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HEAL THE SICK!
It is - if you will - a pseudo commandment. It is - at the least - a moral and religious imperative. And I do not believe there are qualifiers or asterisks that limit that healing to "people like you" - "people you like" - or - "people who are documented citizens".
Lost in the bickering over health care reform is the nature of our debate over Health Care provided to illegal immigrants. It is a debate that, at its roots, should be so ugly and disturbing to all of us that we immediately wrestle it from the arena of public discourse.
Back during the Dukakis-Bush I campaign, there was this moment that political pundits know well. Dukakis had been getting knocked all over the ring by the Lee Attwater crafted strategy to label Dukakis a card carrying liberal. Eventually, Dukakis had a revelation. He stopped trying to appease the folks that weren't going to vote for him anyway and embraced his true liberalism. He began to proclaim, "YES! I am a Liberal! And Liberal is not a dirty word. Liberal ideals are the ideals of America and don't let the right wing convince you otherwise!" And because George H.W. Bush was no Reagan, and was not as able to tell the American people otherwise, Dukakis gained ground - all be it too late. This is also essentially the theme of the entire West Wing series for fans who are junkies of the politics in the show.
SO - let me take a page from both Dukakis and the West Wing on this pesky little issue of undocumented immigrants and the issue of Health Care. Here is my clear and unequivocal proclamation and I pray to G-d that anyone who reads this joins me all over Facebook, Twitter, and wherever else ideas congregate....
I BELIEVE IN GIVING UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ALL THE HEALTH CARE THEY CAN GET - NO MATTER WHAT THE COST!
There I said it. This is my "I AM A LIBERAL" moment. The thing is, you don't have to be a Liberal to say it. You just have to be HUMAN.
My god man (and woman)! When did we get so pompous, so greedy, so inhuman, so uncaring, that we - as the wealthiest nation on earth - cannot see the morality in allowing any human being who is EXISTING anywhere in our great 50 states (and Puerto Rico) ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE WHETHER THEY CAN AFFORD IT OR NOT. I mean really. Wouldn't each and every one of us think it the accomplishment of a lifetime - both tangible and spiritual - if we could each say we had something to do with improving the health of those with the least means in our society?
Seriously, we are not talking about Oprah and free cars here. We are talking about sick babies seeing doctors even if they can't afford it. We are talking about the mothers and fathers of babies living longer, healthier lives because they not only had access to an EMERGENCY ROOM free of charge - but actual access to the very health care (check ups, tests, subsidized medicine) that would both keep them out of the emergency room AND help create a healthier America.
Now notice I did not justify all of this with the idea of saving money. Academics have almost universally concurred that this is a fallacy. And if that weren't enough, the Massachusetts system has proven the theory. But here's the rub. The Massachusetts system and its cost is not the example that should condemn health care for all who need it. It is the example that should set the rule. YES it costs more than we thought. But it costs more because MORE people than we thought actually sought out health care! For all the failures of government mandates, government red-tape, and government inefficiency - this actually got something NOBLE, GOOD, and DECENT done for THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE!
This is what I was referring to in my opening. Polls consistently show that people don't mind paying taxes if they know it is going for the betterment of society. Conservatives and the wealthy are just very good at obscuring the benefit that people get (and demand) from their government. They just propose abstractions - like NO TAX DOLLARS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS - forgetting the whole time the their abstractions (War, Health Care) have very real consequences for very real people.
I don't know about you, but I couldn't care one bit that a baby, teenager, middle age man or elderly person was a documented citizen in order for him or her to get proper health care. I think many of you think the same way, but in this political climate, are afraid to say so. There are too many dogmatic, unthinking conservatives out there - even in our social circles - who really think they rationally know why this is a BAD thing. This is about HEALING THE SICK! Have people forgotten that?
I will probably not have the same luck making a similar argument about education and other benefits for undocumented immigrants - although I believe in those too. But here is my point - and is my larger point about Health Care in general. Healing the sick - which is what we are really talking about - is like NOTHING ELSE IN OUR SOCIETY. It is not jobs; it is not tax cuts for this class or that; it is not school vouchers; it is not redistribution of wealth; it is not Democrat or Republican; it is not Conservative or Liberal. It is HEALING THE SICK and taking care of the least amongst us. It is moral, good, and righteous, and I want its demonization and politicization to stop.
You can certainly also see that the polarization of the issue in general and the fact that Barak Obama is pushing this, a man who is "too exotic" for many in this country, is bringing out the very worst in us - AGAIN - and causing us to miss this larger obligation to each other. This polarization and overt appeal to underlying racism and anti-immigrant sentiment is despicable - but gets certain powerbrokers the exposure and polling numbers they seek. (Yes you Mr. Wilson) And so, the Lee Attwatter strategy of appealing to our lowest common denominators (the Willy Horton approach) rears its ugly head once again. I for one, think it is time this stops. NOW!(See this article by Derrek Jackson in the Globe to read more about this Polarization)
So I say this again, look at Massachusetts as the model. We had faith (or apathy) and a did not go crazy when someone said "you will have to have health insurance - or get some kind of state sponsored plan." We did not go crazy because, well, it seemed like a good thing to do. It still is. And in the same way that thousands came out of the woodwork to take our money - not to gamble it away or drink it away - but to GET HEALTH CARE, wouldn't it be incredible if - even if it cost us a few more dollars - we could eventually say that WE were responsible for that same outpouring nationally? Wouldn't it just be amazing if, when all is said and done, we helped MILLIONS gain access to health care? Now that would be a valuable use of my tax dollars. In fact, I think it would be the best use EVER!
Please join me and spread the word wherever you can!
I BELIEVE IN GIVING UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS ALL THE HEALTH CARE THEY CAN GET - NO MATTER WHAT THE COST! ..... NO LIE!
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