? You bet we can.

Bernie Is Still The Senate's Voice Of Reason

There were a lot of good things that came out of this election -- but one of the best was the re-election of Vermont's excellent Independent senator, Bernie Sanders. He has always been a strong voice in government for the middle and working classes, and for the poor and disadvantaged. Bernie doesn't shill for the rich and powerful, but speaks up in defense of ordinary Americans. Here is his first missive since the election:

November 12, 2012

The Democrats won a major victory on Election Day. 

Despite dozens of billionaires spending huge amounts of money to defeat President Obama, he won a crushing victory in the Electoral College and received 3 million more votes than Romney did nationally.  Democrats won 25 of 33 seats contested in the Senate and, to everyone’s surprise, expanded their majority there by two. They also gained seats in the House. 

Now, with this victory behind them, the president and Democratic leadership must make it very clear that they will stand with the middle class and working families of our country. These are the people struggling to keep their heads above water economically, the people who worry about whether they can afford health care and whether their kids will be able to attend college. These are the people government should be worried about – not the millionaires and billionaires who are doing just fine.

Most importantly, in the coming weeks and months, the Democrats must demand that deficit reduction is done in a way that is fair – and not on the backs of the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor. At a time when real unemployment remains close to 15 percent, we must also focus on creating the millions of jobs that our people need.

In America today we have the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on earth. Incredibly, the top 1 percent owns 42 percent of the nation's wealth while the bottom 60 percent owns just 2.3 percent. In the last study done on income distribution, we learned that 93 percent of all new income generated between 2009 and 2010 went to the top 1 percent, while the bottom 99 percent split the remaining 7 percent. This extraordinary unfairness is not only morally reprehensible, it is bad economics. It will be very difficult to create the jobs that our people need when so many Americans have little or no money to spend.

As Vermont's senator, I will be pushing for a major jobs program to put millions of people back to work rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure. In Vermont and around the country we need a massive effort to improve our roads, bridges, water and wastewater systems, airports, rail, broadband and cell phone service. Rebuilding our infrastructure makes us more productive and internationally competitive — and creates a whole lot of jobs.

In terms of deficit reduction let us not forget that in 2001, when Bill Clinton left office, this country had a $236 billion surplus. As a result of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that were unpaid for, huge tax breaks for the rich, a Medicare prescription drug program put on the credit card and a significant decline in federal revenues because of the recession, we now have a $1 trillion deficit and a $16 trillion national debt.

Congress must address the deficit situation and the fiscal cliff, but we must do it in a way that is fair. At a time when the wealthiest people in this country are doing extremely well and their effective tax rates are low (think Mitt Romney), the people on top must pay their fair share of taxes to help us deal with the deficit. We must also end the outrageous loopholes that allow one out of four large profitable corporations to pay nothing in federal corporate income taxes. Further, it is absurd that current tax policy allows the wealthy and large corporations to avoid paying over $100 billion a year in federal taxes because they stash their money in tax havens in the Cayman Islands and elsewhere.

We must also take a hard look at wasteful spending in the Defense Department where we now spend almost as much money as the rest of the world combined. Significant savings can be found at other federal agencies too.

What we must not do, however, is move toward a balanced budget on the backs of the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor. Sadly, that is what virtually all Republicans and some Democrats want to do.  As Vermont's senator, I will do all that I can to prevent cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education and other programs vitally important to the working families of America.

In my view, if the Republicans continue to play an obstructionist role, the president should get out of the Oval Office and hit the road.  I frankly do not believe that there is any state in the country, including those that are very red, where people believe that it makes sense to continue giving huge tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires while cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. I have a strong feeling that when large numbers of constituents all across this country start calling and emailing their senators and members of Congress about this issue, we’re going to win and win big.

The good news is that we are already beginning to see some Republicans make thoughtful comments on this issue. Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator and Weekly Standard editor, said Sunday that the Republican Party should accept new ideas, including the much-criticized suggestion by Democrats that taxes be allowed to go up on the wealthy.

"It won't kill the country if we raise taxes a little bit on millionaires," he said on Fox News Sunday. "It really won't, I don't think. I don't really understand why Republicans don't take Obama's offer."

I Agree With Bernie About Health Care

I am happy that the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare, but much more is needed before we can rest on the health care issue. Here is what Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) had to say about it (and I can only agree with every word):

 "Today is a good day for millions of Americans who have pre-existing conditions who can no longer be rejected by insurance companies.  It is a good day for families with children under 26 who can keep their children on their health insurance policies.  It is a good day for women who can no longer be charged far higher premiums than men. 

"It is a good day for 30 million uninsured Americans who will have access to healthcare.  It is a good day for seniors who will continue to see their prescription drug costs go down as the so-called doughnut hole goes away. It is a good day for small businesses who simply cannot continue to afford the escalating costs of providing insurance for their employees. It is a good day for 20 million Americans who will soon be able to find access to community health centers.

"It is an especially good day for the state of Vermont, which stands to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in additional federal funds to help our state achieve universal health care.

"In my view, while the Affordable Care Act is an important step in the right direction and I am glad that the Supreme Court upheld it, we ultimately need to do better.  If we are serious about providing high-quality, affordable healthcare as a right, not a privilege, the real solution to America's health care crisis is a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system. Until then, we will remain the only major nation that does not provide health care for every man, woman and child as a right of citizenship.

"I am proud that Vermont is making steady progress toward implementing a single-payer system. I hope our state will be a model to show the rest of the nation how to provide better care at less cost to more people."

Super Tuesday Is A Mixed Bag

The results from Super Tuesday show that a lot of Republican voters still have doubts about Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie). Here are the numbers:

VIRGINIA (99% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............156,765  (59.44%)
Ron Paul...............106,992  (40.56%)
TOTAL VOTES...............263,757

GEORGIA (97% reporting)
Newt Gingrich...............414,896  (47.46%)
Mitt Romney...............224,361  (25.66%)
Rick Santorum...............171,346  (19.60%)
Ron Paul...............56,823  (6.50%)
Others...............6,839  (0.78%)
TOTAL VOTES...............874,265

MASSACHUSETTS (98% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............260,509  (72.09%)
Rick Santorum...............43,614  (12.07%)
Ron Paul...............34,575  (9.57%)
Newt Gingrich...............16,756  (4.64%)
Others...............5,927  (1.64%)
TOTAL VOTES...............361,381

OKLAHOMA (99% reporting)
Rick Santorum...............95,478  (33.77%)
Mitt Romney...............79,327  (28.06%)
Newt Gingrich...............77,770  (27.51%)
Ron Paul...............27,199  (9.62%)
Others...............2,944  (1.04%)
TOTAL VOTES...............282,718

NORTH DAKOTA (100% reporting)
Rick Santorum...............4,339  (39.99%)
Ron Paul...............2,938  (27.08%)
Mitt Romney...............2,639  (24.32%)
Newt Gingrich...............933  (8.60%)
TOTAL VOTES...............10,849

TENNESSEE (99% reporting)
Rick Santorum...............202,198  (37.30%)
Mitt Romney...............150,511  (27.77%)
Newt Gingrich...............130,689  (24.11%)
Ron Paul...............49,299  (9.10%)
Others...............9,325  (1.72%)
TOTAL VOTES...............542,022

OHIO (99% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............453,430  (37.99%)
Rick Santorum...............441,501  (36.99%)
Newt Gingrich...............174,456  (14.61%)
Ron Paul...............110,516  (9.26%)
Others...............13,780  (1.15%)
TOTAL VOTES...............1,193,683

VERMONT (93% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............22,632  (39.78%)
Ron Paul...............14,488  (25.46%)
Rick Santorum...............13,466  (23.67%)
Newt Gingrich...............4,636  (8.15%)
Others...............1,676  (2.95%)
TOTAL VOTES...............56,898

IDAHO (91% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............27,301  (63.74%)
Ron Paul...............7,675  (17.92%)
Rick Santorum...............6,920  (16.16%)
Newt Gingrich...............916  (2.14%)
Others...............17  (0.03%)
TOTAL VOTES...............42,829

ALASKA (95% reporting)
Mitt Romney...............4,167  (32.73%)
Rick Santorum...............3,704  (29.09%)
Ron Paul...............3,033  (23.82%)
Newt Gingrich...............1,798  (14.12%)
Others...............31  (0.24%)
TOTAL VOTES...............12,733

COMBINED SUPER TUESDAY VOTES
Mitt Romney...............1,381,642  (37.95%)
Rick Santorum...............982,566  (26.99%)
Newt Gingrich...............822,850  (22.60%)
Ron Paul...............413,538  (11.36%)
Others...............40,539  (1.11%)
TOTAL VOTES...............3,641,135

Mitt Romney came out of Super Tuesday winning more states and more delegates than the other candidates, but once again his weakness is apparent. He wasn't even able to get 40% of the Super Tuesday votes, which means over 60% of the people who voted yesterday preferred someone else -- even if that someone else is Santorum, Gingrich, or Paul. Romney still hasn't won over the teabaggers and evangelicals.

Vermont Leads The Nation

I am so jealous of the people of Vermont. First they send two of the best senators to the United States Senate -- Bernie Sanders and Patrick Leahy. Now they have instituted the nations first single-payer health insurance program -- a program that will give all the people of the state good health insurance coverage.

Yesterday Governor Peter Shumlin signed the bill creating the health insurance system saying that health care is "a right and not a privilege". What a novel concept -- equality under the law with everyone having the same right to health care! Now they have four years to set up the program and get it running (assuming they can get a federal waiver by then).

All I want to know is how can the people of Vermont be so imminently sensible while the rest of the country is still so screwed up.

Vermont To Approve "Single-Payer"

The good people of the state of Vermont may well be the most imminently sensible people of any state in the union. They have sent two of the best senators to Washington -- Patrick Leahy (D) and Bernie Sanders (I). Now it looks like they have also elected one of the best state legislatures and governors also.

While most state governments are whining about having to cover more people with health insurance, even though they don't have to cover everyone and the federal government picks up most of the tab, Vermont has decided that instead of complaining they are going to do the right thing. They are going to cover everyone in the state with good single-payer health insurance.

When elected, Governor Peter Shumlin challenged the legislature to do what was best for the people of Vermont. He said, "Become the first state in the country to make the first substantive step to deliver a health care system where health care will be a right and not a privilege." And the legislature is now acting on that challenge.

A few days ago the Vermont House of Representatives approved a bill that would take four years to put all the states citizens into a government-run single-payer health insurance system. And the vote wasn't even close. The bill was approved 92 to 49. Now the bill goes to the state senate, where it is expected to pass. The program, called Green Mountain Care system, will be similar to the federal Medicare system (which cover all Americans over the age of 65) except it will apply to all Vermonters regardless of age or income.

Think Progress reports that at least 200 doctors from 39 states have signed an open letter saying they will consider moving their practice to Vermont if the bill becomes law. As Dr. Scott Graham, a Kentucky family physician, said, "The idea of having one set of rules, one form for billing, and knowing that all patients are covered -- that would be wonderful."

This is something that's going to have to happen in this country someday. The only question is when. The private insurance companies are raising rates and cutting coverage every year, and will soon price themselves out of reach of most Americans and most businesses. And they are making medical decisions that should be made by doctors (by telling medical professionals what they will and won't pay for).

Vermont is to be congratulated for leading the way. Now how long will it take the rest of America to catch up? Sadly, I suspect it will be quite a while. And some states (like my own) will probably have to be dragged along into it while kicking and screaming. Unfortunately, far too many Americans hate any kind of change -- even when that change would benefit all Americans. But we'll get there -- someday.