Feet on the Street for Health Care Reform

Have you ever driven by or walked by a group of sign-waving, slogan-chanting people standing at a downtown street corner or marching up a sidewalk? I have; always feeling a bit above that sort of thing, whether or not I agreed with the cause. Well, so much for aloofness and superiority, on Friday I was part of such a group for the first time in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I was too self-conscious to carry a sign, but I did find myself chanting “Health Care reform now” ―albeit in a volume that was barely audible at first― as I stood in 30 degree weather with about 50 other people on the corner of Bond and Greenwood in downtown Bend.

The gathering was part of a demonstration that included a scheduled visit by four of us to the nearby office of Congressman Greg Walden―the only Republican left in the Oregon delegation. During the visit, I delivered a copy of my letter.

The process turned out to be a bit more interesting than it sounds because local tea baggers and other conservatives had learned about our rally and showed up in equal numbers waving signs and shouting slogans that at best supported Greg Walden’s vote against the House Bill, and at worst stated that Nancy Pelosi and the President were (#$@@) conspiring to take away all our freedoms. We had to walk through this crowd to get to the Congressman’s office, which stimulated an uncreative slur from one of its members, but nothing more. When we arrived, we found a dozen or so of the opposition were already in the offices and pretty much packing the place. Things stayed civilized, and we exchanged views with two members of the Congressman’s staff.

I have to confess that my earlier involvement in the streets was not totally passive. I had to walk through the opposition group on the way to our rally. Instead of hurrying across the street I milled around and listened to what people were saying and chanting. Then I heard a man in his 40s, who was trying to persuade a woman about to cross the street and carrying a pro-reform sign that “I pay for my healthcare, and I expect everyone else to do the same. Anything the government does gets screwed up.” Something about his words and demeanor said he was one of the more educated and rational people in that group, and as the woman crossed the street, I took up the battle. This turned into a lively 10 minute discussion with Ron and his friend Bob.

I found our debate productive because my respect for Ron grew and my own commitment grew stronger. We agreed on several things such as: we preferred decentralizing decision making to State and Local governments rather than heaping everything on the Federal Government, predictions that our country will have to endure years of rampant inflation starting in the next year or so and beliefs that healthcare, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and budget deficits are a real mess for which both political parties and we the people are responsible. Our core difference was what to do about the mess we’re in. His answer was to let it go to hell and he’d take care of himself. He had given up on our system of government with anger, sad hopelessness and a sense of having been betrayed by both political parties that he conveyed with genuine emotion and vulnerability.

At the moment he expressed his true feelings he was not sloganeering. We were merely two fallible people seeing the same mess and working for different outcomes among shitty alternatives. Adversaries but not enemies. Perhaps just two things keep us on different courses: I have grandchildren and I spent my professional life implementing choices that were never ideal.

We shook hands, and I crossed the street.

Health Net insists February 2009 had 30 days!

Healthcare reform now, the system is broken

Economic over-centralization driven by tactics and weak executives!