Why I Am Risking Arrest for Medicare for All

[babsbunny]

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/47390

By Margaret Flowers, M.D., Congressional Fellow, Physicians for a National Health Program

Let me begin by saying that I don't have any desire to be arrested. I am a pediatrician with 3 teenagers and a husband who would prefer that I do not spend time in jail. I have never actually spent the night in jail and I imagine it’s not very pleasant. To be honest, I am a bit frightened. But, I expect that these are normal feelings and I am dedicated to act despite my reservations because there comes a time when our conscience dictates that we act. That time is now (or "way past now" as doctors and patients whom I've met in my travels have told me).

[geckosfeet]

1. No one wants to be in jail. Or in a hospital. Or away from home fighting for

someone else. But you are 100% right. There comes a time in everyones life when ones conscience dictates action. Sometimes there is no time to reason. The time comes when a decision must be made. There is only time to act with the knowledge and feelings one has at the moment.

You probably face this professionally on regular basis. But you are trained for such occasions.

[suede1]

2. What a great lady.

[HughMoran]

3. K&R

I'd like to see this done on a mass scale.

Arrest millions of us simply because we don't want to die due to no healthcare.

[flyarm]

4. I agree with her 100% she says..

In short, I am going to be arrested because I believe that it is my professional responsibility to advocate on behalf of those patients who are suffering and because it is clear that traditional advocacy tools are not working. The phrase that runs continuously through my mind is "To be silent is to be complicit." I cannot be complicit in the face of an industry that profits at the cost of human lives and in the face of an administration and Congress that are too dysfunctional to stop this practice.

I could not agree more!

[Vidar]

5. K&R