Here's a link to Greg Sargen't blog, "The Plum Line," where he covers Thursday's letter from leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives to President Obama urging him to continue staunchly in support of "the public option" for healthcare in this country:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/house-liberals-write-directly-to-obama-no-public-option-no-support/.
Personally, I think it's high time we stepped this so-called debate up a notch! When an NPR commentator asked the other day, "What should the President say as he addresses the joint houses of Congress next week?" I expressed some choice words . . . at the top of my lungs . . . again. Seriously, I think Mr. Obama should call Congress and the nation to task, and none too nicely! If it ever was, this is no longer a "debate;" it's degenerated into the typical name-calling and demogoguery that we know and love as the national circus in Washington, D.C.
To have a debate, there must be a question that needs arguing. But I don't see how any American can sincerely "argue" the morality and principles that undergird the healthcare issue. First, there's the purely moral question of whether any
one citizen of this great country—not to mention 47 million of them!—should have
NO healthcare coverage at all. Second, and just as importantly, there are the principles of fairness and equality upon which this nation was founded. If any single citizen derives benefit from "the government," how can we deny any other citizen
exactly the same rights and benefits? Or, as my sister who works in the healthcare industry says, "Anyone in this country who truly believes that our fellow citizens should not have access to adequate healthcare
must be willing to forego her or his own government-funded care programs."
Let's think about that for a minute.
NO Medicare,
NO Medicaid,
NO Social Security,
NO Medicare Prescription Drug benefits,
NO Veterans Hospitals (or any other of the myriad VA benefits programs),
NO Federal Employees Health Benefits program,
NO Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance (FEGLI),
NO federal employee pension plans
of any kind,
NO Consolidated Health Centers anywhere in the country,
NO Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP),
NO nationally-funded Disability Assistance,
NO Unemployment Assistance,
NO National Institutes of Health,
NO Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA),
NO "First Responders,"
NO federal funding to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA),
NO School Lunches,
NO Food Stamps,
NO Supplemental Nutrition for Women, Infants and Children (WIC),
NO Meals on Wheels,
NO Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention programs,
NO Federal Employee Vision and Dental Insurance Program (FEDVIP),
NO Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP),
NO nationally-funded immunization or vaccination programs,
NO nationally-funded cancer research programs. And this list doesn't even touch on programs concerning housing, education, agriculture or the environment--none of which is completely independent of impacting healthcare.
Perhaps it's time we ask our congresspeople and senators—especially the Republicans and "conservative" Democrats among them—whether they're
really ready to give up
THEIR benefits! Perhaps it's time to learn just what federal programs our neighbors, their children, parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, nieces, nephews, cousins and friends—particularly any of them who aren't ready for the government "to become involved in healthcare"—may themselves take advantage of.
My advice: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Hope you'll be watching our President on Wednesday. Let's see whom he says we should "do unto."
. . .
