Document Actions
Health Care: Do the Right Thing
Passing health care reform with a public option is simply the right thing to do. We all know it. Those who stand in the way are motivated by either greed or fear - two things that our country could do without.
Sign of the Times: Doing the Right Thing Considered Politically Risky
The second he uttered it, he was threatened. "That tape will be held," said John King. Minutes later, The Huffington Post had it up. Headline "I’ll Lose My Seat to Support Health Care."
I am of course writing about Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, who had the audacity to say that he would rather do the right thing than keep his job.
How did we come to this?
Politicians are full of bluster about values. They know, correctly, that the best way to communicate to the American people is by touching on our values.
Courage. Hard work. Resolve. These are slogans in DC, but for many of us they are cornerstones. The stuff we build our lives on.
I grew up in Rust Belt Indiana. I saw first hand what bad policy can do to a community. And I know what it takes to overcome.
Courage. Hard work. Resolve. These were not sound bites to the good people I grew up with. They were tools for survival. I saw it every day.
I saw courage in the face of workers struggling to provide, affected by forces they barely understood. I saw hard work all around me, as people dug out from a recession so deep it has only been topped by this most recent one.
And I saw, and learned, resolve. Resolve to not let them get you down. Resolve to do what was right, cost be damned. Resolve that tomorrow would be better because collectively we would make it so.
In Washington they spew the words, but they rarely act on them. When Sen. Dick Durbin says the Senate might have a short Christmas break, it makes the front page. I wonder how that sits with the millions of Americans who get no break at all. Not to mention the millions more who would love to have a job to get a break from.
When Sen. Bennet of Colorado has the courage to act on his convictions, it becomes instant news, and is laughingly called a rookie mistake.
Thank God for rookies. Thank God for those who are not so jaded they actually say what they mean. Thank God we have people as courageous as Sen. Bennet.
We hear over and over again that times are tough. It's odd we here it from people with job security, full health care benefits and generous pensions.
We hear a lot about American values and how we have to return to them. But when they are acted on by a US senator it is news.
Courage. Hard work. Resolve. We could use a little of that now.
Passing healthcare with a public option is just the right thing to do. We all know it. Those who stand in the way are motivated by greed or fear. Two things we have no need for.
What we do need is what Sen. Bennet displayed. The same community values that helped me and mine survive the last time.
Courage. Hard work. Resolve.
It shouldn’t be headline news.
Courage. Hard. Resolve.
It should be the norm.
Gabe Gonzalez is the Lead Organizer for the Campaign for Community Values of the Center for Community Change.
