To All U.S. Senators:

I do not need to tell you our health care system is broken. I do not need to tell you about the soaring medical costs, the denial of insurance coverage at the very time people need that coverage the most, or the obscene profits being made by the insurance companies and the drug industry. You already know those things. For fifty years we Democrats have been trying to reform the system to provide affordable health care. Important interim steps have been taken in spite of the opposition of powerful special interests who fought to defend an outrageously profitable status quo. I applaud the Congresspersons and the Senators who supported that legislation. But interim steps are half measures, and half measures are not acceptable when so many people are losing their health care coverage. We need the public insurance option now! Waiting will only mean more suffering, and it will not improve the odds of getting the public option. Regardless of how long we wait the companies that are raking in the profits from our broken health care system will fiercely oppose any meaningful change. Those companies and their allies will still tell the big lies, and they will still whip up the fears of the gullible. Furthermore, they will still use their considerable resources to reward the Senators who oppose the public option and to punish the Senators who support that option.

Today the Democratic Party has a large enough majority in the Senate to pass a bill that contains the public option. You Democrats who are dragging your feet on this issue should hang your heads in shame, and so should you Republicans. You hold the health of millions of Americans in your hands. The vast majority of your fellow citizens are just one catastrophic illness away from bankruptcy. What you do now will be judged by them and by future generations. Do not oppose the one measure that will provide them with affordable heath care!

This is Profiles In Courage time. This is the time to spend whatever political capital it takes. This is the time to thwart the lies with the truth, to address the fears with calm reason, and to defy the threats with determined action. They who serve long do not always serve well. If you do not stand up and do what is right, your longevity in office means nothing. You do not want to be on the wrong side of history regarding this issue. You do not want people to say that you acted like a tool of the special interests or that you cowered behind a locked door when opportunity knocked. This is the most important domestic issue of our times. Stand up to the lies and the threats. Become one of the heroes supporting the public option. A mere five or six years from now people will thank God that you had the courage and the wisdom to do what we so desperately need done!

P.S. I encourage anyone who is so inclined to print out a copy of this letter and send it to your Senators.