Medicaid

Last week, Georgia leaders announced an unprecedented plan to seek federal waivers that could extend health care access to hundreds of thousands of people across the state. Senate Bill 106, the Patients First Act, aims to make Georgia the first-ever state to receive a 90 percent match in federal funding for a partial Medicaid expansion.[1] Although the legislation is quickly advancing in the Senate, the state has yet to release any estimates of how many Georgians could gain coverage or how much the plan will cost taxpayers. This analysis evaluates how the Medicaid waivers authorized by Senate Bill 106 could impact access to health care and the state budget.

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Right Wing, Left Wing, Chicken Wing

Sometime around 1940, when Woody Guthrie wrote This Land is Your Land, his critics called him a “socialist” and a “communist” because his songs argued for a government that went to bat for the working man.

A government that kept the rich and powerful from gobbling up those in America who do the work of America.

“Left wing, right wing, chicken wing – it’s all the same to me,” Woody said.

Of all the shameful and degrading language from our federal executive branch during the recent shutdown, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, said to be worth $700 million, contributed this: He said he didn’t “understand” why federal workers, who are doing their jobs without pay, don’t “take out loans” until the shutdown is over.

Greed and bigotry help build America. It gave us centuries of African enslavement, efforts of genocide directed toward native cultures, child labor, and more recently big tax cuts for Ross and others like him.

I suspect Ross, the current occupant of the White House, and some commentators at Fox would gladly share some chicken wings with poor and working-class Americans – once they’ve eaten all the meat from the bones. 

About the time Woody said what he said about chicken wings, Franklin Roosevelt was in his second term in the White House. Among the laws he signed to help those Woody sang about were Social Security, minimum wage, and the recognition of labor unions.

FDR said he “welcomed their hatred” in reference to those who called him a socialist and communists for trying to help families who did the work of America. I can see FDR now looking up from his wheelchair and staring down the arrogant Ross and others like him. He’d probably like to punch him in the nose.

If you want to do something to help families, FDR once said, you’ll have to fight harder than those working to hurt them.

There may well be a reckoning in this country in a couple of years if the Democrats keep the House and take back the Senate and the White House. We will want to wash away the stain of what has happened to us during the last couple of years. Rebirth and renewal.   

Left wing, right wing, chicken wing.

Author: Bill Lightle

A Letter from Chair Fludd

Nothing in life is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself, something that encompasses you but is not defined by your existence alone.” – the late Senator John McCain

Thank you for your vote of confidence in electing me to be your next Fayette Democratic Committee chair. How could I not accept the privilege of serving you? It is for the many Fayette democrats that have campaigned in this county before us, and for the ones who DARED to believe in a cause larger than themselves. I see us as needing to be here representing a strong collective force of Fayette democrats for all future candidates that will need us when they come through our doors.

As an active member of the organization for the past 15 years, starting out as a School Board candidate in 1998, it would be my pleasure to continue the phenomenal progress and growth that the current administration has generated thus far in Fayette County:

  • Continue to strengthen our internal organizational structure and operations
  • To expand our reach into diverse communities for broader inclusion
  • Continue to increase our exposure and excitement within our community
  • Continue to encourage involvement and cohesiveness within our organization
  • Continue to seek out, develop and assist in funding campaigns of future political leaders

“I never lose. I either win or I learn.” – Nelson Mandela

We as Fayette Democrats never lose …… together we keep trying and we win or we learn to win! I hope that I can carry you on this two-year journey with us.

Thank you,

Carolyn Fludd