I’m not a very political person, or at least I haven’t been in the past. I tend to sympathize all too much with the friend who recently admitted that the political season leaves her essentially placing both hands over her ears shouting, “la, la, la, la….”
She just can’t take it. She knows that response isn’t helpful to the process, but that’s her honest reaction to what plays out before us all in the news night after night. I get that.
But I also get that the world is as we make it. Our world, speaking specifically about American society, exists as it does because of choices that our American family has collectively made. Human choices create the world around us. And in America that means politics—we make our decisions through and by the political process. We elect school boards, city boards, mayors, and county clerks. We elect a governor, an attorney general, and scores of representatives to work with these people. And then we do it all again on the national level. It is messy and complicated and annoying and can be quite overwhelming, but it is the best attempt that we have made toward a just and fair society for as long as people have been scratching out an existence on this little planet.
And so, we can’t avoid it, I mean unless we want to totally ignore the responsibility that we have in shaping our world for ourselves and our families and neighbors and for the generations to come after us (but I’m finding that more difficult to justify).
Which brings me to the point that inspired sitting down at the computer today. As I stood in the back row at a Bernie Sanders rally yesterday (my first such political rally) contemplating my own views and the world that we create through this process, I was struck by a simple notion. I was struck by the simple, pleasant thought that I would like to be able to walk through my community and to know that when I encounter another person on the street and look that person in the eye and nod hello, that I would know that they would have adequate medical and mental health care. I would like to know that whether that person is rich or poor, black or white, old or young, employed or unemployed, in good health or struggling with ailments of mind or body, or whether they are part of a loving family or all alone in this world, that no matter what that person’s background and story and no matter what other worries they may have in their lives, that together we have at least created a world where worrying about basic health care isn’t adding to anyone’s troubles. I would like to know that we have decided to make our world into the sort of place where we take care of one another.
Now what is annoying about this simple goal is that it is at one and the same time both naively audacious and completely pedestrian. For some reason we have convinced ourselves that the notion of universal health care for all citizens of this country is out of our reach. “Too expensive, too complicated, too much of a burden on the economy,” we say, and there is a part of us—the pessimistic, fearful part—that will actually believe it. We believe that it is out of our reach despite the fact that Canada has done it, despite the fact that Germany and many other countries have done it. Really? We don’t believe that we could do what Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Japan and many others have done? We don’t believe that we could do it even better? What happened to American exceptionalism? Where is our exceptionalism when it comes to basic human care?
Because the annoyingly pedestrian side of this is that we absolutely could do this and we know it. We know we could. Even if dozens of other countries weren’t already doing it fairly well, we know that if we set our minds to it, we could decide to create a world like that here in the United States. We could create that world just as well as we have created the world that we currently have. A world where despite the best efforts of the ACA roughly 10% of Americans still remain uninsured. A world where medical costs continue to rise along with income inequality and the disparity between the rich and the poor. A world where health care costs eat up more and more of middle class income but where insurance companies and those in the healthcare field continue to profit handsomely. Not to mention the big pharmaceutical companies that have all of us eating from the palm of their hands. We have created this world. Our decisions. Our inaction. Our ignorance. Our fear.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to run away from the process with our hands over our ears shouting, “la, la, la, la, la,” in an attempt to stop the madness from getting us too. We can come together in our society to affect real change. We could even make the crazy decision to simply give everyone healthcare coverage. Imagine it!
Imagine how it would feel to know that every person you encounter has the care that they need. Imagine the story of a family that just lost mom or dad to a battle with cancer. Imagine that story told without the part about how much they are now struggling with enormous hospital bills along with their terrible loss. Imagine the story of the family who needs around the clock care for their child. Imagine that story told not because the friends and family are throwing a fundraiser in hopes that the medical bills won’t ruin their friends’ lives, but imagine it told simply to celebrate the compassion of the care that is being provided. Imagine it! Imagine the story of a young man struggling with depression who is having suicidal and homicidal thoughts, but who decides to walk through the doors of a clinic instead of gathering guns to lash out at the world. Why? Because he could and because the idea that we can all benefit from counseling was presented to him as an option. Imagine.
Imagine it. Dream it. Envision it. As you stand in line at the polling place, simply look at the people around you and imagine their story and then imagine that each and every single one of them is cared for. No matter the struggles, no matter the pain, no matter the baggage that any of them carry. Each one has care because we decided that they should and we made it happen. Imagine it. Envision it, and then simply follow that vision. For that is how you engage in the practice of politics. That is how we create a world.
Imagine how it would feel to know that every person you encounter has the care that they need. Imagine the story of a family that just lost mom or dad to a battle with cancer. Imagine that story told without the part about how much they are now struggling with enormous hospital bills along with their terrible loss. Imagine the story of the family who needs around the clock care for their child. Imagine that story told not because the friends and family are throwing a fundraiser in hopes that the medical bills won’t ruin their friends’ lives, but imagine it told simply to celebrate the compassion of the care that is being provided. Imagine it! Imagine the story of a young man struggling with depression who is having suicidal and homicidal thoughts, but who decides to walk through the doors of a clinic instead of gathering guns to lash out at the world. Why? Because he could and because the idea that we can all benefit from counseling was presented to him as an option. Imagine.
Imagine it. Dream it. Envision it. As you stand in line at the polling place, simply look at the people around you and imagine their story and then imagine that each and every single one of them is cared for. No matter the struggles, no matter the pain, no matter the baggage that any of them carry. Each one has care because we decided that they should and we made it happen. Imagine it. Envision it, and then simply follow that vision. For that is how you engage in the practice of politics. That is how we create a world.
