Let's Get It Done

      In his State of the Union address on Wednesday night, President Obama asked anyone with a health care plan that would cover all citizens, control costs, etc. to come to him; he wanted to hear from them.
      I am guessing he will not get many suggestions from either side of the aisle. The Democrats and the President seem to be copying an early 20th century comic strip: Alphonse and Gaston, a pair of overly polite Frenchmen, whose "After you, Alphonse.", "No, you first, my dear Gaston!" routine entertained readers for more than a decade. Nobody seems to be in charge.
      As for the Republicans, apparently the only plan they can think of consists of 2,000 pages covered with the word “No!”
      Will the real leader please stand up?
      Granted, any health care plan will be expensive, will probably cause doctors’ waiting rooms to overflow, at least temporarily, and will need to be subsidized for low-income people. But, it’s the right thing to do.
      One thing I like about the Bible is that you can always find therein a story to support whatever idea you want to sell. In this case I like the following. Jesus is talking to his disciples:

…and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left…Then they [at his left hand] will also answer, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?” Then he will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25; 33,44–46, NRSV)

     I can't think of anything more just than to have the far right wind up on the left.