Vegetarian Piranhas?

Syracuse City Eagle
Walt Shepperd
2009 November 12th

In an action not tied to his campaign for a Common Council seat, Howie Hawkins was arrested the day after his disappointing loss for refusing to leave the office of the WellPoint insurance agency when his attempted delivery of a letter protesting the business was refused. “Insurance companies are the real death panels in America,” Hawkins maintained in a statement release after the arrest. “They are the bureaucracies that stand between you and your doctor and decide whether they will pay for the care your doctor recommends. For-profit insurance companies have a direct conflict between profits and care. Their Wall Street investors demand that insurers boost profits by denying claims. Reforming these predatory insurers into public servants is as futile reforming piranhas into vegetarians.”

For Hawkins, the Democrats’ current health care reform bill is an equally futile effort. “Whether or not the Democrats’ plan passes,” he insisted, “the health care cost and coverage crisis will continue. It’s time to abandon illusions about the public option and for-profit insurance reform and go straight for the only solution that works: non-profit health care for all.” His participation in the demonstration at the insurance company office hints at his next foray into the alternative politics, which he has used successfully in raising the issues of Living Wage and Public Power. His attempt to find success in the traditional elective experience fell short by about 500 votes, an indication that message alone, even one with significant positive public support, may not carry the day. “Zombie voting,” one veteran observer called it. “The Democrats in the district just pull the lever without looking. If they put George Bush on that line they’d pull the lever, right next to Charles Manson.”