Vote for Joe

We’ve headed into Nebraska where I was interviewed by the Ogallalla newspaper. (I practiced pronouncing the name more than a few times before we got to the town, so I didn’t lose any votes.) During the interview, I told the publisher that we would push for a National Health Care System — like they have in Candada, Denmark, New Zealand… — so there would be equitable health care for all. Sound spiritual principle would beg for that, we believe — especially with 46 million Americans who have no health care at all right now. In tandem, I told the publisher, we would also push for more: Marillac Clinics. Several years ago, we researched the Marillac Clinic in Grand Junction, Colorado. Doctors, nurses, community members who do intake, clerical, janitorial… work, all volunteer time at the clinic so those without health insurance in Grand Junction have a place to go. I told the publisher if you could get these types of clinics going in many towns in America, it would defray some of the additional tax it would take to subsidize a National Health Care System.

We are now heading diagonally back to Ohio on Hwy 80. I was interviewed by Chris Marcheso of the Fort Morgan (CO) Times yesterday. I told him that a big part of the reason Third World poverty exists is because priests and minisiters in ‘First World Countries’ (America, Canada, many European countries…) are not graphically talking about all the abject poverty in places like Haiti, Uganda, Biafra…, and in tandem, exhorting their congregations to dramatically sacrifice and help much more, because, simply: “nine times out of 10, these (spiritual) leaders are very comfortable themselves and are not motivated to encourage sacrifice.” Note: After a talk I gave at Xavier University during Campaign 2004, I addressed this issue. Afterward, a priest approached me and said Pope John Paul II had said the Western World and the Third World were playing out the gospel parable of: “The rich man and Lazzarus — the beggar at the gate.” The cliff note: The rich man is indifferent to Lazzarus, and the rich man ends up in Hell as a result… Note 2: To contemporize this parable a bit more: Compared to most of the Third World, most of us in America are: “rich” — no matter what our arbitrary American categories say are: “rich, upper middle class, middle class…”

A few weeks back, I got a case of minor heat stroke and dehydration. In addition, I picked up the flu — as we were going through the desert in Nevada. We don’t use air conditioning in the campaign vehicle, for environmental reasons. And to finish the particular tour route we were on (HWY 95), meant we still had to go south into Arizona, in August. We made a decision to go on, even though my temperature was about 102 or 103… We made it, and shortly after the fever broke… Two days ago, USA Today had a cover story about illegal immigrants making the trek across the desert in Arizona, on foot. According to the article, smugglers drive the immigrants north ot the barb wire fence, cut through it, or climb over it, and enter the desert in Arizona — where summer temperatures reach 115, or higher. They dodge motion sensors, video cameras, helicopters and agents with infrared goggles. If something goes wrong, the “coyotes” think nothing of abandoning these people in the furtherst reaches of the desert, also according to the article… As a result, more and more of these immigrants are dying. The cause of : hypothermia and heat stroke. The article further explained: “As the body temperature soars to 107 degrees, pressure plummets, vital organs fail, victims suffer cramps, nausea, exhaustion. Some strip or go crazy. Ultimately, they just sit down and collapse”… Makes what I went through seem quite minor. And what’s more, many of these people brave all this because: their kids are hungry. How can so many of us, and especially those of us who profess to be spiritual, be so cold to their plight?

A front page story ran in Colorado’s Valley Courier newspaper yesterday about the campaign. The story noted we had moved to the inner city of Cleveland to live side-by-side with the poor in order to be of better help… The story also noted that I thought the increased gas prices were actually a “good thing” (There goes some votes, huh.), because it might get people to drive less — which, ultimately, will cut down on greenhouse gas emissions… The day the article ran, I met with Leon Moyer of Alamosa. He rides a little motor scooter (which gets 85 miles per gallon) all around town. He said because the bike is less than 50 ccs, he doesn’t need a license plate or insurance for it. And he doesn’t believe in insurance anyway. “It’s a form of gambling,” he told me. And he added that many churches actually are opposed to: gambling. Fascinating perspective.

We headed further east on Rte. 106 into Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where Fr. Pedro at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church said a college friend’s uncle had a lucrative law practice until 1973, the year abortion was legalized in America. Immediately after the Roe vs Wade decision, the man quit his law practice and began traveling the country trying to organize as many Pro-Life groups as possible. Fr. Pedro said this man undertook: “evangelical poverty”… However, there is not much poverty in Pagosa Springs. The town is primarily an upscale resort area that is currently looking to add an additional 415 homes in the near future. I told a reporter for the Pagosa Sun newspaper that this, like so many forms of urban sprawl around the country, is an absolute cancer that is destroying farm land and adding to global warming exponentially, as people move further and further out, which means they have to drive further and further in… I also said to the reporter that we would ask some of those in Pagosa Springs to forgoe their little “piece of paradise” here, and move into the inner cities of America to help children who are dodging drugs, hunger, bullets. Perhaps, spiritually, this may pay off a lot more in the long run for, not only for these little helpless children; but just as significantly –for those making the decision to help.