OPINION:
During CNN’s health care debate on Feb. 7, Sen. Bernie Sanders posed this question to Sen. Ted Cruz: “Is every American entitled to health care?” It’s a probing question, but here’s an even more penetrating one: Am I my brother’s keeper?
India is predominately a Hindu country, Myanmar: Buddhist, Israel: Jewish, Saudi Arabia: Muslim, Sweden: secular, and America is a Christian nation.
In 1944 Harry Truman said, “In this great country of ours it has been proven the fundamental unity between democracy and Christianity.”
In 1933, Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt, elected four times, said that we cannot take into account the progress we’ve made as a nation without giving due credit to the role the Bible has played in the formation of our republic. In fact, when we’ve been our best and most prosperous is when we most closely adhered to its principles.
As recently as 1954, in order to graduate from Dallas public schools, one had to pass a course in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
One of the most basic of all Christian tenets — “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20) — motivates all of us who have invited Him into our lives to know that, yes, “we are our brother’s keeper” (Mark 12:31).
Even before Jesus hit the scene, Jewish stories related how the “Good Samaritan” put the injured Jew onto his donkey, took him to the inn and paid his bills despite the fact that Jews and Samaritans were anything but pals.
Galatians 6:2 posits, “When we carry one another’s burdens, we fulfill the law of Christ.”
And Jesus lauded his disciples: “You fed me when I was hungry, gave me drink when I thirsted, clothed me when I was naked and visited me when I was in prison.” Whoa, wait a minute. When did we do that? they asked.
“When you did it for the least of my brethren,” Jesus replied (Matthew 25:35-38).
It’s no coincidence that hospitals have names like St. Francis, St. Joseph and St. Jude.
Sen. Sanders’ question about health care, “Is it a right?” should be asked this way: “Do you and I, Sen. Cruz, and all those listening to the debate, have a responsibility” to provide health care to not only our fellow Americans but to all our fellow human beings?”
The answer is self-evident: Christian missionaries today are at work in Syria and around the world. James Robison’s Life Outreach International’s efforts alone reach millions.
We lament the fact that our health care system costs double that of other systems in the developed world. But one reason has been — well before Obamacare — we have taken care of the uninsured, penniless illegal immigrant who gets hit by a bus.
And while we all acknowledge most costs occur as we grow older, Judeo-Christian values allow God to decide when we die rather than the panel of experts in Washington that the Affordable Care Act established.
U.S. outcomes for breast cancer and prostate cancer surpass Britain’s National Health Service some want to emulate.
Democrats should join their fellow senators, even though they are Republicans, to allow Americans to own their own policies that they can take from job to job like they do their auto and homeowners insurance. This portability would not require a different policy at a new job.
We could still have the ability to select where and who provides our care, decide which coverage we want and don’t want, and recover the lower premiums we paid earlier while still benefiting from the safety net assured by guaranteed access to emergency rooms.
Attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast and the Trump inaugural sensed a spiritual awakening. The secular world view is discredited daily and not just by the $100,000 in damage at University of California, Berkeley by black-clad masked “protesters.”
Our nation is returning to those values that have served us so well for more than 200 years. We will survive Timothy Leary’s adventure into LSD and Hugh Hefner’s mansion filled with rabbits. Donald Trump promises to “end the war on Christianity” and repeal the Johnson Amendment, which returns to pastors the same freedom of speech the rest of us enjoy.
How many presidential candidates articulated the impact Jesus has in their lives? Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Jim Gilmore, Marco Rubio and possibly others.
I am told 10 of the 15 of Trump Cabinet nominees are enthusiastic about Jesus’ game plan for how our society can thrive. And there’s also an evangelical named Mike Pence to throw into the mix. We are on our way back, and with us a health care system that acknowledges our Christian heritage.
Make sure you invite a friend to Bible study this week.
• Foster Friess founded Friess Associates, which grew to $15 billion in assets under management. He now promotes “return to civility” efforts. Twitter: @FosterFriess
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