Yesterday was a terrific day on Beacon Hill: 1,000+ citizens showed up to witness for the right and ability to see a doctor when you’re sick, and showed that they are ready to lead on this issue. Unfortunately, I was only at the hearings for a little while, since most of the time I was helping get people from place to place in the Capitol for the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. But what I saw in the Gardner Auditorium was pretty remarkable — a sea of blue GBIO shirts, ,an entire section of clergy of various faiths, along with the purple of SEIU folks and other folks from ACT (Affordable Care Today), the umbrella coalition of groups. This was a display of power, commitment and leadership from these citizens.
Really, I’m wasting my time writing about it: The Globe’s article today (with a big color picture on the front page of the City/Region section) could hardly have been closer to my sense of things than if I’d written it myself:
For months, the ”market-based" approach favored by Romney andTravaglini has had the upper hand on Beacon Hill. But yesterday’swell-organized show of force — the leaders of the demonstration worefluorescent-orange vests so the ground troops could easily identifythem, and distributed granola bars and bottled water from a temporaryheadquarters near the base of the Grand Staircase — suggests thatmomentum is building for a more far-reaching healthcare proposal. [emphasis mine]
…’The momentum shifted dramatically today," said Rabbi Jonah Pesnerof Temple Israel in Boston. ”This is bringing together people of everyfaith background, every racial background, every ethnic group, andevery economic class . . . in a community of morality."
JohnMcDonough of Health Care for All, an advocacy group that is helpinglead the charge for a more far-reaching measure, saluted thedemonstrators during a noon rally in Nurses Hall.
”There is somuch power in this room," said McDonough, who as a state representativecoauthored the state’s last major healthcare expansion in 1996. ”Thankyou for being witness to the sin, the immorality, to the insanity ofour healthcare system."
Update: It was great to meet and hang out with Lynne of Left in Lowell at the event. Having also recently met sco of ..08 at the convention, I’d love to meet more of the MA blogger contingent. Chris, did we miss each other?
patricka says
It was something to see the crowd gathering for this event. Because I couldn’t stay for the hearing, I ended up being part of the crew with GBIO shirts and balloons directing people up from Park Street.One interesting comment that I heard a few times: “I’ve never done anything like this before.” This is clearly an issue that touches people in a different way. It’s not a matter of being angry with the current system, which seems to fuel most political protests (and thereby driving away people who don’t feel the anger). Instead, we see people imagining a future that’s different from our present.Frankly, this is why the religious angle is so important to this discussion. Nowhere else in our society can we channel moral outrage into hopeful change in quite the way our churches (and synagogues and temples and mosques, etc.) can. After all, it was a Baptist breacher who said, “I have a dream,” in response to the injustice he saw before him.
charley-on-the-mta says
PatrickA: You nailed it. Good stuff. Thanks.
lynne says
It was awesome to meet you, Charley, and gratifying to see just how many people packed that state house. As someone who might be personally affected by that bill in a positive way, like so many, I look forward to future actions.Keep us updated!
chris says
Chris, did we miss each other?Nope, I got tied up at the office. I feel bad for missing it, and would have liked to have met you and Lynne. Will do a better job on keeping on top of future HCFA activities, though.
lenstewart says
Hey, I too am sorry I didn’t connect with you guys. I was there too, but mostly connected to the HCFA contingent. The GBIO turnout and organization was very impressive.
margie-ware says
I couldn’t be there because it would have meant NOT working on outreach on Medicare D that day….but as the Senate District coordinator for ACT out here in the far west, I was so excited to see what a great response we got and what a terrific job John McDonough did (no surprise!) Keep up the good work.