One of the major peace and social justice issues of the day is health care for all (aka universal, single- payer health care). To my brothers and sisters of the faith communities, I have been posing the question of WWJP? What would Jesus purchase? Bombs or Band-aids?

This letter was written to President Obama by Philip Cafaro in response to an email from the President asking for Philip's support in helping to pass the President's health care reform package.

Phillip, who lives in Colorado, is the son of Claire Cafaro. Claire (a Quaker) is a stalwart of the local peace community.

She obviously raised her son right.

This letter also explains very nicely why I am not a Democrat or a Republican. As we say in Quaker meeting, “That Friend speaks my mind.”

Barack --

Good to hear from you. I know this has been a busy few months, and appreciate you taking the time to write.

I also appreciate your reminder of the halcyon days of last fall, when Kris and I worked hard to put Colorado in your column. And we did it! We also helped elect the first Democrat from the 4th Colorado congressional district since 1974, Betsy Markey, and flip another Senate seat into the Democratic column, with the victory of Mark Udall.

Thanks to my efforts and the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people like me, Democrats control both houses of Congress by substantial majorities, and Sasha and Malia get to play in the White House.

So if Democrats want to pass universal health care, you can. You don’t need me to wave a sign, write more letters, or shout down those mean old conservatives, who, I hear, have actually tried to disrupt constituent meetings during the August recess. (Shocking. I grew up in Chicago; I can’t even imagine such rude political behavior.)

I appreciate your mentioning the thousands of people who lose medical coverage every day. I had dinner with one of them two days ago; a woman who just lost her job. She figures she has about three months to find another one, before things start to get ugly. And she’s hoping she doesn’t get sick before she does.

So yes, the clock is ticking!

I consider this a test for the Democratic party. Do you stand for something, or not? We already have a party of wealth in this country, which is very effective at rewarding its constituency when it gets power. For awhile in the 20th century, we also had a reasonably effective progressive party, standing up for the interests of working people and the middle class: the Democratic party of FDR and LBJ. I haven’t seen many signs of that party over the last three decades. But hope springs eternal.

I notice that when it came to bailing out rich Wall Street bankers, your administration acted quite expeditiously. You rammed a program through Congress within a few weeks, leaving little details — like how soon the money would be paid back, and whether there would be better regulation of the banking industry — for later. So it isn’t clear to me why we can’t pass laws that lock in a few key principles now — universal coverage, say, government power to negotiate drug prices, and a few others — and work out further reforms later.

In any case, I won’t be waving any signs or calling bored flunkies to register my views on health care this August. I’m going camping with Kris and the boys for a few days, starting tomorrow; then it is back to work. I’m going to do my job. You do yours.

Thank you,
Phil Cafaro

P.S. Here’s a suggestion for dealing with recalcitrant congressional Democrats. Threaten to take away any DNC funding for their re-elections, or to run real Democratic candidates against them in their primaries, if they stand in the way of universal health care. Here’s a suggestion for dealing with congressional Republicans, who couldn’t care less whether poor people have health care. Ignore them.

Thank you Phillip!