We need more than green lights for heroes
As I drive, walk, or run around Havertown these days I’m struck by the increase in Republican political banners on the same lawn as messages of support for the various folks who are keeping us going during an international pandemic, as well as green lights and T-shirts supporting young people in the township who’re battling cancer.
The side-by-side comparison disturbs me: On the one hand you behold our generosity, while on the other hand you behold our support of those would only seek to divide America between themselves and those whom they see as “takers.” The messages (and messengers) are horribly confused. They say: We care about those who’re closest to us, but we won’t care about those who live in other towns, in Philadelphia, or those across the country who might be battling either a deadly disease or simple ill health. We need more than this.
We deserve better than this, and there is only one political party which is standing in the way of improving our system of health care in America. This is about the shortsighted idea that it’s okay to show your support for a child’s individual battle with illness, while also supporting a political party and politicians - President Trump, Mrs. Pruett, among others who tried to take away the health care of 15 million Americans in July 2017.
A president and a political party who have made access to Medicaid more difficult. A president and a political party who have sought to withhold desperately needed medical supplies in the middle of an international pandemic from certain American locales because the president simply doesn’t like them. And we put up with this.
We need more than green lights, hope, and thanks for heroes: We need a shared belief in the public good, and we need leaders who will fight for that ideal. Yes, this is about extending healthcare and health insurance to every American, but it’s also about a moral obligation to care about and for each other. There is only one political party that through words and policies -declines to fight for the common good. Their message: We’re not all in this together.
If you want to go get a haircut and public health officials say you shouldn’t, it’s okay to endanger others in order to get what you want. Only care about yourselves and those who look and think like you. You shouldn’t have to pay for other kids’ health care, they’ll say. And moreover, these corporations and fabulously wealthy individuals over here shouldn’t pay for our healthcare either, because, of course, they have special privileges.
Gofundme pages for healthcare costs have ballooned in recent years, while health care premiums continue to rise, and one political party does all they can to strip money away from Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act. No parent in America should have to turn to crowdfunding because they can’t pay medical bills and their mortgage or rent, along with feeding their family. And we put up with this.
If we want everyone in America not to have to choose between keeping their home and getting the chemotherapy that might save their life, we need to rethink how we fund and offer healthcare in this country. Buying health insurance is expensive, but not having health insurance is far more so - both morally and economically and it costs all of us, not simply individuals.
Will an expansion of healthcare and health insurance have to be paid for? Of course. If we want social services, if we want to care for all of society, then we have to pay for it. But it shouldn’t be us, the majority of Americans, who pays disproportionately for it.
There are plenty of American individuals and corporations who’ve made a killing in the past 20 years, while the rest of our wages have stagnated or failed to keep up with the growing cost of merely living. It’s not as if the wealth of Exxon or the Koch family appeared out of thin air: it was built on the backs of American workers. Workers who built roads and laid water pipes, who pour us coffee or bag our groceries, who draw up our wills or help us navigate the legal system. These corporations and super wealthy individuals should pay into the system, too. And they should pay the greater share.
We deserve that. All of us deserve better than our current system of healthcare, as well as our current national leadership. We can change those things. All of us deserve more than just green lights and “HOPE” printed in sidewalk chalk by our neighbor’s kids. We deserve and desperately need to care about and for each other. Half-measures and tribalism aren’t enough now. We shouldn’t put up with this. What’s more, we don’t have to.