To heal the national soul

David Fisher at the Reformed Pastor has a quote from Jim Wallis that is worth some reflection. Wallis says the soul of the country is sick and fixing the health care system “would be the moral achievement that could repair, and even heal, our damaged national soul.”

Why do people keep treating the Bible as if it were a political platform document? There is a biblical imperative to take care of our brothers and sisters. But why do people keep equating biblical imperatives with political platform planks?

Doctors’ groups have been lobbying for more political spending on health care because the poor can’t afford care — and especially the cost effective preventative care that would reduce the need for expensive emergency care. The doctors act as if this means congress needs to pass a law, but it doesn’t. The doctors can take a giant step toward fixing this problem right now.

How much health care could be provided for the poor if every doctor took one day a week and provided pro bono care to people who could not afford to pay? It would be simple, personal, and wouldn’t require a big bureaucratic structure to administrate. It wouldn’t get all tied up in legislative trade offs and debates about who’s going to pay for the darned thing. What could be wrong with this?

And what would happen if the preachers berating people for not getting behind government care instead challenged the doctors in their congregations to step up and care for the less fortunate? Quit trying to wait for someone else pay for it: just do it.

People like Wallis like to point out we are our brother’s keepers. There is something true in that. But being our brother’s keeper doesn’t mean handing off our brother to some government agency. It means we care for our brother. It means people caring for people. It doesn’t mean people pursuing their own self-interest while handing off compassion and care to an impersonal government agency.

Which is a healthier national soul? One where people care for each other? Or one where people focus on their own interests while trusting government to care for the less fortunate? Which path is more likely to meet Wallis’s challenge to heal the national soul?