Progressive Maryland health care organizer Beth Landry brought to a rally on Capitol Hill the devastating effect of GOP health care plans on the state's patients and their caregivers -- all for a huge tax cut giveaway to the rich. In her speech June 28 she sums up "This bill is literally a death sentence."

On Monday, July 3, the Howard County council in legislative session is expected to override County Executive Allan Kittleman's veto of the Citizens' Election Fund legislation, Council Bill 30 (CB30). This action will reinforce what the people of Howard County voted for in November 2016 when they passed Question A.  Question A mandated the formation of the Citizens' Election Fund and the enabling law was passed by a 4-1 vote in council on June 5 of this year.

Progressive HoCo activist Dave Bazell outlines the possible futures of this good law.

“This is it," says analyst Bob Borosage of People's Action. "The Senate has to decide on health care. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a Thursday vote on the Senate plan that will deprive millions of Americans of health care coverage, and raise premiums to tens of millions more." More from Borosage below, but his main message is the need for immediate action.

Recent instances of nooses left provocatively in our region are deeply disturbing reminders of an angry and divided world, Hal Ginsberg writes. In order to create a better America, one activist of color tells him, it is crucial for African-Americans to resist the temptation to view most whites as either complicit in the overt racism of a few or, at best, indifferent to it. But all must actively resist any normalization of words and images that dehumanize African-Americans. And we must also condemn the actions of white racists while siding unequivocally with the individuals and communities they attack.

Atop the usual problems of school systems Prince George's has management issues and potential scandals (inflated graduation rates) that push parents, students and workers to the brink and demand change. Rally tomorrow night (Thursday, June 22) to begin a process of revitalization for the civil rights issue of today.

Progressive Maryland's launch of our Maryland for Guaranteed Healthcare initiative comes as we are calling for Maryland progressives to join in a rally and lobby action Wednesday, June 21.  to protest the Senate's catastrophic attempt to make the hated House health care bill more palatable. Our health care campaign is consistent with our other progressive values and projects: social justice, anti-oppression, economic justice, and inherent human dignity. Let's get to it.

A big week for defending the health care system against the Senate's demolition derby in search of funds to cut rich people's taxes. Plus actions in our widening array of local chapters, building out into statewide action. Read on...

The UK parliamentary system and its elections seem bizarre to us sometimes. But the comeback of Labour fueled by voters' totally having had it with austerity and with the rule of the banker-backed privileged class rings true to us. As PM blogger Dylan Shelton shows, it echoes the Sanders campaign and lets us know that working peoples' demands cannot be safely ignored by even the most secure-feeling politicians.

The core of HoCo County Executive Kittleman's argument for a veto is that public financing of elections allows your tax dollars to be used in support of candidates you don't personally support.  This is a weak, erroneous, and misleading argument in a number of ways, as Progressive HoCo activist Dave Bazell makes clear. For one thing, it was passed by voters. How much more evidence of a "collective priority" does he need?

Progressive Maryland staffers and activists have returned pretty stoked from the People’s Summit in Chicago this past weekend, where progressives from around the country strategized for victory in the age of Trump. A comprehensive blueprint for progressive change will emerge organically from that event as folks go home and apply those lessons to local issues and conditions.

How will we shape that agenda for Maryland? Our own “blueprint” for change is going to be laid out at a Montgomery County social-political event this Saturday, and there’s still a place there for you and your fellow activists. It will be detailed and focus on the issues we care about and the political figures who are, or are not, on our side. See the event listing below.