Late last week I received an email (pardon the elipses and xxx's for now) with this invitation:
Dear Aaron ,
Please see below for information on an exciting opportunity to.... meet Senator Max Baucus.
Vinod Khosla
Lorna and Wade Randlett
cordially invite you to a dinner with
SENATOR MAX BAUCUS.....
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 6:30pm....
For more information or to RSVP, please contact Marjan Philhour
at 415-xxx-xxxx or rsvp@baxxxxxxems.org.
SPACE IS LIMITED
Please help me decide what I should do....
At this point, having been an actively contributing Kossack since my first diary hit the Recommended List on December 7, 2008, many of you know of my advocacy for fundamental health care reform.
I have hosted a health care discussion in my family practice office as requested by Obama and have blogged about it here and elsewhere.
I subscribe to Google alerts under several search terms and use this as a vehicle to add comments to on line discussions of health care reform.
I often write to my patients in follow-up of their office visits and provide them with links and other information which attempts to enlist them in the movement for change.
But despite all this I often feel impotent
Hence, you can imagine how excited I was to receive an invitation to this event with Senator Baucus.
Unfortunately, near the end of the invitation came "the rub"---
in support of the
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE
EVENT CHAIR $30,400
TICKET $10,000
Now, I'm a doctor, and my wife is a doctor. We've each gotten some meaningful financial support from our parents. So, over the past five years, spurred by enthusiasm for change and disgust with the Bush years, we've made significant financial contributions to Democratic and other progressive causes. But $10,000 is really steep.
What should I do??
UPDATE
I just heard from the event coordinator that I was going to be allowed to attend the event at a reduced "price". Although I am deeply skeptical of Baucus, I will be civil and respectful of the venue and his status as an elected representative of his state and hear what he and others have to say. I will offer my comments and hope to be heard. Regarding the money... it will be going towards electing more Democratic senators, a worthy goal, and one which, if realized, could result in more progressive changes to the health care system.
