Main Street and Your Street

So we stand poised at the precipice. The House of Representatives are preparing to vote on the most important social/ economic bill in the past twenty years (at least): health care reform. The Cons are spending millions, an hour I would suspect, to turn the tide and stop Health Insurance Reform.

Meanwhile, the governor of Idaho, that has one of the largest uninsured populations in the nation, has proclaimed that he will sue the federal government in a states' rights movement to stop health care reform. This is a position that virtually attacks the best interests of a large number of his constituents. Why on earth would this happen? What could possibly explain this behavior?

A good read is "Rediscovering Values on Wall Street, Main Street and Your Street" by Jim Wallis. This is a Christian analysis of the moral dilemma that has developed from our disastrous economic slide. The basis of the analysis is that the United States has slid further from Christ's teachings and philosophy in the past thirty years. A direct result of this moral deterioration has been the development of an economic approach that is based on greed and narcissism.

Americans have become a nation of me first. Americans have become the epitome of greed. We have lost our moral compass. We have betrayed those who died for our liberty and freedom.

A telling statistic, is that the average American has gained 30 pounds in the last twenty years. This tragically includes children. This statistic is symbolic of a nation of me, not we. A nation that has deteriorated into selfishness, overindulgence and stupidity.

The book then goes into great detail exposing countless myths and lies that Americans live with that have doomed our economy.

The reality is not that difficult to ascertain.

The problem is morality. A country that allows over 40 million of its citizens to not have health care is immoral. A country that allows an insurance system to exist that will take 40% of its GDP to go toward health care is immoral. I could go on but why?

Jesus, in more biblical references than I care to list, preached that the true measure of a godly society was how they treated the "least of me". That means, in case you are truly morality tone deaf, the innocents, the outcasts, the downtrodden.

I, however, am talking about children. Children are being victimized every day by the health care system of this country. If you blame the drug addict or alcoholic , fine. But, what about the kids? They don't have the opportunity to decide into what kind of world they are born. They did nothing to deserve their fate. The statistics are appalling about how children are cared for in United States. This is the same country that claims to be the world's best hope for the future. The fact is, we are not, because we cannot even care for our own children.

I pray that they do the right thing, and pass Health Care Reform.