Voting from the Heart Julia02110 in
Action 6/28/2007 at 11:14 AM PDT
Six weeks ago I underwent major heart surgery at one of the finest hospitals in America, Mass General in Boston, by a caring, top cardiac surgeon. I would have died without it. Now, six weeks later, I have a normal heart and can plan a new life; in essence, I am free of a congenital condition that has impaired my career, income, and quality of life over the past few years. I also have no health insurance.
What's wrong with this picture? I am alive, I got the best of care... and I had no health insurance.
Am I writing from the future? Did Edwards get elected and the year is really 2012? Did God reverse time, take back the war, the 80% rise in the cost of health insurance, the tax cuts for the wealthy? Did my friend decide to forgo her $400 tax rebate in 2004 and not vote for George Bush?
The answer?
I live in Massachusetts where everyone has gotten good care for years - rich and poor. The state takes care of everyone. If you don't have insurance, no one turns you away or looks down on you. When I stand in the pharmacy line at Mass General, I notice everyone is treated the same. No doctor has ever mentioned my state "health plan" or turned me away.
(snip)
But Massachusetts has one thing in common with John Edwards. They know that a "right to life" exists. The first of the "great inalienable rights" guaranteed by the Constitution and our Founding Fathers -- the "right to life" -- is essential to our humanity. Without it, nothing else is possible.
The rest of America seems to have forgotten that. John and Elizabeth Edwards know it. And I do too. I'd like to help this country remember. So I am working for John Edwards because I want others, everywhere in America, to have the same opportunity I did.
The other candidates talk about universal health care using safe, competitive models. Only Edwards has a plan that includes both competition and compassion. He doesn't mince words. Roll back the tax cuts on the rich. Spend $15 billion a year (a drop in the bucket compared to Iraq). I surmise that my friend won't get to buy a flat-screen TV in 2009 with her tax rebate, and I know it's unpatriotic not to shop, but...
What's more important?
The homeless guy in line next to me at Mass General waiting for free blood pressure medication, or neo-patriotism? I study him and my own beating heart goes out to him. Like him, I'm lucky.
Someone fixed me because I'm a human being. My heart also goes out to the poor across America: the uninsured and under-insured that suffer and die because they can't afford health insurance or medicines. The rest of America should take a long, hard look at us Blue State "godless" liberals here in the Cradle of Liberty and ask themselves: "What would Jesus do?"
I know what John Edwards will do. He will make it possible for others across America to have the same opportunity I had. I'm grateful I'm alive and working for him is part of my way of giving back. There are other reasons I'm supporting Edwards I'll talk about later but, for now:
Be well, work hard, get involved and vote. But don't vote your pocketbook, please; and don't vote your fears. Look within... and vote from your heart.
http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/6/28/15020/1423 :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
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:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:
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