March (and rally) to the Finish Line!

The fight for health care reform is continuing. Join us at two events as we ratchet up our campaign to enact health care reform in the next two months.

 

A major rally in Philadelphia at a place still to be determined in Center City on Wednesday, February 17 at 12:00 noon. Click here to RSVP.

March to the Finish Line, a march of health care activists from Philadelphia to Washington beginning at the rally and ending up in at the Capitol on Wednesday, February 24^th right before President Obama’s health care summit. Click here to sign up for any part of the march.

 

In the late 19^th century, when the Nation’s Capital moved to a swamp along the Potomac, a journalist wrote that he feared our government would be “at a distance and out of sight” of the people.

For corporations, the distance from Washington has been overcome.

• Insurance companies that want to block health care reform have no trouble getting their voices heard. They have lobbyists in Washington and can fly in their executives on private jets.
  
• Financial firms that want to block regulations on the practices that crippled our economy have no trouble finding supportive members of Congress.
  
• Energy companies that want to block clean energy legislation never worry about the Capital being too far away.
  
• Internet companies that want to block net neutrality laws don’t have to use the internet to tell their story. Their lobbyists and executives are in Washington all the time.
  

But for the citizens of the country, who are suffering because they can’t afford decent healthcare or because they don’t have a job, government remains “at a distance and out of sight.”

We are marching to Washington because it’s time for votes to count for more than money in our politics, for people to matter more that corporations.

We are not going to let our members of Congress hide in Washington. We are going to go there and demand they fix the problems of this country.

Are you with me?

If so, then come to the rally (RSVP here) and join the Highway to Health Care Reform (RSVP here).

You don’t have to commit to the whole 133 mile 8 day march. We want as many of you as possible to march with the core group leaving Philadelphia on the 17^th and rejoin us in Washington on the 24^th . And if you want to spend just a day or two with us in Delaware or Maryland, we will arrange vans and car pools so that you can join us.

And for those of you far from Philadelphia, we’ll help you get to Philadelphia to join the rally and beginning of the March. Contact me at MarcStier@hcanpa.org for more information.

We’re marching because we know it’s not just health care, jobs, and other issues that are at stake right now. It’s our democracy. We’re marching to Washington to take it back from the corporations and their lobbyists.

Join us!