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Comment by fallingfrog | Hacker News Reader

The situation has gotten so bad, and the political machine is totally oblivious, because they are only listening to the people who fund their campaigns; in other words, moneyed elites. The rest of us are deeply in debt, isolated, taking medication to cope. The vast majority of the country supports healthcare for all but it’s still considered politically impossible. I worry that we’re living in France circa 1785. When the dam bursts it’s going to be ugly.

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I know a lot of local politicians. I've met a few state level politicians. I know people who work professionally in politics as part of the machine. I'm consistently told one thing politicians are most afraid of is phone calls. When people care enough to take time out of their day and cold-call a stranger, then a politician knows it's a big deal. Emails, form submits, fax--who cares. But a real constituent calling a staffer is a big deal. Enough call, then the politician gets cover from their funders to act in the peoples' interests.

I suspect this varies by nation. I met my then-local MP in Portcullis House, which required not just a phonecall but a pre-arranged appointment that she was forced to cancel at the last minute because of urgent business in the House of Commons. I had to rebook for the following day.

I said my piece, but she not only didn’t change her vote (I wasn’t expecting her to, it was her first term and I’m a political noob), but she didn’t even raise a single one of the issues I had when the relevant law was debated.

On the plus side, she did give me the contact email address of someone in charge of a committee about that law. On the down side, he never replied.

A weird metric. Did anyone call today? No? I guess everything is fine then.

They voted for TRUMP?? Why the h-ll didn't they call first?

Sad, because it means they aren't actually representatives. At least not of those who dont make phone calls.

> The vast majority of the country supports healthcare for all but it’s still considered politically impossible.

The party representing the minority opposed to healthcare for all has

1. a structural advantage granting them a government majority more often than the popular vote would suggest;

2. a wide array of obstructive tools at their disposal, including simply refusing to schedule a Senate vote.

The other party literally has universal health care in their platform, and secured a partial expansion less than a decade ago.

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