The Nation: We need a President willing to choose morality over hyper-Americanism.

[marmar]

article | posted October 9, 2007 (web only)
Why We Act
Ketan Ramakrishnan



Editor's Note: Ketan Ramakrishnan is one of five finalists in The Nation's 2007 Student Writing Contest. Read more about the competition on StudentNation.com.

We live today immersed in a culture concerned with, above all other things, what is the American thing to do. In arguing for their positions, politicians constantly appeal to our great American ideals and traditions. We must ban gays from marrying because marriage is a sacred American institution, and we must invade Iraq because we, as Americans, value freedom. Very rarely do they look at us and tell us that we should adopt a policy because it is the right and decent thing to do, rather than mandated by some nebulous American ideal. The result is that when we come across an issue that cannot be hyped as an extension of sacred American duty, or institutions, or values, or whatever, we are content to shove it aside.

Take healthcare. There are those who care passionately about the healthcare debate. But given the scope of the problem, our legislatures and media are largely content to ignore it in favor of other dilemmas. We are bombarded with pundits expounding on sealing the border, gays marrying, Iraq, professorial misconduct, a possible war with Iran. All are momentous issues, no doubt, but what could possibly be more momentous, or more pressing, than the plight of those we see ragged and sick outside the grocery store, those with diabetic children who cannot get any insulin, those neighbors of ours who are devastated by disease but poor, denied any medical help until the last possible second, when they are rushed to hospital and it is often too late?

In terms of human importance, few conceivable issues compare, and in terms of feasibility, the solution is not fantastical--helping these people and saving these lives does not require remodeling the state, or building a nation, only providing some drugs. Even if we eventually decide that there are good, compelling reasons to reject a system of universal healthcare, why do we deny it the attention that such an issue deserves?

Because when faced with the specter of American defeat in Iraq, or the erosion of the American institution of marriage, we are content to deflect our eyes and let that diabetic child rot. Universal healthcare is not a particularly American issue. Several nations already provide healthcare for all their citizens, and thus, there is no uniquely American imperative to do so. In making the case for healthcare, there is no American ideal we can invoke--not justice (which we associate with punishing criminals) nor freedom (which means for us overthrowing dictators). Indeed, given our nation's traditional emphasis on property rights, there is not much of a great American tradition to appeal to in justifying the tax hike that would be necessary for such a program. Saturated by unrelenting invocations of our American heritage and the courses of action it prescribes, we are content to pay attention to those issues that concern us as Americans, rather than that one behemoth of an issue that concerns us foremost as humans, which confronts us every time we see the wretched sick on the street. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20071022/ramakrishnan

[Kurovski]

1. Kick. (nt)