Building power with Medicare for All (hellooo, Steny!) and strengthening our schools in the Kirwan framework of community schools. Read all about it, and more, in the Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo.

Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday July 29 2019

Building power happens everywhere and all the time. Sometimes it has the weight of a crisis, and people respond fiercely – as in Puerto Rico or Hong Kong.

We are lucky that we have space here in Maryland to build power with different forms of risk – but we have to press our case as firmly as possible because the business-as-usual establishment won’t respond to politics as usual.

STATEWIDE ACTION

For instance, as our executive director Larry Stafford Jr. says here,
“You love going to see your doctor, dentist, and optometrist on a regular basis because you deeply value your life and your health.  All your family members are able to take care of their health care needs consistently, and are never stressed over any out-of-pocket fees. 

“This is our vision and we invite you to be a part of the movement to make it a reality for all of us, and not just for the wealthy few.  Join us TOMORROW for an interactive webinar especially for Progressive Maryland members and allies about the fight for Medicare For All!  Learn about how YOU can be an important part of the exciting momentum building RIGHT HERE IN OUR STATE to advance our human right to healthcare. 

Tomorrow! Tuesday July 30th Progressive Maryland Medicare 4 All Interactive Webinar: 6-7 PM. RSVP HERE for more details on how to log in from your computer, laptop, tablet, or Smartphone! 

We look forward to seeing and hearing from you this Tuesday! 

Onward,

Larry Stafford, Jr.

Executive Director of Progressive Maryland 

July 30 is Medicare’s 54^th birthday. It’s time for Medicare for All, a single-payer program that guarantees quality healthcare to all people as a right, not a privilege. Join other progressive activist and call to request a hearing on HR 1384

Call the House Committee on Oversight and Reform (chairman is Rep.
Elijah Cummings, Maryland 7^th Dist.) Committee: 202-225-5051

And House Committee on Energy and Commerce: 202 225-2927

Last week Rep. Cummings’s oversight committee held a hearing on the impact of exploitative drug prices on patients – a huge factor in the outrageous cost of US health care in the era of wild-west Wall Street unregulated health care. Read the excellent testimony of MoCo resident David Mitchell, who also directs a nonprofit advocacy group for lower drug prices, HERE.

PROGRESSIVE MARYLAND DAY IN, DAY OUT

Our ideals are broadly and concretely represented by the campaigns we wage. At Progressive Maryland (and with our progressive allies) we work for environmental justice [see today’s Talbot Rising event below], reform of the criminal justice/policing system  and cutting the school-to-prison pipeline, fair elections that loosen the grip of big money on our politics, and reform of the systems that keep our families trapped in poverty in the midst of wealth. We are formulating our part in campaigns for Medicare for All (see above) and for education reform in the path being laid out by the Kirwan Commission; Progressive Montgomery recently kicked off its participation in the Alliance to Reclaim our Schools (AROS), a statewide initiative with county-level focus. Progressive Prince George’s has been working in parallel with PGC Educators Association on the AROS agenda and the important Kirwan focus on community schools is on the calendar for this week:

What is a community school? How will it impact next school year? How is it different from our current schools? Come out to our next civic academy Thursday, August 1st at 5:00 pm with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Prince George's County and PGCEA and learn everything that you need to know about community schools. Light dinner provided.  RSVP HERE. Learn more about the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools at https://reclaimourschoolspg.org

Progressive activism around the Free State, both Progressive Maryland’s action and those of our allied organizations and individuals, are in the Weekly Memo early every week (usually Monday unless a holiday intervenes). It’s a clearinghouse for folks who are building power together; and you can be in that environment of collective action. You can get the Weekly Memo by email; just sign up here.

OUR CHAPTERS AROUND THE STATE

Progressive Prince George’s

Come out to our next civic academy Thursday, August 1st at 5:00 pm with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Prince George's County and PGCEA and learn everything that you need to know about community schools. Light dinner provided.  RSVP HERE

PMD Montgomery

Progressive Montgomery Upcoming Events

A list of power-building events with Progressive Maryland in Montgomery County. Find one that works for you and join us!

Frederick County Progressives

Take Action Anne Arundel County

Progressive Howard County

Talbot Rising

Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

PMD Baltimore

EVENTS FROM OUR PROGRESSIVE ALLIES

Thursday, Aug. 1 CIVIC ACADEMY on community schools in Prince George’s, 5:00 pm with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Prince George's County and PGCEA -- learn everything that you need to know about community schools. Light dinner provided.  RSVP HERE. Learn more about the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools at https://reclaimourschoolspg.org

Wednesday, August 14 Prison and Police Abolition – Socialist Night School comes to MoCo! 7:00 PM to 9:30 PM Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center 4805 Edgemoor Ln # 100 · Bethesda, MD -- Wisconsin room on the 2nd floor. Join Montgomery County DSA and MDC DSA's Socialist Night School for a discussion on the politics of police and prison abolition situated in the context of our community and the larger region.

 Through SUN Aug 11 Plans to Prosper You  9:00 AM – 5:00 PM, Hosted by Save Bethesda African Cemetery and 2 others: https://www.facebook.com/events/2053174084987910/ 
  The exhibit “Plans to Prosper You: Reflections of Black Resistance and Resilience in Montgomery County’s Potomac River Valley”. runs until August 11 at the Katzen Arts Center, American University. Macedonia Baptist Church and Moses Cemetery, which are featured in the exhibit, are threatened by development. Come one, come all: this is history revealed.

 Baltimore progressives, Check in on Max Obuszewski’s highly useful activist calendar and tip sheet at http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our blogs for the previous week are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at [email protected]

We recently published these blog posts:

July 26, 2019   Medicare for All Town Hall Aug. 17 challenges Rep. Hoyer to engage

Saturday, August 17 Medicare For All Town Hall -- An Open Invitation For Majority Leader Steny Hoyer To Discuss The Healthcare Of His Constituents Within District 5, As Well As That Of Every American!
2 PM – 4 PM Mt. Ennon Baptist Church 9832 Piscataway Rd., Clinton, MD

July 25, 2019 Rep. Cummings's committee takes on drug prices in hearing tomorrow

TOMORROW an important congressional hearing: The Patient Perspective: The Devastating Impacts of Skyrocketing Drug Prices on American Families Friday, July 26, 2019 - 9:30 AM 2154 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515 At 9 PM a news conference from the activist coalition includes Carrie McBane (see her story below).

Our Dist. 7 (MD) Congressman Elijah Cummings’s oversight committee takes on the cost of essential medicines that is crushing working families in the US.

July 23, 2019 Single member districts in MD will help end the incumbent protection system

Maryland's multi-member state legislative districts -- being discarded by other states -- serve to protect incumbents and keep the grip of neoliberal Democrats on the General Assembly, where big money and big business rule the roost and working families get the leavings. Our activist ally Rich Elliott outlines why single-member districts will bring more democracy to Maryland in this guest commentary from Maryland Matters.

July 22, 2019 Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Monday, July 22, 2019

We progressives have a more nuanced agenda today than the July 14 storming of the Bastille in Paris 1789 but the principles are the same: knocking down the barriers to the full lives all of us deserve. Join us in our issue campaigns, where we build power and hold our local officials accountable -- or replace them.

>>REMEMBER – these blog posts are frequently expressions of political opinion from our wide-ranging membership and circle of allies. They are not expressions of opinion by Progressive Maryland. Don’t be surprised if they sometimes vary in their political content. You might even disagree with them – a good reason to contribute a blog of your own. Send it to the moderator, Woody Woodruff, at [email protected].

>>Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace from June 2015 through December 2016 are all available with descriptions and links here. You can follow blogs for 2017-18 starting from here