A representative quote from a reader, "I am on your side about single payer - it is the only system that really makes sense.  And staying in touch with people about the topic is very good, but my question is:  What do you want people to do about it?"

1. Before you do anything you must come to grips with the following: (Warning, this will not be easy.)

Americans and Oregonians are in a civil WAR class struggle over health care reform in our country and our state. In WAR we must  support our allies, defeat our adversaries and kill our enemies.

ADVERSARIES - To Be Challenged Then Converted Or Defeated

A. Everyone who believes that health care is a privilege not a right of citizenship in America.

Americans/Oregonians have supported slavery, opposed a woman's right to own property and vote, and denied basic civil rights to our fellow countrymen based on ethnic background, religion or skin color. Over time we have matured and progressed as a society and moved forward in our understanding of human rights and American values. Now it's time in America and Oregon to declare that elected officials, public employees, tax payers and every American/Oregonian citizen must have equal access to the same level of health care.

B. The public employee bargaining units in Oregon.

Public employee bargaining units control Oregon's political apparatus in every school district, city and county. Their members enjoy taxpayer supported health insurance premiums that can exceed $1,300/month. No group in Oregon is more responsible for stopping the discussion and debate over a single payer solution to Oregon's moral and economic crisis than the public employee bargaining units. If we cannot convert or defeat this group then we cannot have a public conversation about much less enact a single payer solution in Oregon.

C. The governor of Oregon, Ted Kulongoski. 

Ted has consistently tried to use health insurance for children as a political ploy, a diversion and substitute for real health care reform. A very long time public employee, Ted Kulongoski is subservient to his masters in the public employee bargaining units. 

D. Every elected school board member in Oregon.

There isn't a single elected member of any public school board in Oregon that has the courage to publicly support a single payer solution to Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis. In the end the all cave to the demands of their public employee bargaining units.

E. Most elected members of city councils and county commissions in Oregon.

With very few exceptions most members of city councils and county commissions in Oregon do NOT have the courage to publicly support a single payer solution to Oregon's moral and economic health care crisis. In the end most cave to the demands of their public employee bargaining units.

F. The Democratic party of Oregon.

The Democratic party of Oregon has been shameful in its refusal to demand debate within the party on this issue. This behavior continues to fill the voter registration roles in Oregon with more Independents.

G. The Republican party of Oregon.

The 23% of Americans/Oregonians that are willing to publicly identify themselves as Republicans are all social Darwinists with regard to health care. Let the fittest survive and the rest be sick and die in the gutter is their public health care policy. Fortunately, the party of "just say no" is out of power so they are more a pesky and irritating annoyance rather than a real threat.

ENEMY - To Be Destroyed

H. The despised, failed, for-profit private health insurance industry.

Those corporations making enormous profits in the medical-industrial complex on the misery and misfortune of others have clearly and frighteningly demonstrated that they, like American slave owners in the past, will fight to the death to protect their toxic economic way of life. They must be eliminated.

2. Tell president Obama to support a single payer health care solution to America's moral and economic health care crisis.

The health of our nation's citizens is a national security issue. The lack of equal access to the same level of health care for all Americans is a national disgrace. President Obama is in danger of falling into the same trap as his predecessor, Bill Clinton. The despised, failed, for-profit private health insurance industry is the ENEMY. It CANNOT be included in the solution. It must be destroyed. Obama's presidency will be in peril of he does not purge this public parasite.

3. Talk to everyone, everywhere all the time about the need for a single payer solution.

Word of mouth is a time tested method of moving an issue to the top of the political agenda. During your conversations identify your allies and then encourage them to take action together.

4. Write to Bill Moyers<moyersonpbs@thirteen.org> http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/

Thank him for featuring single payer on Bill Moyers Journal and giving a public platform to Donna Smith, Dr. David Himmelstein and Dr. Sidney Wolfe and the opportunity to make the case for a single payer health care solution to America's moral and economic health care crisis.

5. Write to Oregon Public Broadcasting president Steve Bass <ceo@opb.org> and news VP Morgan Holm<news@opb.org> and ask them why OPB has refused to cover the single payer story in Oregon?

Do not bother contacting other TV broadcasters in Oregon. They are all firmly entrenched in defense of the corporate status quo. They are in the business of selling stuff, like health insurance, not promoting the common good - especially if it involves controversy and public policy that could threaten their advertising revenues. 

6. Contact every elected official for whom you can vote and ask them what they are doing to support a single payer health care solution to Oregon's and America's moral and economic health care crisis.

If their answers are wrong then tell everybody you know what they had to say. Seek out other candidates who do support a single payer solution. Give them your time, your money and your vote.

7. Get every organization of which you are a member to endorse single payer then inform Richard Ellmyer so that he can publish the names in Oregon Health Watchers and create an Oregon Coalition For A Single Payer Solution.

The forces against a single payer solution to be converted, defeated and destroyed are formidable. However, keep in mind that two out of three citizens will support a single payer solution if given the chance. 

Good luck and good health.


Richard Ellmyer