A Failure in Courage
Richard LandMany people will remember John F. Kennedy’s wonderful little book Profiles in Courage, which tells the stories of men who stood against incredible political pressure for conscience sake. There’s a reason it‘s such a small book. Such profiles in courage are rare. In the past few days, we have seen just how rare in the United States Senate.
President Obama promised health care deliberations on C-SPAN, open for all to see. Instead, we’ve been treated to crass political deals cut in the middle of the night behind closed doors. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s (D-La.) $300 million deal, now forever known in infamy as the ‘second Louisiana Purchase,’ has been joined by Sen. Ben Nelson’s ‘Cornhusker kickback,’ in which his state is forever exempted from the inevitable increases in state Medicaid payments that will be necessitated by the passage of this legislation. Of course, citizens of the other 49 states will now have to federally subsidize Nebraska to pay for the ‘Cornhusker kickback’ in perpetuity. I cannot think of two more appalling examples of the opposite to JFK’s Profiles in Courage.
As a pro-life American, I am also distressed that Sen. Nelson would settle for so little on the pro-life issue, basically giving states the ability to opt out of abortion being provided by federally subsidized health care plans in their state. As I understand it, that would mean pro-life Americans would be forced to use their federal tax dollars to pay for elective abortions in the 10 to 12 states that will not opt out through their state legislatures. That is a pitiful excuse for a compromise that looks far more like surrender. Many—including the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops and Congressman Bart Stupak, the sponsor of the Stupak-Pitts pro-life amendment in the House of Representatives—are right in continuing to reject this pathetic substitute for a compromise.
I urge all Americans to continue to contact their congressmen and senators as they are home over the Christmas break and tell them just how upset and outraged they are that they and their colleagues would continue to attempt to pass health care legislation that has been rejected by an ever-increasing majority of Americans. Where is ‘government of the people, by the people, for the people?’ I still believe that if the American people make their voices and convictions heard loudly enough in Washington, this bill can be stopped.
Opposition to this legislative monstrosity does not indicate a failure to understand that we need significant health care reform. The ERLC has outlined 15 biblically based principles (download a copy here) by which all attempts at health care reform should be evaluated. A review of those principles will illustrate just how woefully lacking the current legislation is in meeting those principles.
This article is reprinted with permission from The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.