Awarded “in recognition of significant achievements in assuring affordable health care services for all Minnesotans.”
For more information on the great work of Community Health Centers, click here.
“Thissen thinks that the economic realities of the Age Wave will be the catalyst for change, politically. But he stressed that it’s critical to encourage everybody to see themselves in such a way as to personalize the issue.” Read Full Entry…
A group gathered this afternoon in the Elks Club in Worthington, Minnesota. DFL candidates Richard Peterson and Mike McCarvel attended. The discussion centered on the increasing costs of health care in rural communities and the difficulties of local small businesses to continue to provide coverage, especially family coverage, to employees. I was heartened by the strong support for covering all kids with health care — as a moral issue, as a child welfare issue and as a way to relieve stress from small businesses.
Thanks to Debra Hogenson for arranging the forum.
Paul’s Q&A with editors of the Richfield Sun Current covering a broad range of issues.
I’ve spent 35 years writing about America, its people, and the meaning of the American Promise. The Promise that was handed down to us, right here in this city from our founding fathers, with one instruction: Do your best to make these things real: opportunity, equality, social and economic justice, a fair shake for all of our citizens, the American idea, as a positive influence, around the world for a more just and peaceful existence. These are the things that give our lives hope, shape, and meaning. They are the ties that bind us together and give us faith in our contract with one another.
I’ve spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise and that reality has never been greater or more painful.
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In my job, I travel the world, and . . . I’ve continued to find, wherever I go, America remains a repository of people’s hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world . . . we remain, for many, a house of dreams.
Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, looted, and left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck. It needs strong arms, hearts, and minds. . . . But most importantly, it needs us. You and me. To build that house with the generosity that is at the heart of the American spirit. A house that is truer and big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all of our fellow citizens. That is where our future lies. We will rise or fall as a people by our ability to accomplish this task.
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