Black Is Not White No Matter How Often They Say It Is

Christianity by definition is following the teachings of Christ. One of those teachings is that whatever we do to the least of our brethren we do to Christ. In Matthew 26: 41-45 Jesus says, "Out of my sight, you condemned, into that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink... I was ill and in prison and you did not come to comfort me...I assure you, as often as you neglected to do it to one of these least ones, you neglected to do it to me." There are many offenses named in the Bible but this is the only instance in the gospels where Jesus is quoted as condemning the doer to hell.

With that in mind, when Republicans claim to be the party of Christian values how do they reconcile:

• The Republican theory of tax cuts or tax credits as the solution to everything when the people who most need the help are the elderly, the disabled and the poor - people who do not make enough to take advantage of offered tax credits or tax cuts.
• The Republican theory of the poor just having to work hard and pull themselves up by their bootstraps when the poor often have no boots and therefore no bootstraps with which to pull themselves up.
• The Republican theory of fiscal responsibility that protects business interests and the wealthy but leaves the poor, the elderly, and the disabled without help or protection by cutting and eliminating the social programs that serve them.
• The Republican theory that small government is the end all, be all, because the only responsibility of government is to serve special interests and the rest of the people be damned!

How are Christ's teachings reflected in these theories? Where is the care for the "least ones" in the practice of these theories? How large the plank of hypocrisy in the eye of such Christians!

The health care reform plan unveiled by Republicans is just one more example of their total lack of understanding, compassion, and (that word they don't understand) empathy, for the people of America who live in a reality so different from their own.

In their usual "fool them with the name" approach, the plan is titled "The Patients' Choice Act of 2009." Sounds like a good thing doesn't it? However, noticeably absent from the choices offered is a public insurance option. Instead they offer a tax credit which may help the middle class but does not help the most vulnerable; the most needy. What the plan does do is continue to protect and promote the insurance companies that have been profiting at the expense of the poor and seriously ill for years.

Real health care reform needs to remove profit from the system. It is obscene for people to make a profit on the illness and suffering of others. Where did such an idea ever come from and how did it get such a strong hold on a very basic need of the people? If ever there was a business that by its very nature should be non-profit, health care is it. There are all types of businesses available for entrepreneurs to make their fortunes, for large corporations to rake in huge profits. The business of filling basic human needs should not be among them. Health care as a for-profit business is the free market run amok.

Taking profit out of the picture makes an immediate and huge cut in health care expense. If all premium payments went to fund medical treatments and did not have to produce an ever increasing percentage of profit we would be making an effective start on healthcare reform. The for-profit companies could continue to do business if they chose not to become non-profit, but they probably wouldn't survive very long. Wouldn't that be too bad and so sad!