THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series
I've been asked to write a "patriotic July 4th" healthcare diary by the organizers of the Thursday night healthcare series.
What follows is how I see our nation on the eve of July 4th, 2008.
Patriotism is not picnics, fireworks, or a long weekend.
Patriotism is not simply showing up to vote. You don't change a nation at the ballot box alone.
Patriots fight for the voiceless. And in 2008 in the United States, the voiceless has become just about the entire population.
Scenes from an American horror movie:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
Tonight, America is neither safe nor happy.
Listen to the plaintive words of desperate Americans.
"We're doing everything right, we're doing everything we can, we're not breaking the law and we still can't get by"
The United States is last among industrialized nations in preventable deaths.
"Let's go get 'em."
And finally the people begin to stand up and take back their country.
This is what Independence Day means to me.
Independence mean no more fear of financial ruin because you or someone in your family becomes ill.
Independence means guaranteed and affordable healthcare from cradle to grave for every citizen in the richest nation on the planet.
