I asked Bentley for her take on Health Care Reform as passed by Senate, the Copenhagen conference on Global Warming, and the escalation in Afghanistan. ellen
Hi Ellen,
Yes, I am still alive. Sorry I have been among the missing. With the holidays, my life has been taken over by family duties. And, unfortunately, next Wednesday, I have to attend a meeting for work. But I hope to return soon.
As for your questions...
Health care reform: Reasonable people disagree here and we have to see what comes out of committee. Personally, I would like to see something rather than nothing pass. However, I am very leery of having an individual mandate while not having a public option or Medicare buy-in. I fear it won't lead to the necessary cost containment -- and may lead to higher costs than some can afford. On the other hand, getting rid of pre-existing conditions, discrimination against women, and some of the other reforms will make a huge difference. At this point, everyone is lobbying for their pet portion of the bills to be saved or cut, as the case may be, in the conference committee. I would urge you and others to call Senator Brown and Rep. Driehaus and make your opinions known about the parts that are important to you.
Copenhagen: It was a non-binding agreement. Cheers for diplomacy, but who knows what will actually come of it. I would focus on what we can do here to try to pass the climate change legislation and other green initiatives at the local, state, and national level. (Related to this, a group has formed to lobby for the proposed train linking Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland -- http://www.linkingohio.com -- there you can find means to lobby congress to get started on this project.)
Afghanistan: The surge is going to happen. As a lifelong pacifist, I don't think war is the answer to any dispute. Think of what we could do if all that money was spent on humanitarian efforts in the region... As someone who watches politics, the focus on Afghanistan is not surprising at all. Obama campaigned on changing the focus to Afghanistan. While the war in Iraq had dissent all along, there was only one person in Congress who voted against the war in Afghanistan (Rep. Barbara Lee). So, this escalation is pretty popular. While one should certainly make their opinions known on this front, I fear that it won't change much in the near future. I would write the powers that be, but donate to causes such as MADRE www.madre.org or Afghan Institute of Learning http://www.creatinghope.org (the latter was recommended by Kristof in his 12/23 column) -- both of which offer programs to empower the women of Afghanistan.
As always, feel free to write or call with specific questions. I hope to see you soon. 2010 promises to be an exciting year -- let's hope a good year too.
Happy New Year!
Best,
Bentley
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