Starting Fresh
It's been hard to write about issues that I care about over the last few months, because the issues I care about have in many cases moved from the theoretical to the personal. It's one thing to write about the "sandwich generation." It's another to be totally immersed in that lifestyle.Still, I do come up for air occasionally, and check out the portents for the coming year. It's a mixed bag.
On the bright side: We have a Democratic Congress; a woman Speaker of the House; a determination by the vast majority of Americans that the war in Iraq must end; and new attention to the needs of the working poor. A significant, and long-overdue, increase in the minimum wage is as close to a certainty as there can be in politics. There has been a growth in jobs that may actually turn out to be sustainable.
On the negative side: Our president thinks that escalation of the war in Iraq is the correct response to the public's desire for peace; the Democratic push for its share in corporate donations may help fund winning elections, but may also fragment the party in its efforts to roll back some of the more egregious tax cuts; the Republicans still control the executive and judicial branches of government (and every aspect of my state government).
A sense of change has produced a range of reactions locally. The media has taken up the issue of homelessness, and our religious right doesn't know what to make of it. On the one hand, they want to assign all responsibility for homelessness onto the homeless population itself. An entire editorial page was devoted to letters to the editor declaring that helping homeless persons would be to violate the Scriptures, and thus be unChristian. They quoted Paul: "Those who would not work, shall not eat." Every homeless person should get a job and pull themselves out of poverty. This would be less troublesome if all homeless persons were mentally and physically healthy adults able to choose from a plentitude of well-paying careers. Unfortunately, jobs available to two-year-olds are limited, and rarely cover the rent.
An aside: yes, I responded with my own letter to the editor, calling to mind the great fictional theologian, Ebenezer Scrooge, while quoting from Matthew, "As you do unto the least of these, my brethren, so you do unto me." Oddly, there hasn't been a single letter to the editor on the subject since.
Leaving that digression behind, there have been other responses to changes in the political winds, nationally and locally, and some have been less predictable than the exhortation to let the homeless starve. Indeed, the Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce has adopted the Homeless Continuum of Care as its charity of the year, and is holding a series of fund-raisers to raise funds for our proposed shelter. It will take a bit to let that soak in.
Before I leave the topic of homelessness, a large number of persons have urged me to see the movie, "In Pursuit of Happyness." Opinions are divided, and I do really want to find some time to check it out for myself. Even if the movie does present a skewed version of how to overcome homelessness and poverty (which has been the prevailing opinion of my colleagues, though not the only one), it is encouraging that these issues are moving to center stage as defined by Hollywood.
Another issue whose time, I hope, has come is that of universal health insurance. There really is no argument left to be made that our current system is anything but a disservice to the entire country. Citizens of countries which have adopted universal health care, even bad plans, are healthier than citizens of the US, and the cost is vastly less than our part-free market, part-government, part-monopoly system of care. Who profits by our current system is somewhat random, and has little to do with skill levels or critical needs. A plastic surgeon specializing in breast enhancements makes ten times the salary of a primary care physician specializing in preventive medicine. The losers within our system are more easily defined: the chronically ill, the uninsured, and the public as a whole.
And in the spirit of a new year: here's hoping that 2007 brings out a kinder, gentler spirit than the one we have seen over the last decade - and here's to hope.
posted by Lenore Wilson @ 1:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home