Which Side Are You On

Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drummin'
Four dead in Ohio

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I traveled to Lexington to be at the planned protest for the visit from the Vice-President. VP Pence had come to speak to a invited, select group of businessmen to hear of their misfortunes doing business with the Affordable Care Act. We wanted to remind the Veep and his guests that there were quite a few people who were expected to have trouble doing business without it. Likely far more than those who have been inconvenienced. We got there kind of early and there were only about 50 to 75 people there but as the afternoon wore on the crowd swelled to around 250 to 300 people who were passionate about health care for everyone which, of course, is in direct contradiction to what the Veep wanted to hear. While he listened to people tell him of how they were struggling to cover the increased costs of complying with the law we were loudly reminding them that there were people dying because of lack of access to affordable health care and, if the ACA is repealed then another 22 million will face the same future. In our crowd we had people who had suffered in secret until the ACA and expanded Medicaid made it possible for them to see a doctor.

This brings up one of the issues which is that insurance companies are having trouble assessing risk in covering a population with pent up health care needs. There was a provision in the original ACA to deal with this but the GOP objected and the provision was excluded. Now, in a twist of fate the GOP wants to do the same thing the original ACA did but now it's a new idea. Go figure. There was also a mechanism that would have prevented the imposition of duress on businesses but, you guessed it, the GOP got that thrown out too. Now they are going about as if they've never heard of it. The fact is that our own Senator Mitch McConnell tried every obstructionist trick in the book to cause the ACA to founder but, even now, with all its problems it is a very popular program and people don't want to let it go until they have something better. Well, that is what was promised you know but, as the President said, this stuff is hard. It was hard when President Obama proposed it and it was hard when Congress negotiated it and debated it. Something that Senator McConnell is loathe to do.

In May of 1970 National Guard units at Kent State University in Ohio opened live fire on students who had gathered to protest the war in Vietnam. Four students were murdered. That lit a fire that burned nation wide within 24 hours and campuses across the nation went out in protest. About both the murders and the war in Vietnam. It was the catalyst that began the long downhill slide to withdrawal from that war. I was at that protest in 1970 at the University of Kentucky and nothing in the intervening 47 years has motivated me to once again take up a sign and join with fellow citizens in this act of democracy. Peaceful, civil protest.

One of the things that has caused me pain is that the younger generations have not felt the pressure to take up this cause or any of the other causes that were sufficient reason to take to the streets. The fact of the matter is that change will not come until the people speak loudly enough to be heard. Loudly enough to cause someone sitting in a safe seat in Congress to become worried that he or she may have to get a real job. One where production is considered important. There were a few people there from the current collegiate generation and I asked a few of them why they hadn't become a force. Most often what I heard was that those generations have grown up with the notion that the individual is powerless and that all politics is crooked. Those of us who are older have to ask ourselves how did we let that happen? How did we become fat and lazy enough to allow the will of the people to become something that can be ignored. How did we fail to pass our passion on to our children? How did we allow our government to become so devoted to the rich and powerful and neglectful of the great people of the republic? I have always been informed politically but it is not enough to just know what is happening and go vote. I have to speak up and not be silent. There is someone who needs to hear my voice and that is what motivated me to leave my comfort zone and go to Lexington to carry a sign and chant slogans in unity with those who feel as I do. I'll tell you, it was over 90 degrees and no cloud cover and I thought wistfully of my air conditioned home but I emphatically believe that our creature comforts are in danger of loss and I believe that the time is near when medical access may be considered unnecessary for people like me.

47 years ago I was a much younger and more passionate man. It was easy to see what was right and what was wrong. Now I'm an old man though I hate to consider it. Regardless of age one must speak out for right when wrong is on the attack. I have to ask you. When will you pick up your sign and leave your comfort zone? Wait and it could be too late.

Four citizens were killed at Kent State. Vietnam took some 58,209 of our best. If the ACA is lost it has the potential to kill millions. My Take is “which side are you on.”