Universal Healthcare Around the Corner?

Television pundits have been talking about Universal Health Care as if it is around the corner because of the President's speech this past week.

If you read Vicente Navarro and get an idea of the obstacles before previous attempts it is helpful in listening to current discussion.

Also important is to look at the deep causes of policy. We often talk about causes of illness, but where pollution, poverty, and illness is concentrated is directly related to politics (pdf). The unhealthy policies that we have today are a direct result of unhealthy politics. La Raza Unida is working to open up the political process and create the policies we need.

Politics has health outcomes. (pdf) And it is time to create a healthy politcis. It will be a steep climb at times, but nothing of value comes without hard work and without focused effort. As long as the road may be, we will be there!

Our numbers are growing. Register Raza Unida! (In Bernalillo County all you need to do is fill out your voter registration form and place "LRU" in box 5 for party.)

International District

Today a large section of the Southeast Heights of Albuquerque will be named "International District" in the Senate. This quote seems very befitting...

"We ought to plan the ideal of our city with an eye to four considerations. The first, as being the most indispensable, is health."

Aritsotle

Quote for 2/23/09

People often say with pride, "I'm not interested in politics." They might as well say, "I'm not interested in my standard of living, my health, my job, my rights, my freedoms, my future, or any future."

Martha Gellhorn

Saw this in a book yesterday and took a quick note of it. We had a great Join the Party Party on Saturday and participated in Environmental Justice Day at the Round House. It was a good weekend over all. We have a good handful of new registrations for me to turn in later today. Actually looking at running and influencing policy is helping to move things along.

Power

Power - a topic many people try to avoid. It is a topic we need to take head on. We've seen what happens when people with opposite values have control. Loss of freedoms, environment, and life. What we want are more freedoms, a poison-free environment, healthy communities, strong schools, meaningful jobs, and a more caring society.

That's why La Raza Unida is going beyond rhetoric and protest - not without these. We are encompassing protest, organizing, voter registration and running for office because we need at minimum some cooperation with these different strategies if not coordination. To get to where the good things in life are not just for some but for all we will need to use our whole spectrum of tools and skills.

So we're going to organize, not just for the process but to win. Only by some actual wins will we be able to move our communities to healthier, stronger and safer places. We need power to make the changes in the world that we demand when we protest.

Power is the ability to do something. To move a box across a room, to move a person out of a burning building, or to move politics to a positive level. Doing nothing will allow others to move their agenda forward. At minimum we can keep things from getting worse. Our goal is to make things better, in a very concrete and serious way.

Harry Shearer has a great quote - "If absolute power corrupts absolutely, does absolute powerlessness make you pure?"

Each Raza Unida registered voter and each Raza Unida supporter needs to consider running for office. It is comforting to be outside of the system and critique it. It is much more humbling to think about how we would do things differently. We're not going to learn everything we need to know about creating a new world from the outside. We need giant waves of new leadership at all levels.

And all of that new leadership needs support. We have to do more than elect new progressives and leave them hanging there. We need to help them move in good directions. We need to hold them accountable to all of us. We need to make it easier to do the right things.

That's why La Raza Unida is organizing, advocating, and doing voter registration. In order for Raza Unida members to consider running for office there needs to be an LRU voter base. In order for our advocacy efforts to have any impact we need to have numbers. And for many decision makers their choices are influenced by money or votes. We can gather lots of votes and a bit of money. That gives us potential power.

That potential needs to be harnessed and used. Organizing is our best tool. It will be mostly mobilizing at first and slowly we will build more and more relationships. Then we can be organized. We start with 100 new voters. Then we continue to build. It may take years before we are "on the map." If we don't move, then things have nothing to do but stay the same or get worse. Even with a new president, things will not get better without lots of work.

Like muscles we will need to build strength and endurance. We will need to do lots of light things for endurance. And we will need to do some heavy lifting for strength. And like anything else, the more hands involved the load will feel lighter.

09 School Board Election Results

Here are the initial results from yesterday's election!

Congratulations to Lorenzo Garcia and David Peercy who were endorsed by La Raza Unida.

2/2/09

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Day.

A good day to reclaim some power. Taking part in the last hours of the School Board Campaigns is one way to go.

Check the links below and get involved!