Health Care and Marriage Equality

Both of these issues are getting a lot of play here in Maine. Health Care maybe even more so than in the rest of the country due to the importance of our Republican Senators’ (Snow and Collins) potential support of a Democratic bill. Marriage Equality because after being the first state to pass legislation allowing gay marriage that was NOT court mandated, an election fight is underway as opponents try and pass a people’s veto to repeal the legislation. I’ve written about both issues separately, today I want to talk about what they have in common.

The answer to what they have in common comes from the following two part question: Who do you identify with and who can you identify with? You might think about your family, your church, your group of friends, your school, your town, your country. Another way of asking this is how do you define your pack? Years ago, Hillary Clinton wrote about it taking a village, but again, what is a village? How are we defining our community? Regardless of how we answer today, the two issues represent part of the struggle to get to the point where we extend the definition of our reference group to all individuals.

As we developed, we started to learn to get past thinking only about ourselves. It has been noted by many that the path of our growth as a society has been our ability to identify with larger and larger groups. First it was our family, then our tribe, then our village and so on. Now we no longer fear every stranger that comes down the road; however, there is still more progress to be made.

The civil rights movement can be viewed as extending our view of the group we identify with to people of all races. Seeing a larger group as deserving of the same legal protections and rights that some already had. The battle for gay rights (and gay marriage) is a continuation of that struggle to yet another segment of the population. As we come to recognize that ultimately the key group we belong to is mankind we realize that everyone deserves the same protections and rights.

As with recognizing that all individuals deserve the right to marry, we must recognize that all individuals deserve access to health care. Again, the definition of ourselves as being part of the group of all individuals is key. It leads to recognition of the shared responsibility to take care of each other. Keep this in mind as the debate rages on in Washington. The discussion should only be about the details, the goal of affordable access to care for everyone must be taken as a given.

As always I encourage you to share your comments below.

Fall TV 2009 – An Update

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times (OK, not original but I always wanted to start out a post that way). A month into the season we’ve seen the best of times: shows already getting full season pickups (The Middle, Modern Family and Cougar Town among others) and the worst of times: a show cancelled after two episodes (The Beautiful Live) and a show cancelled even before it aired (Southland). I can’t help but mention that the two cancelled shows were not on my recommended list while the three renewed shows were :)


In general I’ve been happy with my picks. Of the returning shows Big Bang Theory is having a break out year – if you haven’t tried it yet, please do. Also off to particularly good starts among the returning shows are How I Met Your Mother, Castle and the Mentalist (but remember to take these for what they are, pure fun escapism - don’t look for realism in any of them).

Most of the rest of the returning shows on my list are still keepers. However there are two I’m having issues with: Dollhouse is an interesting experiment but after a season plus it still has issues. The plots and characters are inconsistent. The best episode of the series is the one never aired on TV (Epilogue that was shot in case the series was cancelled last year and is available only on the DVD). Given the plunging ratings, this experiment might be over soon. Heroes has been problematic since the second season – once again we were told this is the year it comes back but I’m not sure that’s true. On the plus side is Robert Knepper (T-bag from Prison Break): both a good actor and interesting character. I’m just not sure that he is enough to balance our some of the tired plot lines of the other characters.

Among the new shows, I am in love with Glee and Flash Forward – definitely keepers! Glee is just pure fun and Flash Forward has been more intriguing (and better acted) than expected. I’m still watching most of my other picks, but two have already been dropped: Accidentally on Purpose - I watched one episode and it was just horrible, according to the ratings and reviews most people seem to agree with me so it will probably not be on much longer. The other one I never even got started on, The Forgotten. I just couldn’t seem to find time to add another crime show to my list. Unwatched but still waiting for me on the DVR is The Good Wife: Getting good reviews (and a full season pick-up) I’m still intrigued, I just haven’t gotten around to watching yet but I will soon.

Vampire Diaries has been another pleasant surprise. I was on the fence before it started but am enjoying it. Not on a level with some of the others but it is fun (I get a particular kick out of the meta comments when cast characters talk about the Twilight series). Community and Hank have been disappointing but I’m sticking with them for now. Community because it has moments of amusement and Hank because I’ll let ABC decide for me (being the only one of the four new Wednesday night ABC comedies not to be renewed is a sign it may not be long for this world).

Let me know what you think of the TV season so far by posting a comment.