I called a committed right-wing activist the other day and asked, “Do you support taxpayer-funded fire departments?” Angrily, he said, “No. Why should I pay to put out a fire of someone else’s home?” Well, I asked, how about police departments. “Hey, if people want protection they ought to hire a security firm. Blackwater, for instance. I’m tired of the leeches living off my money.”
Okay, I made the conversation up. But doesn’t it sound familiar? It tracks the right-wing rhetoric on health care reform. We agree to fund fire departments because it’s the right thing to do morally, but also because we don’t want the neighbor’s fire burning down our own home. We benefit from the health of others in a similar way. Disease is often contagious. Like a fire.
In addition, a healthy America is economically healthier, too. It’s just a fact that we all benefit from the health of others. There’s a reason the proposed health care reform measure will decrease the federal deficit. More productivity. More taxes. Fewer work hours lost to illness. Less burden on local taxpayers. Education improves as children miss fewer school days. I could go on an on.
We don’t look at health care like we do fire departments because the private health insurance industry doesn’t want us to. They deliver nothing of value, really. The insurance industry just found a niche: making money by collecting premiums, denying benefits, and excluding higher risk folk from coverage. Imagine calling the fire department and being asked, “Do you have insurance?” Fire Departments don’t rebuild our homes, of course. We have homeowner’s insurance for that. Or a lot of our own savings. But property insurance is quite a bit different than health insurance. Insurance companies can make the bet that not everyone’s home will burn down. But everyone, sooner or later, needs a doctor.
But nothing I can say would be as articulate as the words of 11-year-old Marcelas Owens, who’s been in Washington lately fighting for health care reform. You can listen to Dallas radio host Scott Braddock’s KRLD interview with Marcelas here.Marcelas testified before Congress. His message is simple. All Americans — everyone — deserve adequate health care. His mom died of pulmonary hypertension after losing her job, her health insurance, and access to medical care. She was a hardworking woman whose only mistake was getting sick. The Right, of course, blames her for that.
Marcelas, who turns 11 on Wednesday, also has had to contend with public attacks. Once, for instance, a radio commentator suggested that his mother’s pulmonary hypertension, a lung disorder, was a health problem of her own making.
“We don’t even know what was making her health bad,” said Marcelas, who fielded questions Monday with a soft, patient voice in between lolling on the floor of a hotel lobby, flipping a novelty pen.
As for his mother’s premature death, he said, “I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. But they could have done more” for her.
Glenn W. Smith has spent the past 30 years in journalism and politics, where he’s made a name for himself as a writer, campaign manager, activist, think tank analyst and, as Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas says, a “legendary political consultant and all-around good guy.” “There’s no one like him,” says author George Lakoff. CNN commentator Paul Begala says, “He has unmatched experience, a graceful pen (or pixel nowadays) and deep insight into the best and worst of us.” Novelist Sarah Bird speaks of his “lucid and lyrical” prose. And, she says, he’s fun. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington says Glenn writes with “grace and abundant humor” and “uses his colorful experiences in Texas to enlighten us all.”
Smith led Ann Richards’ successful 1990 campaign for Governor of Texas. He worked for former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby and U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen. Earlier, Smith was a political reporter for the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Post. He’s coordinated national campaigns for groups such as MoveOn.org. In 2004, he authored the highly acclaimed book, The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction. He also wrote Unfit Commander, a book that detailed George W. Bush’s mysterious disappearance from military service.
In 2004, Smith was featured in the film, Bush’s Brain, a documentary about Karl Rove. Smith provided commentary on Rove’s role as then-President Bush’s senior advisor. He has made numerous media appearances with Chris Mathews on Hardball, Joe Scarborough, Brit Hume, and many others. He writes a regularly for top national web sites, including FireDogLake and Huffington Post.
As a senior fellow at George Lakoff’s prestigious Rockridge Institute in Berkeley he studied, wrote and taught on the power of metaphor and narrative in political communications. He also lectured on religion and politics at the Starr King School for Ministry in Berkeley. As a sponsor and organizer, he has pulled together numerous national events with progressive religious leaders. He also organized a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King at Riverside Church in New York City as well as “Freedom and Faith” bus tours, which was a nationwide campaign for social justice and progressive values.
Smith’s play, Double Play, which explored American Western myths and legends, was held over to sold-out audiences. He’s even written and performed songs in the Americana tradition, such as his best-known song, “Helping Marty Robbins,” a tribute to his hometown, Houston.
Most recently, Smith is the creator of DogCanyon, a political and cultural web site covering state, national and global issues from a Texas perspective. DogCanyon is an exhilarating and unique site that gets the connections between politics and culture and explores both the personal side of politics and the ups, down, craziness and beauty of “life its ownself,” as humorist Dan Jenkins would say. DogCanyon offers heartfelt personal essays, hard-hitting political analysis, and, most importantly, laughs.
As Paul Begala said, Smith writes in “the finest, firmest, fearless tradition of Texas essayists like Molly Ivins.”
As long as health care is considered as product and not a human right, there will be people like Marcelas, and like his mother.