Loath though I am to support Laura Mallory’s detestably idiotic conclusion that children and young adults can’t see the line between fantasy and reality, I will admit that the politico side of me practically salivates sometimes when I watch West Wing. Not because I have a nerd-crush on Bradley Whitford (okay, okay, not ONLY because of that…) but because it was a large part of what inspired and amplified my interest in politics to begin with. The sight of people willing to stand up and fight was, I’ll admit it, a bit starry-eyed and overly-optimistic for today’s politics, but I guess I was bamboozled by the insane idea that the Democrats I worked my ass off to get into office would actually do anything once they got there. Don’t get me wrong, I mostly agree with the Democrats…at least, on the issues they say they stand for. But standing for something and being willing standing UP for it seem to be two entirely different things. Out of curiosity, I decided to download the PDF file of the Democratic party platform, formally accepted in August 2008. Snappily titled “Renewing America’s Promise,” the fourth sentence of the Preamble reads: “We believe that quality and affordable health care is a basic right.” In small print, in a copy of a document few people ever take the time to read, then, Democrats can speak in absolutes. Not “We think that health care should be well-regulated, sometime, maybe,” not “we’d like to support the radical idea that companies shouldn’t be able to drop a newborn child for a ‘pre-existing condition,’ if that’s not too much to ask.”
No. Unless I’m losing my ability to interpret the English language, that says health care is a basic RIGHT. Not a responsibility the state should uphold for the sake of morals or the sake of keeping up with the industrialized world, although those are both perfectly valid reasons. That language specifies that the right of Americans to live without being crushed by ever-mounting premiums and discriminatory insurers only concerned with their own bottom line is just that: a Right. Up there with all the others, the right to freedom of speech, and of religion, is the freedom of life. Life is what you make of it, but if at the very least you should have the opportunity to live it, and the extent that we, as a collective, can provide that for each-other, we’ve done our duty is the extent that we have done our duty to the champions of the past who have died with their dreams unfulfilled and to the children growing up today who will one day lose their insurance and waste away in a hospital room because they’ve run out their savings on deductibles, or because they happened to be cursed with a condition over which they have no control.
I believe that structuring the provision of health care exclusively through a for-profit system will always leave the unprofitable bleeding in the dust, which is why I wish Democrats would live up to the substance of what they pledged to believe in 6 long months ago, on August 25, 2008.
If you disagree with that, that’s fine: stand up and say so. Let’s start a conversation, and I place only two caveats on the freedom of it: that everyone speaks based on facts, not based on fear. And second, that everyone supports what they truly believe, not what they’re being encouraged by others to disingenuously support.
You can probably guess my level of confidence that what I just hoped for will ever see the light of day in the conversations of most Congressmen and women, much less Senators.
Thank goodness, at least, for the few courageous Congress-people like Anthony Weiner, who, despite a slightly unfortunate last name isn’t too in love with his name plate and cushy chair to waste the two years we gave him tacking to the right and giving away our hopes to the black hole of a party that demands no less than total agreement, and makes no concessions despite being largely in the minority.
And people wonder why I’m becoming a cynic.
I’m tired, and I’m depressing myself. I’m going to go read, watch Glee, and play with my adorable kitten, not necessarily in that order. Existentialism will have to wait for tomorrow, or potentially tonight. Enjoy your day, everyone (and for fellow Little Lions, enjoy your snow day…although I will admit a bit of disappointment; I was looking forward to Yellow Sweatshirt Friday!)
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