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Everybody In, Nobody Out: Disaster Speaks a Noble Truth
Everybody in, nobody out. It's the battle cry of millions of
people throughout the United States who believe healthcare is a basic human
right and who advocate for Medicare for All system as an achievable and just
answer to that cry.
Jan 18, 2010
Everybody in, nobody out. It's the battle cry of millions of
people throughout the United States who believe healthcare is a basic human
right and who advocate for Medicare for All system as an achievable and just
answer to that cry.
Everybody in, nobody out. It's the way we are all looking at
the suffering and injured people of Haiti. We are not asking for hospital
finance officers and bookkeeping staff or insurance company personnel to
pre-screen the injured for acceptable methods of payment or evidence that their
pre-existing living structures did not contribute to their crush
injuries. We are just rushing in to help.
Everybody in, nobody out. Words sometimes breathe life into
places we'd rather not go and make us look at who we are and how we treat one
another. Which one of us has an illness less worthy of care? Which
one of us has an untreated injury we deserve to suffer for years without care?
Which American life is worth less than another American life or Haitian life?
Everybody in, nobody out. We are giving huge amounts of
money - and rightfully so - and sending ships and supplies and nurses and
doctors. We see the tragedy and the human suffering and we cannot turn
our heads or our hearts away - thank God most of us have not yet become that
brazen or that hardened.
It seems that today, on a day when we honor the memory of the Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr., we might want to ponder why we cannot seem to extend
to one another in our own nation when we clearly know it is just in the face of
horrific disaster. Healthcare, everybody in and nobody out, is more than
words when we see the immediacy of human needs thrust at us when earthquake or
tsunami or hurricane or fire or tornado or flood or the ravages of war strike
our fellow human beings. We get it when we get it up close and
personal.
MLK, Jr., said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the
most shocking and inhumane."
Everybody in, nobody out. In Haiti,
in Los Angeles, in New York, in Chicago, in Miami, in Seattle - healthcare when
we are sick or injured is what we need and what we most surely can provide to
one another.
It is our moral imperative and our national
heritage to do what is right by one another. And we cannot do that with
the for-profit health insurance industry dictating that some of us are in for
care and others are out. We have to do that for each other by extending
healthcare to all not by forcing the purchase of a defective financial product
that does not protect health or wealth.
It's time to let our own healthcare
disaster in the United States give us the same resolve we can show in times of
external crisis. It is right to care. It is right to respond when
we see suffering. Everybody in, nobody out. Until justice
rolls on like a river, we cry, 'Everybody in, nobody out.'
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Donna Smith
Donna Smith is the former executive director of Progressive Democrats of America and currently a Medicare for All campaign surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Everybody in, nobody out. It's the battle cry of millions of
people throughout the United States who believe healthcare is a basic human
right and who advocate for Medicare for All system as an achievable and just
answer to that cry.
Everybody in, nobody out. It's the way we are all looking at
the suffering and injured people of Haiti. We are not asking for hospital
finance officers and bookkeeping staff or insurance company personnel to
pre-screen the injured for acceptable methods of payment or evidence that their
pre-existing living structures did not contribute to their crush
injuries. We are just rushing in to help.
Everybody in, nobody out. Words sometimes breathe life into
places we'd rather not go and make us look at who we are and how we treat one
another. Which one of us has an illness less worthy of care? Which
one of us has an untreated injury we deserve to suffer for years without care?
Which American life is worth less than another American life or Haitian life?
Everybody in, nobody out. We are giving huge amounts of
money - and rightfully so - and sending ships and supplies and nurses and
doctors. We see the tragedy and the human suffering and we cannot turn
our heads or our hearts away - thank God most of us have not yet become that
brazen or that hardened.
It seems that today, on a day when we honor the memory of the Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr., we might want to ponder why we cannot seem to extend
to one another in our own nation when we clearly know it is just in the face of
horrific disaster. Healthcare, everybody in and nobody out, is more than
words when we see the immediacy of human needs thrust at us when earthquake or
tsunami or hurricane or fire or tornado or flood or the ravages of war strike
our fellow human beings. We get it when we get it up close and
personal.
MLK, Jr., said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the
most shocking and inhumane."
Everybody in, nobody out. In Haiti,
in Los Angeles, in New York, in Chicago, in Miami, in Seattle - healthcare when
we are sick or injured is what we need and what we most surely can provide to
one another.
It is our moral imperative and our national
heritage to do what is right by one another. And we cannot do that with
the for-profit health insurance industry dictating that some of us are in for
care and others are out. We have to do that for each other by extending
healthcare to all not by forcing the purchase of a defective financial product
that does not protect health or wealth.
It's time to let our own healthcare
disaster in the United States give us the same resolve we can show in times of
external crisis. It is right to care. It is right to respond when
we see suffering. Everybody in, nobody out. Until justice
rolls on like a river, we cry, 'Everybody in, nobody out.'
Donna Smith
Donna Smith is the former executive director of Progressive Democrats of America and currently a Medicare for All campaign surrogate for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Everybody in, nobody out. It's the battle cry of millions of
people throughout the United States who believe healthcare is a basic human
right and who advocate for Medicare for All system as an achievable and just
answer to that cry.
Everybody in, nobody out. It's the way we are all looking at
the suffering and injured people of Haiti. We are not asking for hospital
finance officers and bookkeeping staff or insurance company personnel to
pre-screen the injured for acceptable methods of payment or evidence that their
pre-existing living structures did not contribute to their crush
injuries. We are just rushing in to help.
Everybody in, nobody out. Words sometimes breathe life into
places we'd rather not go and make us look at who we are and how we treat one
another. Which one of us has an illness less worthy of care? Which
one of us has an untreated injury we deserve to suffer for years without care?
Which American life is worth less than another American life or Haitian life?
Everybody in, nobody out. We are giving huge amounts of
money - and rightfully so - and sending ships and supplies and nurses and
doctors. We see the tragedy and the human suffering and we cannot turn
our heads or our hearts away - thank God most of us have not yet become that
brazen or that hardened.
It seems that today, on a day when we honor the memory of the Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr., we might want to ponder why we cannot seem to extend
to one another in our own nation when we clearly know it is just in the face of
horrific disaster. Healthcare, everybody in and nobody out, is more than
words when we see the immediacy of human needs thrust at us when earthquake or
tsunami or hurricane or fire or tornado or flood or the ravages of war strike
our fellow human beings. We get it when we get it up close and
personal.
MLK, Jr., said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the
most shocking and inhumane."
Everybody in, nobody out. In Haiti,
in Los Angeles, in New York, in Chicago, in Miami, in Seattle - healthcare when
we are sick or injured is what we need and what we most surely can provide to
one another.
It is our moral imperative and our national
heritage to do what is right by one another. And we cannot do that with
the for-profit health insurance industry dictating that some of us are in for
care and others are out. We have to do that for each other by extending
healthcare to all not by forcing the purchase of a defective financial product
that does not protect health or wealth.
It's time to let our own healthcare
disaster in the United States give us the same resolve we can show in times of
external crisis. It is right to care. It is right to respond when
we see suffering. Everybody in, nobody out. Until justice
rolls on like a river, we cry, 'Everybody in, nobody out.'
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