After the Health Care Summit – Universal Basic Health Care

The other day I heard a radio commentator on National Public Radio categorize the Democrat position on health care as viewing health care as a right and the Republicans position as viewing health care as a responsibility. I wonder, must it be either or?

The Declaration of Independence establishes that as a nation “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” While we might have an unalienable right to life, we know that we will not and cannot live forever. Each and every one of us will someday die. Until the day of our death arrives, however, our life ought to be one that is generally free and potentially happy. A life without universal access to basic health care will most likely not be a happy life and illness can place numerous limits upon our individual liberty and freedom.

The Preamble of the constitution states “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Does not universal access to basic health care help insure domestic Tranquilty and one way we as a nation can provide for the common defence and general welfare of ourselves and Posterity?

When only the highly compensated and the wealthy can afford basic health care while the underemployed and those working at near minimum wage cannot afford access to basic health care, our nation is ripe for revolution. Thus universal access to basic health care helps to insure our domestic Tranquility.

There are enemies of the United States other than foreign armies. A pandemic could easily kill more Americans than a military invader. Cancer, heart disease and other illness have, in the past few decades, killed more Americans than any terrorist or foreign conflict. Should we not be investing, as a nation, in defending against enemies such as germs, viruses, and preventable diseases?

When a large segment of our population often has to live and work in pain and discomfort because they do not have access to affordable basic health care, we as a nation have not failed to provide for the general welfare but have burdened and crippled our economy. When productivity is affected by workers unable to work because of preventable or treatable illness and diseases we as a nation suffer. If you currently have access to basic health care you may not be too concerned about whether or not others have such access until you need a plumber, electrician, auto mechanic, or other service provider who is unavailable because an easily treatable illness when untreated due to their lack of access to basic health care.

Universal basic health care—that is immunizations, treatment for common accidents and illness, checkups, preventative dental care, corrective lenses—ought to be the right of every American. It makes economic sense. It is part of the social contract that is reflected in the foundational documents of our nation. On the other hand, there is a limit. Not all health care is “basic”.

LoveFest in the Garden

You can read what the professionals have written in USA Today and the New York Times.
Here is what I heard, saw and experienced Sunday night in Madison Square Garden.

My wife and I has $19.19 seats in the nosebleed section behind the stage, section 418 Row C. There were no JumboTrons, only two projection screens, and the one we could see best was a reversed image because we were behind it. We could hear just fine, and the small monocular I brought from home allowed us to see some details on the stage.

I am not a music critic so I will not even attempt to go there. I do like folk songs, am an environmentalist, and am committed to social justice, so Pete Seeger is my sort of guy.

Even though there were a lot of big names performing, I did not feel like Sunday’s CLEARWATER CONCERT was a true concert but rather a 90th birthday party sing alone for and with one of America’s icons and I just happened to be invited.

If I had closed my eyes a few of the opening songs would have made me think I was back in the West Virginia, the Home state of Mother Jones, or in Harlan County, Kentucky. I guess labor movement songs work wherever they are song, though.

My friend Tobey has written that the concert made him “feel like a young kid again…felt like the sixties with Baez and MgGuin and Richie Havens etc…” Regarding Pete Seeger, Tobey said “What I saw last night was a man who has lived his beliefs and principles for his whole life. That must be why at age 90 he can get Madison Square Garden to stand up and sing along. Would that we could all be so true and uncompromising to our inner nature. No cabin passage for Pete through this life.

This is what my Wife Vicki, a big Springsteen fan, posted to a Springsteen fan site. “I loved the show! Dave Matthews was worth the price of admission alone... everyone else was just icing on the cake. Bruce sounded a little hoarse but I am thrilled to have seen him do Tom Joad with Tom Morello. Wowzer! . . . Patti was there for the encore and the extras at the end. It was a really great night. So many egos and legends, but it turned into one big liberal lovefest.”

The most stirring moment for me was Pete’s younger sister offering a poetic tribute laced with piano cords. It almost brought tears to my eyes.

I agree with the New York Time’s political assessment. Even if the musical selections or the linuop had not changed, if the Birthday Benefit Concert had been held six months ago, prior to the most recent election, it would have been a different experience. It probably would have felt more like a protest rally rather than a celebration.

As it was, it felt a little like church, or at least what church should be. There was Amazing Grace and Pete telling the story of John Newton. There was This Little Light of Mine. There was Little Boxes on the Hillside. There was When the Saints Go marching In. I felt like circling the pews, building a campfire, toasting marshmallows, making S’mores, and passing round a bottle of rye whiskey to celebrate communion with all the saints of the labor movement, the civil rights movement, and the environmental movement.

Thank God for Pete Seeger. His music and public witness have offered us hope and encouragement as well as calling us to action and activism during some difficult times. I hope Bruce Springsteen’s assessment was correct. Pete has outlived the bastards. The times have changed. This is our land again.

A.I.G. Bone-A$$e$

Maybe A.I.G. is legally bound by contracts to pay previously promised bonuses to some of its executives, but those executives are not legally bound to accept them. Instead of accepting these outrageous bonuses A.I.G. executives should accept some responsibility for their ineptitude and confess that they screwed up. How can they morally justify receiving such bonuses when the tax dollars of hundreds of thousands out of work Americans are enabling them to even have a company to work for in the first place? If the Obama administration and New York Attorney General Cuomo are not able to thwart these bonuses, then the names of those receiving them ought to be publicly displayed on a wall of shame and the Federal Government should make sure not a single one of them ever receives a government appointment or contract.