Progressive Social Reforms

From God's Politics a blog by Jim Wallis & friends from the Sojourners web site.

What Do Health-Care Reform, the 40-Hour Work Week, Unemployment Insurance, the Minimum Wage, etc., Have in Common?

by Chuck Gutenson 11-25-2009

Well, they were all brought to you be political progressives, they were all opposed by political conservatives, and they all are now viewed as fundamental presuppositions of a healthy society by virtually everyone. Okay, all but health-care reform, but trust me, if it passes, in no time at all it will be viewed so positively that we will no longer be able to remember why it took us so long to implement it. And, of course, the list actually includes many, many more initiatives—child labor laws, basic workplace safety rules, social security, Medicare, and so on.

In each case, the vast majority of political conservatives opposed them. They told us that businesses would be ruined, that the problems resulting from implementing the initiatives would be worse than if we left things as they were, that implementing them would make us non-competitive, or, more generally, that the good life as we know it would be gone if we were so foolish as to pass these pieces of legislation. One would think that after being wrong sooo many times, political conservatives would speak with a bit more humility, but alas, not so. If one took some of the speeches in opposition to health-care reform, one could substitute "minimum wage laws" or "child labor laws" in place of "health-care reform" and it would be déjà vu all over again—to quote Yogi Berra.

For the balance of the blog go to: http://blog.sojo.net/2009/11/25/what-do-health-care-reform-the-40-hour-work-week-unemployment-insurance-the-minimum-wage-etc-have-in-common/?continue

Reflections on the execution of D.C. sniper

Reflections on the execution of D.C. sniper

By LEONARD PITTS, JR.

lpitts@MiamiHerald.com

They killed a killer last week.

I kept waiting to feel something when news came that John Allen Muhammad had been executed in Virginia. As a staunch opponent of capital punishment, I wanted some nugget of remorse at the knowledge that the government had taken his life.

But Muhammad's 2002 sniper attacks hit close to home. He terrorized millions of people in the greater Washington, D.C., area, where I live, made us fear to gas up our cars, walk in parking lots, wait on buses, made my grandson scared to go trick-or-treating, even wounded a friend of my youngest son.

So I could not manage remorse. Indeed, what I felt was an unsettling, appalling satisfaction that Muhammad is no longer in the world. I still remember the last time an execution caused my emotions to so thoroughly misalign with my convictions: it was in 2001, when Timothy McVeigh was put to death.

When I argue against the death penalty, I tend to lean on a few salient points: it is far costlier than life imprisonment; it is biased by class, race and gender; it is irreversible in the event of error. I use those arguments because there is ample statistical evidence to back them up, and because they are irrefutable.

But I have one other problem with the death penalty: it's wrong. It debases us. The power of life and death is too awesome to be left in human hands. And here, I know, the abortion opponent wonders how I can square that with support for abortion rights. The answer is simple: I can't

To read the rest of the article go to: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/1333085.html

Episcopal Church Rallies for Health Care Reform

Washington prayer vigil rallies Senate support for affordable health care reform

(From Episcopal Life On Line)

By Lynette Wilson, November 19, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Shortly before Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid held a press conference Nov. 19 to celebrate the long-awaited health reform legislation unveiled Nov. 18, pastors and lay leaders from states with senators whose votes are seen as crucial to the outcome of reform gathered outside the Capitol Building to pray for continued progress on legislation to extend affordable coverage to families.

"Today we mark another key moment in this historic debate for families," said Rev. Claudia Hollinger, a deacon at St. Jude's Episcopal Church and clergy leader with Flint Area Congregations Together in Flint, Michigan. "The legislation that Senator Reid announced would extend coverage to 31 million, ban insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and help small businesses deal with rising health care costs, all while reducing the deficit by $127 billion. The bill is not perfect and we still have work to do to make coverage affordable to all families, but it is an important step forward."

To read the balance of this article go to: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_117092_ENG_HTM.htm