Linkagogo Archive 1: Politics

Stephen Hill Linkography: Elections

Moderate Muslims Are the World's Swing Voters
Posted: 3 February 2009 - Huffington Post. Moderate Muslims should be seen as the world's swing voters. The Obama administration should think carefully about the lessons of the past eight years, indeed the past 80 years. There are hundreds of millions of moderate Muslims in the world, and they are waiting for an American partner that is cognizant of its role in a long, difficult history of colonialism and imperialist interventions. They, too, are looking for a "new deal." A president with the name of Barack Hussein Obama presents an opportunity, but the opening may not last long.

In Canada, Regular Folks Are Put to Work on Reforms
San Jose Mercury News, by Steven Hill, 17 November 2004. One of the solutions may lie across the border in Canada. It's called a Citizens' Assembly, and it was on display last year in the province of British Columbia. The government there turned over to the people the task of basic political reform, and by doing so took the partisanship out of the process, something California badly needs.

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Judicial Reform

Building a Balanced Supreme Court: Changing the Rules to Prevent Partisan Domination on the Bench
Article: 17 May 2010 - New York Daily News. Oftentimes, American-style partisanship results in Republicans and Democrats fighting like two mindless gamecocks in the ring. Well, take your seats, because nothing brings out this combative behavior more than a Supreme Court nomination.

Steven Hill on Federal Judges, Lifetime Appointment and a Better Supreme Court

Blog: posted Progressive Advocacy - 25 August 2005. Hill has a well-researched op-ed on lifetime appointment of federal judges. He calls for term limits, mandatory retirement ages, higher confirmation thresholds to require bipartisan appointments and multiple appointment institutions to create a more representative and somewhat counter-intuitively, less partisan judiciary.

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Health Care Reform

Can Obama Bypass Republicans on Health?

Article: 22 February 2010 at NYTimes.com. By using reconciliation, President Obama will return the Senate to the original vision of the founders. And he will pass health care legislation that will allow millions of fellow Americans to enjoy a level of health care security that the president and the senators themselves already enjoy.

Healthcare Tests the Senate’s Credibility
Article: 30 November 2009 - Financial Times.
America’s healthcare debate has been like a tennis match, bouncing from the Senate to the House of Representatives and back again. Now it is back in the Senate, as the US tries to end its status as the only advanced economy without universal healthcare for its people.

There's No Place Like Europe: Steven Hill on Medical House Calls, Multiparty Politics, and Other American Fantasies
Interview: Monday 18 October 2010 - by Alissa Bohling for Truthout.
During this lengthy interview Hill touched on the kind of support Europeans have that Americans don't have. He gave this example: "An American friend of mine living in Toulouse France got a hornet sting when I was visiting her. She calls up her doctor and, 20 minutes later, there's the French doctor with his little black bag. What does that feel like to a person, to know that you have that kind of access to the support that you need?"

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Health Care Solutions

What Obama Can Learn from European Health Care (Part I)
Article: 3 March 2009 - The Globalist. Health care related inefficiencies are continuing to hurt American workers and businesses -- and increasingly will hurt U.S. competitiveness in the global economy. President Barack Obama, to his credit, is doing what he can in difficult times to extend health care coverage to some of the 47 million Americans currently lacking it. Recently he signed legislation to expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), which will provide subsidized health care to up to four million mostly low-income children.

What Obama Can Learn from European Health Care (Part II) Article: 4 March 2009 - The Globalist. More pointers on what the U.S. healthcare system could take from Europe.

Climate Change, Health, Economy: Three European Tips For Obama
Article: 19 January 2009 - cafebabel.com: The European Magazine. In France and Germany service fees are negotiated between representatives of the healthcare professions, the government, patient consumer representatives and the private non-profit insurance companies. Like in the American system for Medicare, together they establish a national agreement for treatment procedures, fee structures and rate ceilings. These prevent the soaring health care costs that have plagued American businesses.

Don't Want Swine Flu with Lunch? Then Offer Paid Sick Leave
Posted: 26 June 2009 - Huffington Post. Who could be opposed to policy as sensible as making it possible for workers to stay home when they are sick? Business owners, that's who. Owners of small companies argue that forcing them to offer paid sick days would be a costly mandate, especially at a time when businesses already are coping with a struggling economy. Candidate Barack Obama voiced strong support for legislation giving all American workers paid sick leave. But President Obama has made a habit of backtracking on things he said on the campaign trail.

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Stephen Hill Linkography: Facing Up

What Obama Can Learn From Old Europe
Posted: 28 January 2009 - Huffington Post. In spite of the economic crisis, the European governments will strive to make energy and climate change a win-win situation. They intend to implement far-reaching conservation measures and enact the world's most ambitious carbon-trading program. Thus, more green jobs will be created and investment in the low-carbon economy of the future can be promoted.

10 Steps to Better Elections
Article: 1 May 2005 - Sierra Magazine. Also on the CCMC website. Hill argues that - when elections are unfair, the environment loses. While polls show that large majorities of the American public favor strong environmental protections, those aspirations are routinely frustrated by a flawed voting system. And as long as the winner-take-all system remains intact, the Green Party is doomed to retain the role of spoiler instead of electoral leader for environmental issues.

Obama the Impotent
Posted: 25 September 2009 - Huffington Post. Also posted as follows: The Guardian website 22 September 2009. And at: Pumas Unleashed 23 September 2009, under the title - World view of Obama: Impotent Leader. The Obama administration’s accomplishments on climate change have been a disappointment. Europe has announced donations of $2bn to $15bn a year to help developing nations cope with climate warming, yet Obama has not offered anything close to that amount. Europe also wants binding targets for developed nations, proposing a 20% reduction from 1990 levels. Obama has said such targets should be voluntary but verifiable.

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