A Milestone Achievement

The tone of our nation’s disagreements has taken on some form of irrationality when it comes to the health care debate. Many political pundits have their day in the courts of the media. In a recent interview on “Meet the Press,” Tavis Smiley, NPR radio commentator, made a statement relative to the health care reform bill. He said, “I think that the danger of this White House is this, that the President and his team appear to be incrementalists.” He supported this comment by quoting the late Dr. Martin Luther King's words, “tranquilizing drug of gradualism” as an analogy of how the Obama administration is handling the health care issue. The tranquilizing drug of gradualism was a strategy used by anti-civil rights groups. Their efforts were clearly a dilatory stance. The termination and demise of the existence of the Civil Rights movement was planned by the opposition. It did not happen because there were other positive variables prevailing during that time. Gradualism in this case is far different than incremental steps. Therefore, the purported analysis given by Smiley bears no substance. Analysis without solutions just becomes mental gymnastics.

A tranquilizer is an anti-anxiety agent and more. The tranquilizing drug of gradualism given to us by the GOP is the old status quo which has resisted change in this year of 2009. They only show up on Capitol Hill to say no to any progressive piece of legislation that will bring change to benefit all American citizens. Most physicians will agree that too many tranquilizers taken by any human being will cause damage to the nervous system and slow down the person's physical and mental capacities. The Republicans have earned the reputation of being the “party of no.” They have placed their party and ideology before the needs of the American people.

Incrementalism goes to the heart of systemic change. We speak about systems which do not change overnight. These types of changes fundamentally address the root problems. Both Racism and Wall Street are systemic institutions. Both these institutions will always experience an ongoing incremental change.

The next quoted statement by Smiley indicates an oxymoron in response to incrementalism. “If the strategies on health care, on torture, on climate change, on the economy, is going to be one of incrementalism, that ain't going to get it done.” The process of increasing in number, size, quantity, or expansion means incremental change. We live in an imperfect world. The health bill is the beginning of many changes. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. We are progressing and achieving a more effective health care system. We are to celebrate legislation that encourages equal access and opportunity for every American to have health care. Even the little changes made do not justify continual criticism by the media. Such a negative environment draws the public into a state of despair.

Unlike the failed efforts of health care in the past, we must give credit and applaud the actions of this administration for passing health care for all Americans. The health care bill has gradually changed into one that gives thirty million uninsured Americans health care; that does not permit insurance companies the option to deny health care to patients with preexisting conditions; that prevents further diagnosis, treatment, and preventative care; that taxes tanning booths; that expands Medicaid, the government health insurance program for the poor; that provides subsidies to help some people pay for coverage; that immediately provides children with coverage.

Yes, many are still waiting for a viable public option which will bring competition to the existing insurance companies in addition to eradicating the antitrust exemption for insurance companies. Is it perfect? No. Does this health care legislation mark the defining moment of true reform? History will answer that question.

If you look at key legislation that has passed, such as Social Security, Medicare, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act, most political historians would agree the genesis of these milestone laws were incrementally passed. All the nuances of these laws were not perfect. We have seen a few examples in our lifetime of how the 1964 Civil Rights Act evolved into a statutory umbrella for other laws: The 1968 Housing Act; President Barack Obama's legislation that makes it easier for workers to file

a pay-bias complaint under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the resurrected Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act signed by President Obama in January, 2009; the Hate Crime law signed in 2009 that provides an expansion of the previous law allowing protection for citizens against assaults and violence based on race, color, disabilities. As President Obama stated, “We will finally add federal protections against crimes based on gender, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.”

One would agree that the incremental political steps toward finalizing the health care legislation are movements toward the future. There is an old saying that states: “Hope is the proof you don't have to stay where you are.”