"My experience at the History Makers gala affirmed for me more than ever that our Movement is connected," says Progressive Maryland Chief Operations Officer Alexiss Kurtz. "The sister campaigns and organizations doing this work are connected. I have mentors who have paved the way for me in this work.... I realized, standing in a sea of black excellence, that we are all connected in this work. National victories are my victories too."

Nearly 20 million individuals living in the U.S. have gained health insurance since 2010 through the Affordable Care Act, between the opening of insurance exchanges and the expansion of Medicaid. Its success is limited though, a Baltimore health-care professional and activist points out, and those limits make it clear that Medicare for All, as outlined by the Jealous campaign, is badly needed.
 

The statewide canvass launch is Sept. 22. We will be turning out – for instance -- those 300,000-plus Prince George’s voters who turned out in 2012 for the presidential election but not in 2014. Larry Hogan won by fewer than 70,000 votes. Do the math, and join us.

Speaking of Larry Hogan -- he got a rare “Alternative Facts” award from the Baltimore Sun last week; one he probably did not welcome. Check it out … and share it.

Please join Maryland progressives on 15 September 2018 to spread the word about drug decriminalization and its relationship to the human rights violation of mass incarceration. At Discussing Drug Decriminalization: Cannabis to Opioids, discussion of drug decriminalization will extend into other issues related to criminal justice reform. The forum is at Montgomery College/Germantown. Among the speakers, hear Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous. Mass incarceration has motivated the need for criminal justice reform and those who have become a victim of our injustice system and want to be an advocate for human rights need to be heard. https://discussingdrugdecrim.eventbrite.com

In 2016, I waded into the deep end to go into communities to advocate for candidates I believed to be the best representation of my values. I knocked on doors in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Nevada, and DC. I called voters in Iowa, New York, Indiana, Maryland, California, DC, Florida, Nevada, Ohio, North Carolina, and more.

No other experience was as pivotal or life changing for me as was going to people's homes to knock on their door and talk about the issues and the candidates I believed in.

The statewide canvass launch is Sept. 22. We will be turning out – for instance -- those 300,000-plus Prince George’s voters who turned out in 2012 for the presidential election but not in 2014. Larry Hogan won by fewer than 70,000 votes. Do the math, and join us.

Good Morning, Frederick: Ready to pay $82 for a fast round trip to work in the Metro area? Larry Hogan's plan to privatize new toll lanes on I-270 figures to cost that, even just based on Virginia's experience today. Better rail is a better idea, transit expert/advocate Ben Ross points out, than Lexus Lanes -- which could cost you $159 for every hour you save in the morning rush.

Time to hit the home stretch. According to campaign legend, Labor Day Weekend is when most everyday voters look up from the grill and notice that there's an election in November. Somehow that seems unlikely in this election cycle. The intensity of feeling that has built up over the last two years has raised folks' appreciation for the importance of this midterm election.

There will be lots of expensive media, bankrolled by the 1 percent, trying to persuade everyone that everything is really not bad, that Larry Hogan has done a good job for a Republican (!) and that things are rolling along OK.

It shouldn't be hard to debunk that nonsense -- but it won't happen without work, without the clarity of alternatives to business as usual. That's why we do what we do. Join us.

Regaining democracy's people power -- after the Right's 40-year game plan has brought us today's Trumpster fire -- takes work, but we know how to do it. James Mumm of People's Action walks us through the plan to "move from grievance to governance, and from protest to power." It's a plan that works in large part because it doesn't depend on the 1%'s money but the 99%'s mobilization, starting at the local and state level in the pattern followed by Progressive Maryland and the other state affiliates of People's Action.

Drug decriminalization in Maryland and across the US has great promise for easing both the huge public cost of mass incarceration and the social and individual impacts that drugs and their consequences have. Veronica Wright outlines her introduction to the issue and how decriminalization -- with other social provision -- has worked well abroad and in other states, and can work in Maryland. She has initiated a forum on the topic Sept. 15 at Montgomery College/Germantown.