Like many around the country, I feel like I experienced a personal loss today. And for many of us, when we lose a relative or friend, we donate money as a tribute to that person.
If anyone has any doubt about the importance of health care reform to Sen. Kennedy, check out this speech:
http://www.youtube.com/...
I know - many of us want single payer NOW. And many are willing to support a public option now, single payer later. But perhaps we can unify by finding a way of supporting - with donations in Kennedy's name or spirit - those who are most effectively advocating for real health care reform? And what if, like we did during the elections, we signaled our presence by selecting a particular amount of the donation, like $26, the date of Ted Kennedy's death?
Remember how we saw the Actblue numbers grow when we joined together during elections? What if we set up a tote board, like Actblue had, which reflected not only the amount, but the number of people who were contributing, and who they were contributing to? And what if this grew into something beyond this site, so that media could take notice?
Actblue has a page set up now for "Health care heroes":
http://www.actblue.com/...
Jane Hamsher is organizing bloggers and readers at firedoglake.com.
http://action.firedoglake.com/...
Maybe we can do even more.
I'm not a computer person, and I'm not connected. I'm not rich. But I am someone who would like to honor Senator Kennedy in the way I believe he would have wished to be honored - by supporting health care reform.
Kennedy never gave up. We shouldn't either.