Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Democracy Thrives with Equity


Help Yourself

(by helping others)

What are folks so afraid of? I wondered... Then I read the websites, blogs, articles, and letters that use ugly words like 'Washington bureaucrat' and 'illegal immigrant,' to describe the situations they fear. It's enough to scare anyone!


How can people claim "right"eous values and turn their backs on the poor? Or fight for corporate profits over medical equity?


I guess those who say, "I work hard for a living so I can provide for my family. Those others don't deserve medical treatment," must be forgetting that their daughter is getting her hair done by a hard working woman with no health insurance. And they are being served a delicious meal in a restaurant by a hard working young man with no health insurance, and they are sitting out on their deck enjoying their lawn, neatly groomed by a hard working father with no health insurance.


Don't hide selfishness behind religion. Truly Godly people love mankind, love the poor, love to help, love to give, love to share, love to see others prosper, and are NOT afraid...


Fear mongers, fear spreaders, those who have nothing better to talk about than how bad things are going to get if we help people get better health care, better educations, better incomes... are afraid of only one thing - losing their own level of comfort.


There's a saying I like to use, "As long as I'm o.k." It stands for the average attitude in America. No one cares about anything anywhere else in the country or the world, ALAIOK. No one pays attention to politics, who's running, what's going on in Congress, ALAIOK.


What about those who get up in the morning just to help someone else? To go build a house for Habitat, or feed the hungry, or counsel a teen.


I like going to progressive websites like Habitat and MoveOn.org because I love seeing how involved my fellow Americans are in changing the world we live in... not for ourselves, but for others. Making sure we don't kill the planet or asphyxiate our grandchildren with pollution, speaking up for those who can't speak up for themselves... unselfish acts.


Then I go onto the conservative websites and all I see is Obama bashing. Liberal bashing. Who is it helping? Who's volunteering for the homeless, speaking up, changing things for the needy? For the helpless? Does God really only help those who help themselves? Really?


I want to be counted with those who get up early and stay up late for others, not to defend their "right" to higher profits and greater disparity.


Democracy was founded in Athens in ancient Greece. In that birthplace of individual liberties the richest citizen was five times richer than the poorest. (Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter, by Thomas Cahill)


Think about that for a moment and get back to me on letting corporate greed run rampant so that your fear of more government controls can be appeased.


P.S. Without government controls, 8 year olds would still be losing fingers working in factories right here. "Do you support the creation of a national health insurance plan that would be administered by bureaucrats in Washington?" says a new republican questionnaire... You bet I do! The same "bureaucrats" that guarantee my children get an education rather than a job at the tender age of 8.


In the photo above: My beautiful daughter... with no health insurance.