Fear of change

It is so hard for me to watch the way fear grips this country. The way fear has gripped this country since Sept. 11, 2001. Most humans don't handle change well. We tend to like things the way we have them, and often don't want to know if it could be better because it is easier just to keep things the way they are. But often, life doesn't give us a choice. Change is inevitable.

After 9/11 this country came to be ruled by fear-mongering. It turned out to be so effective that once immediate threats were dispelled, it was too good of a tool to stop using. It has been most effectively wielded by the far right, though nobody is blameless.

Those who are using scare tactics to try to stop healthcare reform are only hurting us because the system is broken. It needs reform. If the right doesn't participate, it only weakens the nation because change will come anyway. There are serious questions and reasons for debate and by not rising to the occasion of thoughtful discourse, but just choosing ignorance and shouting outright lies, all in the name of protecting the status quo, it is hurting and turning away from the very spirit of this nation.

I believe that people who don't think the system is broken have never experienced anything other than employer based healthcare that is basically good, or have never had to test how good their insurance really is. Those of us who have had different experiences (and we are multiplying, those who have bad insurance are becoming the majority), have the ability to see how poorly the system functions. I have had good employer based insurance and bad, I have had Medicaid, I have had independently purchased insurance. I have lived with the fear that if any of us get sick, it would bankrupt us. 40 million live with that fear everyday because they can afford nothing. There aren't any numbers on the people who have insurance but know it won't cover enough if they get sick. It is too much. This has to be fixed. We have a moral obligation to fix this problem. Not giving people the basic right to health care is far more expensive to a society than not. People are given access to police and fire departments because those things are necessary for a society to function. Healthcare is on the same level. It is time to start thinking of it in that light.

It is a misnomer that we are the wealthiest nation with the best healthcare. We are the wealthiest nation, but that implies many have access to that wealth. It isn't true. We also have some of the best doctors, schools, technology and research, but is merely pretending to believe that we have equal access to that. We say we do, but do nothing in practice to fight for that. And actually, we are in fact not the best when it comes to healthcare. We are sicker and have shorter lifespans than other nations. What we have is not the best. Let's face that reality because once we do, we have the ability to make it the best. We cannot continue with this head-in-the-sand attitude.

I don't think we are going to come up with a new system that will make everyone happy, but we have a responsibility to err on the side of doing the most good for the most people. And if all views are not discoursing, then we are at the table with one hand already tied behind our backs. And this is not socialism in some nasty dirty connotation of the word. It is in the very spirit of this nation who through it's history has always had the practice of taking care of people, of doctors who aid all who come to their care regardless of ability to pay, who nursed their neighbors because they were neighbors. Throughout our history, there are countless examples of a socialistic attitude, not the communist ideas of everyone having the same as everyone else, but of the idea that everyone does according to their ability to each according to their need. For those of you who are Christian, this is at the very heart of Christianity. You can't escape this whether you read the Old or New Testament.

Liberate yourself from fear. Do not be the one to choose ignorance over knowledge. Do not turn a blind eye to your neighbor. We have seen so much change in such a short time, and some people are reeling. Some don't even want to accept the world as it is. But we have real problems that need real solutions. "Here in America we are descended in blood and spirit from revolutionaries and rebels -- men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. " Dwight Eisnehower.