S eptember 15, 1993 • T he P ortland O bserver
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We Said We Were Unhealthy, Not Virtuous
W hen I asked last week. “Can
Politicians Reform Health Care In
A m erica?'’ 1 had no idea that we
would have had such an apparently
negative answer this past weekend
Following Saturday's leak' of the
president C linton's comprehensive
panacea for our aches, pains and dis
abilities Sunday brought us an un
precedented White House press con
ference that disagreed with ninety
percent of the in
terpretations place
u p o n th a t docu
ment.
No one, but no
one, ever expected
a
H e a lth -C a re
model that would
meet the needs of all people, the pro
fessional standards of all practioners.
or the structural imperatives o f all
providers. What I do think the public
had a right to expect (including all of
the above) was a sincere and commit
ted approach to solutions w hich evi
denced a recognition of the serious
ness of the problem and the long-term
threat to the w elfare of our nation. It
is our somewhat fanciful hope that all
this confusion and strident clamor
does not indicate more business-as-
usual and dedication to the ‘bottom
line.’
T H IS
We note that campaign contribu
tions from health-related business
interests have soared 46 percent dur
ing the first half o f 1993; This is
according to data from the Federal
Election Commission The very new
members of congress that the public
has placed so much faith in to reverse
business as usual in the health field
are the principal targets of the deter
mined political action committees
Everyone in
the sy stem seems
to be gam in g ;
S id e
show s
abound All of us
taxpayers w ant
the government
to c o lle c t its
money from those who have borrow cd
funds, but really! These doctors, prin
cipally chiropractors, osteopaths and
podiatrists who owe the feds $3.2
million for their medical education
(Oregon figures) are having their
delinquency touted by some of the
media as a major charge upon health
care dollars. Rubbish! This is a tiny
fraction of that amount ripped off by
over-charging, over -billing pharma
ceutical chains and drug houses.
Who is kidding who? Many of
the new medics have barely setup
practice and certainly have yet to pay
i
W AY
for expensive facilities and instru
ments. or the rigged malpractice pre
miums now under investigation. The
D epartment of Health and Human
Services reports that, nationally, the
delinquency figure stands at $279
million
Well, that is just the amount one
group o f testing laboratories is al
leged to have defrauded the gov ern
ment of as they face indictment. True,
there are m alingers and dead-beats in
every area o f life, but a number o f us
think that some of the media reports
have been grossly unfair.
There is a grow ing realization in
this country that what we have to deal
w ith in the case o f our health-care
sy stem is a gigantic money machine
(scheme) every bit as under-regulated
and free-wheeling as w as the Savings
And Loan industry'. And as we watch
the frantic scrambles and m anipula
tions to preserve turf and perks, we
fear the same collapses and debacles.
But, given all that for the current
system, we still have the big question,
“who is going to pay for the new ’
health plan with all its ambiguous
ram ifications and projections—all
obviously poorly understood?” I've
seen a common inquiry in the head
lines at the out-of-town newspaper
stand. “Cl inton Tcam Looks For Other
FOR
Money Sources?” Oh, yes. that they
are doing because they have been
rebuffed early by some of their biggest
projected sources. As 1 said early, the
big boys are scrambling to protect
their turf
For instance, the big cam paign
co n trib u to rs in the liquor indus
tries h av e said no w ay on their
slated bu rd en o f the contem plated
"S in T a x e s” . T he tobacco industry
is also m aking unpleasant noises
ab o u t ta x in g sin, so w h at about
tliat $ 105 billion dollars the adm in-
is tr a tio n e x p e c te d fro m th e se
sources? W e m ust keep in mind,
too, th at T H E ST A T E S a re going
a fte r this type o f econom ic support
as hard an d fast as they c a n —plus
m o re g a m b lin g c a sin o s, R iv er
B oats and lotto gam es (D o n 't leave
out the Indians, th e y ’re m oving up
fast). W ere the Feds also looking
this w av?
A re som e o f us m istaken o r ill-
advised w hen w e say th a t there is
som ething not quite right ab o u t all
o f th is; not ju s t financially w eak
p lanning and stru ctu rally d isas
tro u s, b u t m orally and ethically as
w ell? I m ean, really—b asing the
health a n d future o f our nation on
three o f o u r m ost d isastro u s h a b
its? W e can do better!
BLACK
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EMPOW ERMENT
B u ild in g B r id g e s
by Dr. Lenora Fulani
The Perot “phenom enon” isn 't
going away. Polls conducted this sum
m er indicate that in a three-way race
for the presidency, Perot would top
President Clinton by four percentage
points and Republican Senator Rob
ert Dole by five points In a two-way
race betw een Perot and Clinton, Perot
would gain the W hite House w ith a
9% margin. No wonder leaders of
both major parties are pay ing atten
tion.
Some folks w ith in the Perot
movement believe that a third party’
can be built by appealing to voters
from the same constituencies (prim a
rily white and middle class) that gave
Perot his 19% of the vote in 1992,
rather than reaching out to include
other under-enfranchised com m uni
ties. As they see it. this approach
could double the numbers to 38%
and. with this base, a third party could
take the W hite House in a three-way
race.
They favor what might be called
"A Better M anagement Party”-o n e
which would promise to manage the
economy and the gov ernment better,
but would not create a qualitatively
different kind of party from the Derno-
cratsand the Republicans This “new”
old-sty le party would run the risk of
stifling the social movement that be
gan as Perot-style populism. Perot
and his millions of followers saw the
“revolution at the center" they were
launching as having more to do with
the need for a revolutionary overhaul
of the entire way politics is done in
this country , than with some abstract
notion o f being “at the center,” half
way between the left and the right
Any effort to organize Perot's popu
list mov ement, into a third party must
be. in my opinion, equally revolution
ary.
There are others in the indepen
dent movement, including myself,
who are putting out a more radical
strategy’ for building a new party. It
involves reaching out to other under
enfranchised communitiesand. in the
process bringing about a conserva-
tive/liberal synthesis and a new kind
of party —one with a national m ulti
racial majoritarian base which can
produce a third-party v ictory in the
1996 presidential election
The majority of ordinary A m eri
can-conservative and liberal, right
and left, white and B lack-share a
desire for a radical democratic re
structuring of the political process
and. through politics, of economic
policy. T hat's the bridge between us.
th a t’s what we have in common, and
th a t’s why the old political categories
have become so meaningless.
Some in the independent move
ment believe that the Black commu
nity is not ready to go independent.
They rest their conclusion, presum
ably, on the fact that in 1992, unlike
millions o f white voters, the Black
community did not go for Ross Perot.
This analysis fails to take into ac
count a most critical determ ining fac
tor: In 1992. Ross Pcro, did not go for
the Black Community
Added to Perot's passivity to
ward the Black v ote was the aggres
sive cam paign waged by the Demo
cratic Party to contain its most reli
able v ot ing bloc. Cli ntons; entire strat
egy was to hold on to the party’s
l ibcral/left w ing vv h ile competing with
Bush and Perot for moderate and
conserv ative white voters. Had Perot
reached equally aggressiv ely into The
Black community and the rest of the
old New Deal coalition, he might be
sitting in the White House today.
The possibility of a mass break
from the Democratic Party' has been
on the agenda o f the African Ameri
can community for some tim e In
1984. du ri ng Reverend Jesse Jackson's
first run for the presidency. hundreds
of Jackson delegates to the Demo
cratic National Convention in San
Francisco urged him to walk out and
continue his candidacy as an inde
pendent. After Mondale operatives
and party officials double-crossed him
on a rules change agreement and
floor whips muscled votes to defeat
every one o f Jackson’s platform
planks, the largely Black delegation
was ready to go the third-party route.
But Jackson squelched the “revo
lution” and pledged his loyalty to the
Democrats. Since then he has used
the threat of going independent to
strengthen his own position as a power
broker inside the party.
O f course, w hile w ielding that
threat. Rev. Jackson and the C o n
gressional B lack C aucus a re am ong
th o se B lack le a d e rs w h o h av e
play ed a key role in dissu ad in g the
A frican A m erican com m unity from
breaking w ith the D em ocrats. Even
so. B lack particip atio n in the 1992
election w as dow n by 13% from ,
1988/ Perot received 7 % o f the
B lack vote. B oth my presidential
cam p aig n s and my d ecade-long
efforts to create a B lack-led, m u lti
racial independent ca ta ly st fo r a
m ajor coalitional third party have
show n me th a t the day is fa st a p
proaching w hen the B lack co m m u
nity will m ake th a t break en m asse.
B lack elected leadership is w ell
a w a re th a t w hile C lin to n ’s c am
paign tactic o f sm ooth talking Black
voters w ithout giving any th in g o f
su b sta n c e to the B lack agendas
w orked in '9 2 , it will not w ork
ag ain in "96
The Black community has a long
history in the straggle for democracy
The civil rights movement was. after
all. largely about the right to partici
pate in and be empowered by the
political process. It was Dr. M artin
Luther King. Jr who told the country
that Black people would never be
truly free without “ a radical restruc
turing” of that process In so many
words, that was Ross Perot 's message
to under-enfranchised white Ameri
can in 1992.
That Black community is rev ol u-
tionary in its sensibility’. So is the
w hite “center." The coming together
o f these two vast elements of our
society in a new third party, will
precip itate the second A m erican
Revolution
The BrainwashingOf Black Youths
highest grades, raise a family or unify
with their people to overcome a com
mon oppressor
To prove how potent the music is
and how the organized plotters recog
nize this; when the record Cop Killer
came out, the perpetrators immedi
ately recognized that cops would be
killed once this message got out and
was picked up through repetition of
hearing. The record was pulled but
now protests arc made over the v ideos
of African American sisters nude and
displaying what should be covered,
nor the rap music that lead African
American teenagers further and fur
ther away from being civilized citi
zens of cities, states and the w orld
A national push should be made
to educate the rap artist themselves as
to the effects their music is hav ing on
the nation and future world of African
peoples. Though the 1st Amendment
protects them, an effort, a serious
effort should be made to reach them
D J 's who play rap music should
be moved to interject positive mes
sages throughout the day warning
youths that there is no future in disre
specting yourself or your kind. That
gang bangers vv ho arc not kil led stand
the chance of spending 20 or 30 years
in prison, that dope money is sweet
for a short time only, but prison sen
tences arc long, hard and lonely.
I keep abreast of what is happen
ing nationally and I see very little if
any, open messages or adv ertisement
to deter African American self de
structions. African American Com
munities should destroy (throw paint
on or set afire) bill boards advertising
alcohol in the communities. You won't
find these bill-boards in'upper class
communities of whites, Chinese or
other civilized people.
T his is a w ar and every B lack
m an and wom en in A m erica w ho is
healthy should Icel obligated to
som ething, be it ever so sm all. Ifw c
c a n ’t, w e will be as the A m erican
Indian, vv iped o u t- b y the effects o f
m usic.
The older generation is able to
cope for the moment, but when the
young generation becomes the old
generation, what shape will they be
in? What w ill they be able to do in a
world that is space age?
The outlook isn’t good if we don't
make serious efforts to clean up the
cars and minds of our children
Alvin Concll
Salem, Oregon
ENROLLMENT CLIMB CONTINUES
Oregon school enrollment should
continue its record climb this school
year, according to State School Supt.
N orm a Paulus.
An estimated 549,000 students
are expected to enroll in O regon’s
elementary and secondary schools.
about 14,000 more than last year
Enrollment has climbed since it
hit a record high of about 510,000 in
1990-91. Most o f the growth is due to
an increase in the number of Oregon
births which began in the late 1970s.
All grades, except the first, are
expected to increase. The largest class
should be the sixth grade That class-
thcClassof2000-should number more
than 44,000.
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-----------------1
The African-American inner city
youth arc the v ictims of an organized
plot of those w hose power is on the
ebb, world wide The plot is to destroy
the family structure, desire for educa
tion. selfesteem in the world com m u
nity and to erase all sense of morality,
respect, and brotherly love and recog
nition am ong the race and to dispel
and annihilate unity or chances that a
majority will ever listen to one or
inorc African Americans leaders.
These plotters arc very shewed in
reaching their targets. Ask yourself:
"If I wanted to uniformly reach and
influence A frican A m ericans all
across the nation with the same idea
or trend, how would it best be accom
plished”?
Well, movies arc as good vehicle
for this plan, as African Americans
have very little sense of identity so
they w ill id e n tify w ith th e
supcrfly.gold chains, jchri curls, and
the New Jack City mentalities but the
mov ics can only be a supplement to
the real vehicle
Music! Our teens arc told to kill
each other, call each other nigga this
and nigga that, to be for a color not a
cause, but rarely to try to achieve the
B
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