Alinskyian Health Care Push, Part III

With only a little more than a month to counter growing public sentiment against federal health care plans, many of the key players of the We Believe Together - Health Care for All coalition – PICO National Network, Sojourners, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, and Gamaliel among them – have begun a special campaign, 40 Days for Health Reform.

To understand the work of We Believe Together - Health Care for All and 40 Days for Health Reform, one must understand that PICO and Gamaliel are community-organizing networks built on the theories of Saul Alinsky. They organize primarily among religious institutions – particularly Christian and Jewish congregations – ostensibly for neighborhood-enhancement projects, such as after-school programs or improved infrastructure. Local projects, however, are only a means to an end. PICO, Gamaliel and their ilk are after bigger game, building a base of people around the country to support progressive policies on a national scale. [See, for example, Wendy Cadge, “Mobilizing Religious Progressives on Health Care,” Religious Dispatches, 9-1-09]

Religious institutions, as opposed to organized schools or unions, are particularly useful to Alinskyian organizing networks, as it is a prime Alinskyian strategy is to “do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral garments. ....Moral rationalization is indispensable at all times of action whether to justify the selection or the use of ends or means.” [Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals, 10th Rule, p 43.]

In order to clothe health care “reforms” in moral clothing, 40 Days for Health Reform sponsored a highly publicized conference call (Sojourners called it a national “call in”) between President Obama and the “people of faith” within its networks to discuss the issue. It has also run a nationwide TV ad, featuring clergy, to support health care reform. It has prepared printed material that misapplies scripture verses, such as the Matthew 25’s warning that people will “be judged by how they treat the least of these” as a spiritual mandate for health care reform. “Healing is God’s desire for every person because everyone is created in the divine image.” [Sojourners’ Health Care Toolkit, www.sojo.net/action/alerts/health_care_toolkit.pdf]

Last but not least, it mobilized a “National Day of Action for Health Insurance Reform,” coordinated by PICO. On August 11, 2009, various PICO locals (and a few other groups) held “prayer rallies” or “vigils” and in-district meetings to influence members of Congress about federal health care legislation. Many of the politically-motivated “prayer vigils” were scheduled together with press conferences – no taking these prayers into the closet.

To give some idea of the scope of these “vigils,” here is a partial listing:

In Alabama, the PICO local, Birmingham Area Interfaith Sponsoring Committee, targeted the Birmingham Congressional delegation.

In California, the PICO locals – Faith In Action, Contra Costa Interfaith Sponsoring Committee (CCISCO), OCCCO, LA Voice, Congregations Building Community, Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), Faith Works, Peninsula Interfaith Action (PIA), Inland Congregations United for Change, San Diego Organizing Project (SDOP), People Acting in Community Together (PACT), Congregations Organizing for Renewal (COR), targeted legislators in their respective areas. Among the legislators listed were: Rep. Jim Costa, House Labor and Education Chair George Miller, Rep. Loretta Sanchez, Rep. Xavier Becerra, Rep. Diane Watson, and Rep. Dennis Cardoza, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Darrell Issa, Rep. Brian Bilbray, Sen. Diane Feinstein, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Rep. Anna Eshoo, Rep. Joe Baca, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, Rep. Ken Calvert, Rep. Susan Davis, Rep. Bob Filner, Rep. Duncan Hunter, Rep. Susan Davis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Mike Honda, Rep. Jackie Speier, House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Pete Stark, and Rep. Jerry McNerney.

In Colorado, the PICO local, Metro Organizations for People, targeted Rep. Betsy Markey.

In Florida, the PICO locals ACTION Network, Congregations for Community Action (CCA), FOCUS, and Orlando Diocese targeted Rep. Corrine Brown, Rep. Cliff Stearns, Senator Mel Martinez, Senator Bill Nelson, Rep. Bill Posey, Sen. Mel Martinez, Sen. Bill Nelson, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, Rep. John Mica, Rep. Alan Grayson, and Rep. Corrine Brown.

In Georgia the Industrial Areas Foundation local A.B.L.E. targeted Rep. John Lewis and Rep. Hank Johnson.

In Kansas, the PICO local Communities Creating Opportunity targeted Rep. Dennis Moore, Senator Sam Brownback, and Senator Pat Roberts.

In Louisiana, PICO Louisiana targeted Sen. Landrieu, Sen. Vitter, and Rep. Bill Cassidy. PICO locals MICAH, Faith United for Empowerment and Leadership (FUEL), and Congregations Organizing People for Equality (COPE) targeted Sen. Mary Landrieu, Sen. David Vitter, Rep. Anh Cao, and Rep. Steve Scalise, Sen. Mary Landrieu, Sen. David Vitter, Rep. Rodney Alexander, Rep. Bill Cassidy, and Rep. Charlie Melancon.

In Maine, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good targeted Sen. Olympia Snowe, Sen. Susan Collins, and Rep. Chellie Pingree.

In Massachusetts, the PICO local Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN) met with Rep. Michael Capuano and with Senator Edward Kennedy’s staff. The IAF local Brockton Interfaith Community met with Rep. Stephen Lynch and the PICO local United Interfaith Action met with Rep. James McGovern, Senator John Kerry’s staff, and Rep. Barney Frank’s staff.

In Michigan, the PICO local Flint Area Congregations Together(FACT) targeted Rep. Dale Kildee, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and Sen. Carl Levin.

In Missouri, the PICO local Communities Creating Opportunity (CCO) targeted Senator Claire McCaskill and Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.

In New Jersey, the PICO local Camden Churches Organized for People targeted Sen. Frank Lautenberg, Sen. Robert Menendez, and Rep. Robert Andrews.

In New York, the PICO local Queens Congregations United for Action (QCUA) targeted Congressman Gary Ackerman and Congressman Joseph Crowley. Brooklyn Congregations United (BCU) targeted Sen. Charles Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The PICO local Interfaith Action of Rochester targeted Rep. Louise Slaughter.

In Pennsylvania, the PICO local Congregations United for Neighborhood Action targeted Rep. Charlie Dent.

In Vermont, the PICO local Vermont Interfaith Action targeted Rep. Peter Welch, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and. Sen. Patrick Leahy. [The complete listing is at www.coverallfamilies.org/act?id07]

UHCAN Ohio (Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio) is another organization working for national health care legislation among religious populations and blogger Ed Morrissey reproduced a job description UHCAN posted recently, looking for individual to “reach out to forty faith congregations in the Cincinnati area and its suburbs, asking their faith leader to communicate to his/her congregation about federal health care reform in a religious/moral context. …. asking them to preach on the subject, or to carry out a discussion within the congregation, or to sign on to a letter to policymakers. We need a success rate of at least 33 percent. It will also involve providing them with the materials that will fit their situation.” [“Astroturfing churches?” Hot Air, 9-1-09]

Morrissey comments, “In other words, UHCAN wants to pressure churches into transforming themselves into campaign rallies. That kind of contact could risk their tax-exempt status (and should), but the moral problem goes beyond that. Will pastors who agree to this disclose that they’ve been lobbied and pressured by ObamaCare advocates? If they do, it would undermine the credibility of the sermons, but if they don’t, it undermines the credibility of the minister and the church itself.”

One might say the same about the Alinskyian organizing networks. An organizer who attempts to reassure congregations that a local PICO, IAF or Gamaliel organization “isn’t political” is playing with words. To quote IAF organizer Arnold Graf, “In places like San Antonio and Baltimore, we are as close to being a political party as anybody is. We go around organizing people, getting them to agree on an agenda, registering them to vote, interviewing candidates on whether the support our agenda. We’re not a political party, but that's what political parties do.” [William Greider, Who Will Tell the People, p. 224]

Stephanie Block is the editor of the New Mexico-based Los Pequenos newspaper and a founder of the Catholic Media Coalition.