Tea Parties and Red Coats

Dressed in the garb of the Minute Man angry citizens march on Town Hall meetings, but they wear the wrong uniform. They should be sporting the Red Coats of the British Army. They stand as sentries of the old guard; ready to relive the Boston Massacre, brandishing weapons against their fellow citizens. Nothing could be more offensive to the American ideal than to retain power under the force of arms.

One of the things I hold dear about America is our dislike of bullies, of those who would assert their will on those less powerful. The Founders called it the “tyranny of the majority”. The popularity of an idea does not give it moral authority.

All citizens of this great nation deserve access to affordable quality health care. Health care that is not dependent on your employer’s bottom line. Health care that is undeniable if you or a family member contracts a catastrophic illness. Many of today’s insurance policies ration care through annual and life time limits on benefits.

The CEO’s and major stockholders of insurance companies are no different from any other Yankee-Slicker on Wall Street. Health care should be a non-profit business. It is immoral to amass riches upon the sickness and misery of others.

Many on the conservative right claim to be Christian men and women, wrapped in the flag with a cross in one hand and carrying Mr. Colt’s great equalizer in the other. They despise liberals and moderates as godless heathens bent on destroying the founding principles of America. They are ignorant of both their politics and their theology. Conceived in the womb of The Enlightenment, nurtured on the milk of classic liberalism, America burst forth from the pangs of revolution. Liberalism, not conservatism, gave us our freedom.

As for the theology, allow me to relate a story from the founder of Christianity. Luke’s Gospel tells the story of The Good Samaritan, prefaced by a lawyer asking Jesus about the requirements for inheriting eternal life, which we know as “The Great Commandment”. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus affirms that the lawyer has answered correctly, but the lawyer is not satisfied, so he asks “And who is my neighbor”?

Jesus then tells the story. A traveler is robbed, beaten, and left naked and half-dead on the side of the road. A Priest passes by but ignores the man. A Levite does likewise, both spiritual leaders in the community. A Samaritan, hated and despised by the Jews, sees the victim and had compassion on him. He tended his wounds, placed him on his own beast, and continued on the journey towards Jericho where he found a roadside inn and continued to nurse the man. The next morning the Samaritan went to the innkeeper, paid him for tending to the wounded fellow, and instructed the innkeeper to provide for him and if he spent more than he had provided, the Samaritan would repay him on his return trip.

Jesus then asked, “…which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among thieves?” The lawyer answered that the one who showed mercy was the neighbor. Jesus said, “Go and do likewise”.

It is time for progressives, liberals, and moderates, to go and do likewise. Let the angry right pass by on the other side of the health care debate. Let them leave their neighbor bloodied and bruised in the ditch. Let their indifference for their fellow citizens expose the moral depravity of their soul. We must not let them define the debate with lies and fear mongering. We cannot allow them to intimidate with assault rifles and Hitler posters.

Those who oppose health care reform will never be ready to embrace change. Change is the fear they cannot face, the fear that drives them to bring weapons to Town Hall meetings, the fear that labels all things progressive as “socialist” and the fear that would demonize their friends and neighbors if they held a contrary opinion.

Now is the time for Americans to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Now is the time for health care for every citizen of this great nation. No American should ever again file bankruptcy due to medical bills. Parents should never again have to wonder how they would pay for treatment for a catastrophic illness for their child. No senior citizen should ever again have to decide between food and medicine. As Dr. King said, “if not now, when?”