My friends who cling to a Republican Party that vanished years ago – it is either time for you to get active and take your party back, or abandon it. I’m not asking you to join the Democrats. I’m a reluctant member of that crew myself. I know you to be people who subscribe to the ethical and cultural norms that allow our society to exist. I know for a fact that most of you believe we have a responsibility to each other – that there but for the grace of God go we. Believing as you do, you cannot have watched the heath care debate without seeing how your Republican leaders don’t share your beliefs. They sense no responsibility to others. They sense no responsibility to you. They were prepared to allow millions of people to lose their access to health care for no socially responsible reason whatsoever. Although their reasons I’m sure vary, many, I deeply believe, are motivated simply by a deep-seated hatred for President Obama who led the way to passage of the Affordable care Act. Remember, our president tried for years to convince us that Barack Obama was not an American.
Like most of the democratic world, most Americans have come to understand health care as a human right. Today’s congressional Republican Party does not share that understanding. While wrapping themselves in Christian pieties, they openly seek to return our society to a place where the fittest thrive and the weak support their luxury. Freedom to them includes the right to starve or die for lack of timely, effective medical care. To think that this political party was once the home of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower is, it seems to me, to be revolted by what passes for political leadership today. If ever a party turned its back on the public good, it is this pack of amoral hacks that have taken over our country and made us the embarrassment of the world. Republican leadership thinks you are with them. Your silence emboldens them. It’s time they heard from you.
