It’s a big world after all.
Experiences, abilities, needs and struggles exist outside of the daily sphere of you and me. Empathy brings diversity and unity together. All too often though, we’re content to count our pieces of silver and forget about the Golden Rule.
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?'” an Atlantan named Martin once said.
It’s time in America not to narrow our focus and concern, but to open our hearts and minds. As economic, humanitarian and media forces and factors irrevocably expand, we cannot retreat back to the 1950s. We must not turn a cold shoulder to the world abroad, nor our disadvantaged and struggling neighbors at home.
And parents should not go bankrupt trying to care for a sick child.
When not disgusting former Republicans like myself with outright lies and other outrages, the new ruling forces in Washington, D.C., have set an unprecedentedly harsh and uncaring tone with their healthcare repeal efforts and proposed budget cuts.
Why would GOP senators rush to pass legislation that will so consequentially affect millions and millions of Americans? Debate on the Affordable Care Act in 2009 went for months, including through three House committees and two Senate committees. Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman and, as of July, former Republican altogether, said, “If you vote to reorder one-sixth of the U.S. economy without a CBO score, never call yourself conservative again. You are a dangerous radical.”
And how can Republicans raise funding concerns about Obamacare, then vote last week for a 13 percent budget increase for the military while lining up tax cuts for the super-wealthy later this year?
The deepest impact is personal, however, not budget numbers and legislative processes. We all have a story about a loved one fighting a difficult health battle or an unlucky friend in an accident. I’ve been very lucky in my life, but I still know the feeling of extended hospital stays as a child, leg braces and body casts, as well as the panic of that middle-of-the-night moment when my sick daughter was struggling to breathe.
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute reports that nearly 2 million Georgia children, seniors, veterans and people with disabilities receive health coverage through Medicaid. The Graham-Cassidy bill would cap and cut federal Medicaid funding to states. Also, the bill would once again make vulnerable the nearly 1.8 million Georgians (29 percent of the state’s population) that carry a pre-existing condition not covered under pre-ACA insurance underwriting practices.
Let’s put people and facts first. And let us lend an ear to those leaders with caring credibility – those who have moral authority, not just formal – and a hand to their just causes, like defending the critically important right to affordable healthcare.
Pope Francis challenged the world to “ensure that humanity is served by wealth and not ruled by it.” What good is the wealthiest country in the world if it loses its soul?
[NOTE: I will gladly take today’s good news of the scrapping of the GOP’s latest healthcare repeal bill even though it likely means this opinion piece will not make it out of the queue at the Marietta Daily Journal/Neighbor Newspapers!]
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