I was moved to tears during Keith Olbermann's very special Special Comment last night, not only for his deeply personal struggle of conscience with the high level of health care privilege which his success affords him, but for the humanity and beauty of his win-win-win proposal.
The suffering of Americans already in dire need of health care has become, in a way, a pawn in the very struggle we wage to relieve the imminence of that suffering. To bring more immediate relief while ramping up the pressure for systematic change with the same action is now a goal we can achieve, thanks to Keith.
But though I am anxious to buy in to his plan, and buy in NOW, there is as yet no specific plan functioning. I hope that changes soon; time is certainly of the essence.
Keith's proposal is to raise funds through donations to the National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC), enought to hold free clinics on a weekly basis in the capital cities of five states represented by six BlueDog Democrats who stand in the way of real health care reform.
The targets:
Nevada: Sen. Harry Reid
Louisana: Sen. Mary Landrieu
Arkansas: Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Sen. Mark Pryor
Montana: Sen. Max Baucus
Nebraska: Sen. Ben Nelson
I want Sens. Lincoln and Pryor to see what health care poverty is really like in Little Rock. I want Sen. Baucus to see it in Butte. I want Sen. Ben Nelson to see it in Lincoln. I want Sen. Landro to see it in Baton Rouge. I want Sen. Reid to see it in Las Vegas.
This is something we can do. But this is just a secondary win.
The primary win is to provide more of what NAFC does - real health care for those in need, but without the means to pay for it. We should all be ashamed to admit that in today's America this is necessary, but admit it we must. For those in need, we should provide relief. For those too proud, willfully ignorant or imbedded with the beneficiaries of the status quo to admit it, they need to be confronted with reality.
The proposed clinics would be the same type of temporary free clinics which finally reanimated the corporately cryo-hardened heart of Wendell Potter, the former Cigna executive-turned-whistleblower who has provided valuable insight into the death-by-spreadsheet practices of the health insurance industry.
There is one more win in this package - widespread exposure of the urgency of our dire need for health care reform. In 2007, Potter attended a "health care expedition," a makeshift health clinic set up in tents at a fairgrounds in Wise, Virginia, organized by the non-profit Remote Area Medical (RAM). If the sight of these projects, once benefitting only third-world countries, springing up in America could move the heart of someone with a secure and "comfortably" compensated job, it only makes sense to increase their visibility by supporting more of the same.
Together with a prominent MSNBC reporter and commentator, we should be able to bring both personal and media attention to, and embarrassment over the humanitarian void left gaping open by the current tiered system of health care in America - the haves, the economically stressed think-they-haves, and the have-nots.
This plan is targeted and focused. Health care where it's most urgently needed, attention focused on the tragedy of a systematic failure, and pressure brought to bear upon our most "distracted" political representation - all in one neat and efficient package. Thank you Keith, you and your plan are both beautiful to behold.
Keith implores us to donate. I'm ready.
I'll donate. How much will you donate? We enable thousands of our neighbors to have just a portion of the bounty of good health, and we make a statement to the politicians, forgive me, William Jennings Bryan, "you shall not press down upon the brow of America this crown of insurance, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of blue."
And he tells us this is in the works. I'm impatient.
We think these events will be firmed up presently. You will be able to link from our website.
Trust me, I'll remind you.
I hope the wait is not long; I know the need is urgent. I really want to donate now, but I want my donation to be on target and attributed to Keith's effort to provide care for those in need while sending the right message to the right people. I'll stay tuned, and keep checking back.
I hope to soon see that "Check back in this space for details" become a link to a powerful win-win-win strategy.