Pink Floyd and Today's Current Health Care Reform Battle
Posted: Tuesday, March 09, 2010
by Dan Bimrose
Liberal Fix
The sunshine has returned to Southeastern Indiana. Driving with the windows down while traveling down the Ohio River I cranked up the radio on my favorite classic rock station. Playing was a track from Pink Floyd's 1987 release A Momentary Lapse of Reason. I have heard the song "On The Turning Away" dozens of times. On this day I listened and heard the lyrics. Speaking from a Democratic perspective it could be the anthem for the current health care battle.
On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away
We certainly are at a crossroads in our society. Millions of people are currently without health insurance. Tens of thousands more lose their coverage every week. 49000 people die every year due to their lack of health insurance. Private health insurers are currently seeking rate hikes as high as 39%. They do this despite posting exorbitant profitability especially when taking into account the current economic times.
The case has been made very clearly and very passionately that health care reform works to the benefit of all American citizens. The reasons why it would be so beneficial are actually very simple to understand if you would only keep your mind open long enough to examine the details.
Everyone is sick to death of this debate. Many just want it to stop. Exhaustion is no excuse to do nothing. The Republicans would like us to start over which would indefinitely prolong this painfully long discussion even further.
It is not just about fixing other people's problems. This is a societal problem. This is a societal defect. Something is wrong when there are those that will do everything that they can think of to maintain the status quo and defeat health care reform. Turning away and ignoring the suffering of so many Americans should not be an option.
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting its shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone
We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
There is a heart of stone that exists in many. The darkness that is spreading across our country is not the onset of socialistic policy. If so it would have been very dark since FDR. I have never before witnessed such anger, divisiveness, and hatred in so many people. The recent rash of "proud right wing terrorists" actually picking up their guns and using them or flying their planes into buildings should scare you. I know that these are individuals acting alone. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are not out there handing out guns to people telling them to take down the government. Of course they are not telling them not to either.
They do however, play on your fears. They paint our current administration as fascists and socialists. For Limbaugh and Beck it is them against us. It is a war that must be won at all costs. The end justifies the means and if that means they are going to have to tell a few lies to their flock of sheep then so be it.
In their eyes, Democrats want to destroy our nation, cripple our government and kill our old people. They are Patriots and Democrats are anarchists. They fear and love God, and we are baby killers. They are the defenders of the Constitution and Democrats do whatever they can in spite of the Constitution. They raise the flag and Democrats burn it. Is it little wonder that right wing violence is on the rise?
No, the leaders in the Republican Party are not personally responsible for these acts. However, their silence is deafening and speaks volumes. This tacit endorsement of these acts defies reason and is highly irresponsible.
To them these acts do nothing more than to express how unhappy the voters are with our current government. This despite the fact that the American people elected this current administration just over a year ago by a sizable margin. Do they really think that America is so eager to return to the politics of George W Bush?
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is slurring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerized as they light the flame
Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
The speechless did unite and voted into office Barack Obama, who claimed health care reform as priority one. It was no secret what he planned to do.
What we have found was that casting that vote was not enough. Democrats are too quiet. Tea Party activists do not get the amount of press that they do because they exist in larger numbers but rather because they are louder.
We are getting close to getting something done. In a world where most lawmakers find it difficult to maintain the courage of their convictions, it is left to us voters to make sure that they do.
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?
We should never stop, never relent until men and women do not have to struggle with the decision of whether or not to seek health care that will bankrupt their family or put food on the table and keep a roof over their head.
Teddy Kennedy was correct when he asserted that health care is a fundamental right.
We must no longer stand and stare. We must stand and fight. We must stand and shout.
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