In an era long past, the thinker Aristotle wrote:
If we believe men have any personal rights at all, then they must have an absolute moral right to such a measure of good health as society can provide.
Universal Healthcare is on the table - or rather - the chopping block. Since the first Progressive firebrands rose in the early years of the last century to challenge the unfairness of a system that sucked capital from the work of the many and kept it in the hands of a few - the need for a universal healthcare system for all has been articulated in the halls of legislatures across the land. Inevitably, proposals from both Roosevelt administrations through Truman, Ike, Kennedy-Johnson, Nixon and the Clintons to cobble together a fair and equitable healthcare plan for all have been shouted down and beaten down.
Ted Kennedy - perhaps the most effective senator ever in the history of this contentious republic - has passed from our midst, but not from our collective consciousness. He taught us to think and reach beyond ourselves. The greater cause of his life and career was universal healthcare.
Uncle Teddy pushed for healthcare for all over the last 47 years incrementally with the Americans with Disabilities Act, creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (S-Chip), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act allowing folks to hang onto their insurance after leaving a job (COBRA), the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), increased funds for AIDS and cancer research, and community medical centers.
The comprehensive healthcare bill on which Senator Kennedy took the lead has been among the most controversial pieces of legislation considered by Congress in recent years. Disruptive crowds at town hall meetings - fueled largely by corporate lobbying groups masquerading as populist protest movements - have sucked all the oxygen out of debates in the media and around the country. Opponents have labeled the public option a nationalized or socialized program and have employed lies and misrepresentations to scare voters.
We must let our legislators know certainly that we are informed and we will work to unseat the liars in their midst. LET THEM KNOW THAT WE KNOW THAT THE BEST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM IS NOT AVAILABLE TO U.S. CITIZENS! Maybe we should threaten to send our taxes to France, or Canada, or Norway, or Japan, or England, or Bhutan, or...
You get the idea.
A month ago in Newsweek, Teddy wrote:
I've thought in an even more powerful way than before about what this will mean to others. And I am resolved to see to it this year that we create a system to ensure that someday, when there is a cure for the disease I now have, no American who needs it will be denied it.
Teddy's gone, but if we resolve to secure universal healthcare - WITH a public option - we can reward his many years of hard work on behalf of all of us. We have to do this. We can't quit - because Teddy deserves more from us.
Black Commentator.com offers a series of articles covering single payer healthcare - that answers the objections from the corpie lobbyists!
Click here for: Single Payer FACTS!
