Elizabeth Warren on health care and religion

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/elizabeth-warren-on-health-care-and-religion/2012/08/23/5c509058-ed6c-11e1-9ddc-340d5efb1e9c_blog.html


Posted at 07:07 PM ET, 08/23/2012
Elizabeth Warren on health care and religion
By E.J. Dionne

In my column today, I noted that I had interviewed Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. In the course of the interview, Warren offered what I thought were particularly interesting thoughts about the Affordable Care Act, and also about the role of her religious faith in her public engagement. I share a partial transcript of the interview here.

I was struck by her comments on the Affordable Care Act because she is arguing that Democrats have been reluctant to claim and defend the act as a major achievement, and that this is a mistake. Warren believes (and I happen to agree) that the law is not only a substantial accomplishment, but also provides a foundation for further improvements in the American health care system. For too long, many of those who supported and voted for the act have been reluctant to talk about it. This is changing in the campaign because faced with Republican promises to repeal the act, Democrats have discovered that reminding voters of what they would lose if the disappeared is good politics. And for the long run, it is good policy to make the case for expanding on and improving the law rather than scrapping it. I share her energetic answer because she is a rarity among Democrats in offering a comprehensive argument for the law and its possibilities.

As for her religious commitments, few among either her supporters or her detractors know how important these have been to Warren, and how they shape her political approach. (I suppose I should confess that since my own political views have been greatly influenced by the passage she cites from the New Testament, I am happy to hear what she had to say.)

The full passage from the Kings James version of Matthew 25:40, which she quotes in part, reads: “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” The part she paraphrases later, from Matthew 25:35-36, reads: “For I was ahungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

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