They’ll Never Figure it Out; and Other Reasons to Push Health Care for ALL
February 8, 2010 by Julia King · 8 Comments
Since the Super Bowl was played last night (congratulations Saints!), I thought I’d write about the State of the Union Address. Maybe for Easter I’ll write about the Super Bowl.
“…When the market crashed on Black Tuesday, and civil rights marchers were beaten on Bloody Sunday, the future was anything but certain. These were the times that tested the courage of our convictions, and the strength of our union. And despite all our divisions and disagreements, our hesitations and our fears, America prevailed because we chose to move forward as one nation, as one people.” — President Barack Obama, State of the Union Jan. 2010
Of course, Obama said plenty of other things in his State of the Union Address, but I got so hung up on the above assertion, that I couldn’t hear much else.
For real? In the midst of moral crisis, Americans just hold hands and plow forward together like one big, loving family? Granted, I’m no history scholar; but this is not the way I read our nation’s past.
Slavery didn’t end because slave owners awoke one morning and realized that holding human beings in captivity was barbaric. Women didn’t get the vote because they batted their eyelashes at men and said “please.” Labor rights, Social Security, the racial integration of public schools, the end of the Vietnam War: none of these things came on the American scene because everyone chose to move forward as “one people.” To this day, there exist pockets of backward-thinking Americans who preach racial intolerance, and others who have never stopped romanticizing the raw, bootstrap-brand of capitalism that had children (and still does in many parts of the world) working as seamstresses and coalminers.
Bloody Sunday (and a whole host of other bloody days throughout history) only convinced SOME of the people that it was time for change. If we had waited to move forward as one, we never would have come this far. Progress has always meant dragging some Americans kicking and screaming away from the old days and into the new days. Ruby Bridges did not integrate a school in front of a resigned, respectful crowd of dissenters; she did it with marshals at her side and a mob of adults so angry and racist that they yelled and spit and cursed… at a little girl.
Lest I be chastised for traitorous thought, I am not sorry I voted for Barack Obama. I believe he is a good and decent man. I believe he is fiercely intelligent — and equally compassionate. Furthermore, I am shamelessly charmed by his entire family, from his wife down to his dog.
But if he thinks our nation’s moral progress has ever been a result of coming together as one, I’m afraid he’s sorely mistaken. And that mistaken view will make it impossible for him to deliver the national healthcare plan he promised Americans.
Many of us have already figured out that health care for EVERYONE makes sense for a multitude of reasons (including the oh-so-simple notion that it is MORAL). But Obama seems to think we ought to WAIT for insurance company CEOs and pharmaceutical company CEOs and anti-tax, anti-regulation advocates for itty-bitty government to figure out that having basic medical care for human beings in one of the richest nations on earth might be a good and just idea.
Okay. I guess I’ll WAIT.
Let’s talk about it. Let’s hold hands. Let’s be as one. Please.
Have you figured it out yet, CEOs? Tea Baggers?
No?!
Well, I’m done waiting.
Put universal healthcare in the spotlight, Mr. President. Explain it to people (and call it whatever you want to call it; don’t get bogged down in the terms). Say YOU support it (because putting everyone in the same healthcare pool is the best plan out there for both fiscal and ethical reasons). Tell the Democrats that THEY should support it — including self-serving, bland politicians like Evan Bayh). Tell the Republicans (ideologues like Mark Souder) that they may not hold progress hostage due to their private religious beliefs (re: abortion, abortion, abortion, abortion…) beliefs that should be held apart from their sworn duty to serve the public good.
And then let everybody vote – or filibuster, or whatever else they see fit to do.
A president’s job is to set the bar high and to push everybody to get over it. If it doesn’t work, someone else will just have to try again (and again and again). But waiting for the people who are wrong to figure out what’s right is not the way of progress. It never has been, and it never will be.
Health Care “Reformers,” Don’t Make Me Swear.
December 19, 2009 by Julia King · 3 Comments
A friend just emailed me about health care, wondering if I think the Senate ought to (as he put it) “shitcan” the current bill. Hmmm. I’ve never used the word before (this rather sailorish “shitcan”), but I think I might like it. Shitcan. I type the word a third time and still it looks good.
He owned up to being only on the “edge of understanding” and claimed some malleability on the issue, which coincidentally puts us in the exact same camp.
I wonder: Is there anyone in the center of understanding? Someone who really gets it? Gets the fact that every other “advanced” nation on earth is able to give its entire population medical care but we cannot? And is there anyone who can explain how it is the Catholic Church appears to be on the brink of blocking women from accessing a perfectly legal, constitutionally protected medical procedure? And the legislators who are helping them do it are called “moderate.”
I haven’t written much about this for two reasons. One is that, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a full time job. Yes, real writers with full time jobs that are not writing jobs, wake in the wee hours of the morning just to string together words. So I guess that makes me the Velveteen Rabbit of writers, all full of stuffing and not actually real.
My job is a challenging, fulfilling job, by the way, and one that exposes me regularly to people who need, among other things, health care. This leads to the second reason I haven’t written: It’s just so incredibly sad. It is tragic that Americans can find the money, the will and the way to launch war on any given day, but get all tripped up and bogged down in ideology when it comes time to provide basic care to its citizens… or those who want to be its citizens.
It should have been Single Payer from the beginning. We all get there together. If we don’t, it doesn’t mean a thing. Okay. I confess I’ve given a different speech to friends who are even more disillusioned than I am. I’ve talked about Susan B. Anthony and how she devoted her whole adult life (not just a campaign season or two) to getting women the vote – and in the end she never saw it. It happened, of course, but not on her watch. And in the process, Frederick Douglas sold her out; and later suffragists like Kate Gordon and Laura Clay sold African American women out. They all got there eventually, but not together. Was Douglas a brilliant negotiator to leave white women behind? And were Gordon and Clay equally brilliant to leave black women behind?
No. They were all just humans desperate for a taste of dignity. It’s human frailty, not cunning and intellect, that allows us to cut others from our cause just so we can get there faster. But it’s what we do.
Heavy sigh. We’re screwy.
Yeah. Shitcan.
Dazzled and Distracted – Guest Blog
December 19, 2009 by joanking · 1 Comment
When my invitation to the Dec. 1, White House holiday party came on Nov. 19, I was thrilled! After opening the envelope addressed to Ms. Joan King, with the engraved return address: The White House, Washington D.C., there it was–a beautiful red invitation with gold lettering and the White House seal at the top. It read: “Mrs. Michelle Obama requests the pleasure of your company at a Holiday Open House to be held at The White House on Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at six o’clock.” My hope was that Barack, himself, would drop by. And then, the news reports began stating that President Obama would be announcing his decision on Afghanistan troop deployment (and, yes, there would be around 30,000 more troops going!). And, it looked like the only night available for his speech was DEC. 1! My first thoughts (after realizing Barack would not be dropping by the party) were: should I boycott this holiday party? Should I wear an anti-war pin, at least? In truth, I did neither. After all, it was an invitation to THE WHITE HOUSE by Michelle, for campaign volunteers and volunteers in the White House Correspondence office, where I answer phones two days a week.
So, there I stood, in line with a couple of hundred people on Dec. l, as President Obama left the White House in his helicopter about 5:45 p.m. to fly to West Point to give his long awaited speech. I felt helpless and somewhat chagrined, which lasted only until I entered the White House (after, of course, three checkpoints, and the metal detector) a little after 6 p.m. A string trio played as each person was “welcome (ed) to the White House.” Wreaths of red painted magnolia leaves adorned the East Colonnade, which we walked down. Each room was absolutely beautiful, with holiday decorations, sparkling decorated trees and lit fire places in every room. The gigantic 18 ½ feet tree in the Blue room was adorned with 800 ornaments from previous administrations. Red taffeta ribbons and cranberries festooned the two trees in the Red room. An unbelievably beautiful white orchid plant was prominently displayed in the women’s rest room.
I began my evening with maybe the most delicious eggnog I have ever had; it was laced with rum, and ladled out of a crystal punchbowl. But that was just the beginning. In the East room, tables were laden with vegetables, fruit, oysters, shrimp, smoked salmon, roast beef, cheeses, and fruit. Wine and other drinks were plentiful. After this smorgasbord of delight, I went to the State Dining Room where we sampled the most scrumptious desserts, and admired the miniature gingerbread White House covered with white chocolate panels..
But it wasn’t only the stunning decorations, the beautiful music, the bountiful and delicious food. It was the feeling of warmth and good will that emanated from every area, and the graciousness and hospitality expressed by Michelle when she thanked all of us for volunteering. As she shook hands and gave hugs to those volunteers she knew from the campaign, I thrust my hand out and she took it in both of her hands. I was happy; I had made brief physical contact with Michelle Obama, an amazing first lady who exemplifies beauty and grace, elegance and naturalness. As I walked out of the White House at 8 p.m., the bushes glimmered with white lights, a full moon hung over Pennsylvania Ave., and I realized for a little while I had not thought about war, and Afghanistan. If only everyone could have those two magical hours in the White House.
Joan
When Presidents Talk to Kids
September 7, 2009 by Julia King · 2 Comments
As a young teenager living in the Washington, D.C. area, I attended Ronald Reagan’s inauguration. I did this despite the fact that on election night when Reagan won, I had literally thrown myself to the floor in despair (I’ve always been a little too dramatic).
That year, my liberal parents took their liberal kids out of their “liberal” public classrooms… in order to pay homage to the democratic process that gave them a conservative president. We didn’t carry protest signs or wear anti-Reagan buttons; my family was just part of the crowd, indistinguishable from the throngs of thrilled Republicans.
I don’t remember a thing Reagan said on that January day in 1981, but I do remember that my parents told me to be respectful. I was warned not to scowl or roll my eyes because, regardless of my feelings, Reagan was the president.
Of course, listening to Reagan didn’t mean abandoning my parents’ (or my) liberal principles; it meant learning the lesson of civic engagement. I was always encouraged to question authority (including my parents’), to analyze the relationship between a speaker’s words and his or her actions, to make up my own mind – but to back up my conclusions with evidence. Reagan’s inaugural speech was no exception.
My own daughter now a teenager, I’m raising her much the same way my parents raised me – with instructions to listen to everything, but to be cautious about what she believes. Needless to say, I’m having some difficulty understanding all these parents who are so worried about President Obama’s address to the nation’s school children.
But maybe it’s just easier parenting as a liberal. As liberals, it’s not our job to control our children’s minds; it’s only our job to supply them with the tools they need to make up their own minds. If I believed it was my duty to keep my daughter from hearing all the wrong-headed ideas spouted by all the wrong-headed politicians out there, it would be a whole different game. I’d be frantic, too.
Of course, I can’t pretend that knee-jerk opposition comes only from the political Right. According to this New York Times article, when the first President George Bush made a similar televised speech to schools in 1991, Democrats complained. (Don’t any of these guys ever learn?)
Liberal or Conservative, if we’re smart we’ll raise our children with some measure of respect for (and knowledge of) the democratic process. That doesn’t mean agreeing with the president (in fact, school children viewing president Obama’s speech should be encouraged to critique his comments). Parents should help children determine if the president’s actions correspond with the president’s words (far too many presidents give good speeches that don’t match their actions).
It’s okay to dislike the President (Lord knows I’ve spent a lot of years disliking the President); but it’s not okay to dismiss the President. For good or for ill, the President of the United States of America has far too much power to disregard.
So, conservative Kids – if you see President Obama and he fills you with despair (or propaganda), go ahead and throw yourself to the ground. But then pick yourself up and get back in the game. That’s what democracy is all about.
Thank you, Senator.
August 27, 2009 by Julia King · 1 Comment
It’s easy to forget that some people are made of flesh and blood. Certain performers and athletes (and statesmen), those larger-than-life folks who do things the rest of us only dream about. The people who face down tanks or take a stage in front of a hundred thousand onlookers.
This is not to suggest that the rest of us are slouches, because we’re not. Just last week I stood in a hallway with fellow citizens and listened to friends and acquaintances make public speeches in an effort to update our city human rights ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity. That night I heard some bigotry; but I also heard a lot of common sense and eloquence. I heard democracy and the making of justice.
Not long before that, I watched a friend work for health care in a BIG way, as she lobbied people at a street festival, appeared in the newspaper, on television, and started a health care blog on the web — all in a matter of days.
Most of us step in and out of the public eye — and the pressure of the political arena. We take some causes on and leave some for others to fight. We forgive ourselves our limitations (as we should). But Ted Kennedy stayed in there for almost 5 decades.
Thank you, Senator.
Give These People Some Low-Cost, High-Quality Chill Pills
August 8, 2009 by Julia King · 11 Comments
I know two people in this video: My cousin appears briefly, standing on a table (wearing a white pair of pants and a reddish shirt, sunglasses propped on top of her head like a good Floridian). Her husband is the man with the ripped shirt near the door. And here he is again in The New York Times.
It’s been years since I’ve seen them, my cousin and her husband. I’ve always liked them though, considered them cool since the time I was about eleven and my sisters and I went sledding at their (then) rural Indiana home. They are therefore stashed permanently in my memory as good, lighthearted people… despite what appears to be their current-day hatred of health care.
Why? Why do they hate health care?? Who are these people anyway? Not just my cousin and her husband, but this entire angry mob? “Hear our voice!!” they shout over and over again. But what do they want us to hear? What? SAY it already, People.
I happen to want health care for all because… well, because it seems so clearly moral to consider health care a human right rather than a profit-driven luxury. I’m not asking for government-sponsored strappy sandals. I’m not asking to squeeze the profit out of manicures and spa treatments. Go ahead, price me out of a balloon ride. Or a weekend at the Cape. Profit is okay. A little elitism and exclusion is okay. But not where health care is concerned. Stupid, lazy, fat, drug addicts, immigrants, the sick, the really sick… I want to cover them ALL. That’s how I roll.
What do these other people want?
MORE LATER….
Okay, here’s the MORE: The family gossip is that my cousin and her husband (Randy) didn’t go to the town hall meeting with the intention of disrupting it. They went to watch and listen. They even claim to be open to some form of health care reform (although they are NOT fans of Obama).
Apparently they were in the hallway when the chanting started and when Randy saw the door being closed (and empty chairs still available in the meeting room), he tried to push his way through — and ended up getting more than he bargained for from two aggressive union guys. That’s the story anyway. It is worth noting, however, that Randy (and my cousin) are regular right-wing radio listeners, meaning that at this point they are poised and ready to pounce on anything that looks like “socialism.” (NOTE: health care for ALL looks a little bit like socialism.)
I’m sorry Randy got roughed up. It’s a sad day when a person goes to a town hall meeting and comes home with a ripped shirt and a bloodied chest. It’s also a sad day when the prospect of giving tens of millions of human beings access to health care is seen as a license to start a revolution; so I’ve spent the day trying to figure out whether Randy was a victim or an accessory. I’m still not sure.
What I do know is that democracy can’t work if people shout down (and shut down) their ideological opponents. It just can’t. So being part of the democratic process (showing up at public meetings, for instance) has to mean that a person is committed to sorting out all of the available information — and to listening to all of the viewpoints.
Randy showed up (and good for him, because a large part of anything is showing up!), but he acted not when the chanting started (which was the real closing of the meeting), but when the physical door was being closed… in order to drown out the disruptive noise. He tried to shove his body in, but it was too late.
(Randy, if you’re reading: I welcome your input here. I’m sure I need to be set straight!) 
Pumpkinvine People, I Heart You.
June 21, 2009 by Julia King · 3 Comments
Good-for-nothing Blogger Gets Actual Job
June 19, 2009 by Julia King · 6 Comments
A couple of people (Okay… ONE. One person.) expressed concern about the lack of new content on my site. It’s true. It’s been a while. I recently took a job and haven’t found (or made) the time to write. Thank you for noticing, One Person. I like that about you!
I don’t know about all of you (“all of you,” apparently meaning One Person’s entire self), but my mind is on health care. I just haven’t figured out a way to write about it without using lots of swear words, so I’m pondering for now…
In the meantime, do your part and make some noise out there about the need for a national health care plan. Single Payer is the way to go, but at the very least we need a public option. It is SO past time for this. Read HERE to be convinced.
Okay, bye. Write to you later, One Person. Hey — I’m working on something about MOTORCYCLES. What do you think of THAT?
President Obama and the Notre Dame “Controversy”
May 9, 2009 by Julia King · 7 Comments
I keep thinking of Lyle the Crocodile. Remember him — the lovable reptile from the late 1960s that lived in a Manhattan row house with a middle class family? He was irresistibly kind and funny and oh-so-scaly. All the kids in the neighborhood wanted to play with him because… who WOULDN’T want to play with a giant, tame crocodile!
Then one day the kind, good-hearted Lyle got an anonymous hate letter. A HATE letter. He was sad. Why did someone hate him? He got another, and then another… until one day he heard a noise on the front porch and somehow, despite the fact that he was a crocodile, he managed to quickly open the door and catch a little girl leaving a note. (Disclaimer: This is the way I remember one of my favorite childhood books, and this is the way I want it to stay.) Lyle confronted the girl and it turned out that her mother didn’t like crocodiles and wouldn’t let her play with Lyle (poor little girl!). Naturally, she had no alternative but to hate him. But then some plot was hatched to win over the girl’s mother, and it worked (hooray!); so everyone was happy, especially the little girl who got a brand new friend.
Fort Wayne/South Bend Bishop John D’Arcy is the character match for the little girl’s mother, because D’Arcy refuses to play with President Obama when he comes to Notre Dame and he’s telling all his Catholic “children” to do the same. Poor children!
And Obama, he’s Lyle the Crocodile. Of course, Lyle and Obama are different in many significant ways (Obama is a human being who went to law school, wrote two books, was elected president, and his spirits remain high even when people send him hate letters; conversely, Lyle is an affable, but emotionally needy, uneducated crocodile). But they are the same in that they share an underlying decency that translates into a mysterious, charismatic quality. An American president who displays gentleness is like a crocodile that chooses not to bite, because both temper their inherent power with self-restraint and discipline. There is something captivating about that, about being able to relax in the face of strength.
We had a slightly twitchy tough-talking, war-launching president for almost a decade. The world saw (and felt) what it meant to be constantly on-guard – and most of us didn’t like it. Some of us did, but if we are to believe the polls (and why wouldn’t we?), most people around the globe found it disconcerting. It’s still early in Obama’s presidency, early enough to celebrate the novelty of a man who reaches out to the world, a man who demonstrates our nation’s ability to shift direction, to grow beyond an array of old and destructive notions.
What a shame that some Catholics (the “good” ones?) are being called upon to forego any ownership of the progress Obama represents. And on what grounds? On the grounds that Obama doesn’t respect life. The man who condemned the Iraq war, who seeks health care for all people, who put an end to the American use of torture, the guy who wants to protect the entire population of the planet from the scourge of climate change… this man is being accused of lacking respect for life. Whatever.
It’s reasonable to critique a sitting president, to voice opposition to bad policies (and EVERY president has some) — but it just can’t be any fun to hate on Obama. Poor Bishop D’Arcy. It’s got to be lonely.
Strip Searching and Other School House Lessons
April 22, 2009 by Julia King · Leave a Comment
Message to my fifteen-year-old daughter: if you put illicit ibuprofen in your underpants, the principal will find it. DON’T DO DRUGS.
This week the U.S. Supreme Court hears a case about a 13-year-old who was strip-searched at school in the ever-important and never-ending War on Drugs.
Isn’t it a little ironic that while some school administrators are busily fighting “sexting,” (the sending of erotic messages and photos on cell phones), others are disrobing pubescent girls in the nurse’s office? Yes. The answer is, “Yes, indeed. That’s ironic.”
It would be amusing, except that a living, breathing, developing human being was humiliated in the search for an ibuprofen. Okay, to be fair, it was EXTRA STRENGTH.
When IS it okay for a school official to strip search an 8th grader? Because most 13-year-olds would rather be water-boarded than strip searched, I’m going to go with a firm “never,” although I’m willing to consider exceptional scenarios that involve hidden explosives.
It’s forgivable (and even understandable) for an administrator to occasionally display bad judgment. Anyone who’s ever spent much time around middle schoolers can attest to the fact that they have an uncanny ability to bring out the worst in people. As a substitute teacher, I remember distinctly one eighth grade boy who decided it would be funny to “beep” all through math class. Mercifully, his peers found the behavior even more annoying than I did and he abandoned the game (before I had the presence of mind to search his nude body for electronic beeping devices). But his goal was typical of his age group – to push the buttons of authority figures, and the limits of good taste.
In the course of working with young people, in the course of trying to establish boundaries and guidelines, a slip-up now and then is to be expected. And when the stakes are high, like in the case of drugs or weapons, those errors in judgment can be correspondingly dramatic. Mistakes are a part of life, whether it’s the kid who thinks it’s cool to pass out anti-inflammatory pills in the cafeteria… or the assistant principal who thinks it’s cool to stop the behavior at all costs, including the cost of a young girl’s dignity. One bad call needn’t destroy an official’s career – or tarnish the reputation of an institution, or worse yet, an entire profession.
But according to the Christian Science Monitor, the National School Boards Association and the American Association of School Administrators filed a friend of the court brief in support of the school officials. Uh-oh. School administrators are staking out ground in favor of strip-searching 13-year-olds?? Maybe that’s the real story, the fact that there are professional associations — groups of men and women who deal with our children day in and day out — who are moved to defend, not a young girl whose underpants were peeked into at school – but their colleagues who made the decision to do it.
It’s bad enough that they even want that kind of authority (who in their right mind WANTS to be allowed to look into an 8th grader’s pants??); but what these administrators need to realize is that, regardless of what the Supreme Court rules, they can’t have the authority. Such acts, acts that tamper with the delicate psyches of girls and boys transitioning into adulthood, acts that are designed to take control over beings who desperately need to learn to control themselves, acts that are at their core about one individual looking past another… these are acts that can’t ever really be authorized. They can only be made legal (although I believe the Supreme Court will declare the strip search unconstitutional).
School administrators need not wait for external judgment; right now what they need is self-reflection.
