Racism, Single-Payer Health Care, and a Public Option

I've held off posting on this as the issues continue to be complex and to change shape. However, the announcement from Gibbs, at the white house, and the clip of Obama, both backpedalling on the public option for health care reform have made me mad!

There are legitimate concerns about the bills coming out of committee so far... How to pay and where the savings will be found are two complex and worrisome items. I appreciate the conservative voices asking questions. This will make the final reform better.

However, the rabble-rousing, lies, rumor, and hate-mongering must stop! The sad thing is that it isn't just Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh who are speaking lies and inciting fear and anger. Senators, Congresspeople, Sarah Palin, and official spokes-people of lobbyist front-groups like "Patient's First" are feeding the fear and anger.

Inciting to riot. Inciting to assassination. Inciting to threats of violence. Results in death threats, swasticas on posters and defacing public property... Results in people attending Presidential Town Hall meetings wearing guns and sporting the same slogan Timothy McVeigh wore on his t-shirt.

We've already seen what such rhetoric results in. The anti-abortion activists have killed and injured. And they have successfully terrorized officials and service providers so that safe, legal, late-term abortions are nearly impossible to get in most states now.

I'm also concerned about the tactic of inciting white resentment and fear on racial grounds. Tim Wise describes this well: here. Supporting his argument is this article from AFL-CIO site, pointing out the fear and reaction to change and its association with race. Texas may bar students from learning about Chavez, Thurgood Marshall. Finally, Melissa Harris-Lacewell spotted this tactic and named it early on in this video.

A single payer solution to health care would benefit all Americans except for the privileged few who are making money from the current state of the industry. We have successfully done it for veterans. We've mostly successfully done it with Medicare/Medicaid, other countries are providing far superior outcomes for their citizens through state run health care. The facts are so clear that the mere fact that the debate has grown shrill, involves guns and fists and hate-speech, shows that the debate is not about health care. It is about something else, and that something else, I believe, is race.

Come on Americans: Thomas Jefferson regretted his compromise around slavery and the fact that the country he helped to found did not live up to his vision and his words. We still have a chance to fulfill the vision of a land where we believe that everyone is created equal, and has certain inalienable rights, including equal protection under the law and the ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

Let your congresspeople know that you support fair health care for all, and that you do not plan to be distracted by racial politics and fear-mongering. See Move On for signs, schedules, etc. and stay informed! I rely on Rachel Maddow.