15,000 Join Women’s March in Tucson

One day after Donald Trump became president of the United States the world saw the largest mass protest ever.

On January 21, 2017, the Women’s March on Washington drew more participants than Trump’s inauguration the day before, and “sister marches” were held in 600 locations around the world. If you are a long-time follower of my blogging, you know that I have attended and videotaped many protests, marches and rallies. This was by far the largest protest march I have seen in my 35 years in Tucson. It was impressive.

The Tucson marchers were a diverse group. Although the event was dubbed the Women’s March, everyone was invited, and everyone came. From children to seniors, all ages were represented. There was an impressive number of men who marched, and the LGBTQ, Latino,  and African American communities were also well-represented. There were people in strollers and people who use wheelchairs. For more photos, go to my Facebook page.  (Video after the jump.)

I hope that Trump listens to the people of the US– and not just to the Washington insiders and corporate Republicans who surround him. He has no mandate for eliminating the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with no inkling of a replacement plan. Millions of people will lose health insurance if he and the Republican majority go ahead with this unpopular, ideological idea. In addition, if Medicaid expansion is eliminated or if Medicaid becomes a block grant, state budgets around the country (including ours) would crash OR thousands of indigent citizens will become suddenly uninsured. I am glad that Governor Doug Ducey has asked the president and Congress not to repeal until they have a working alternative. Politicians shouldn’t be inflicting unnecessary hardship on the populace.

Does the ACA need reform? Absolutely. The insurance costs are far too high. I support bringing back the public option– so middle class Americans have an affordable choice. In Arizona this year, we really needed the public option. Arizonans had no real choices in plans– unlike the first year when Pima County was among the counties with the most choices. Both repeal and replace and repeal with no ideas are bad policy decisions because they would bring unnecessary chaos, financial uncertainty, and potentially bankruptcy, increased disease and premature death to the people who don’t have access to care. The Republicans have been holding ceremonial repeal votes for years but have never had any positive ideas for reform.

We need reform– not repeal or replace.