Last week, I had the honor of meeting civil rights icon and fellow Ole Miss alumni, James Meredith.  I must admit that shaking his hand was a surreal experience.  Here I was having a conversation with a man who 50 years ago had been physically and emotionally assaulted for fighting injustice in Mississippi.  Our chat was brief, but it will last with me for the rest of my life.

When Meredith was my age, he and many other patriots fought so that black men and women would be able to attend events with white men and women.  It seems like such a foreign concept today, but it is a time period forever engraved in our history.  Meredith’s leadership, like that of Medgar Evers and William Winter, are what Mississippi starves for these days.  We need leaders with big personalities, big ideas, and big goals to fight injustice in our state.

A few days ago, Governor Phil Bryant (R) told a crowd that on Election Day, it wouldn’t be a problem if voters voluntarily produced an ID when they show up to the polls.  Well, Governor, it is a problem.  Governor Bryant is setting a very dangerous precedent for his own political gain.  Regardless of political affiliation, one could argue that confusing voters about what is or is not required of them could be a form of voter intimidation.  This is not what our great republic stands for.  With a wink and a nod, the Governor has set in motion a potential nightmare on Election Day if poll workers across the state begin asking for an ID when it is not required.  (Side note: the law that currently exists does not require a voter to produce an ID in order to vote unless the voter mailed in his or her voter registration form and it is their first time to vote.)

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann (R) likes to remind us that voters can get FREE IDs, FREE phone numbers to call to obtain a FREE ID, all this FREE stuff!  It’s amazing that Hosemann’s friends in the Tea Party haven’t protested all these free giveaways at taxpayers’ expense.  But why would they?  Hosemann is doing their bidding.

We can debate the pros and cons of the Voter ID ballot initiative until Doomsday.  One side argues that it’s about ballot integrity.  The other side argues it is voter intimidation.  Why not take it one step further?  A man for whom I have great respect asked this question all the time when I took his course at Ole Miss: What’s really going on?

It all boils down to this, and it’s a very simple calculation: Voter ID affects older voters and minority voters the most.  Guess what Mississippi has a lot of?  Who do some of these voters historically support?  Rather than debate Democrats on the issues, Republicans are putting up roadblocks to keep Democratic supporters from voting in the first place.  Without Democrats voting in stronger numbers, Republicans have a higher probability of winning.  Checkmate.

The battles to fight injustice continue and come in different varieties.  Our challenge is to ask the question: What’s really going on?

The Hinds County Democrats are hosting their annual Beans and Greens dinner tomorrow, October 25, at 6:00 PM. The event will be held at Fondren Plaza at 4330 N. State Street (location of the old Primos restaurant, between Meadowbrook and Northside).

The featured speaker will be Nikema Williams, vice-chair of the Georgia Democratic Party. Tickets are $35/individual or $50/couple. For more information, email [email protected]

We hope you’ll join us to support our tri-county area Democrats!

Something nobody tells you about the worst moment of your life: you will have the strangest urge to laugh. At whom, or what, you’re not quite sure, only that someone must obviously be having a joke at your expense, because surely this terrible thing cannot seriously be happening to you.

After a month or so of feeling not quite right, my husband had gone to the local after-hours clinic to get checked out. One test led to another, and when the doctor finally called, I sent our small children upstairs to play so that they wouldn’t see me cry. My brother and his wife brought over Happy Meals for supper, while we wept and prayed and wrapped our heads around the new reality of life with cancer.

In the end, we were lucky — or at least, we have been so far. Even stage III kidney cancer is treatable. After his surgery in May 2011, my husband is in remission and doing well. We hope cancer stays in our rearview mirror where it belongs. If he can stay well for a few more years, we have every expectation that he’ll see our children graduate and get married and have kids of their own.

It didn’t come cheaply. My husband’s surgery clocked in at about $40,000, but we have good insurance through his employer, and we could afford to pay a couple thousand dollars’ worth of deductibles and co-pays. He had amassed enough vacation time to cover our finances for the month it took him to recover enough to go back to work. As long as he continues to have group insurance coverage through his job, we’ll be able to afford the annual CAT scans, and be covered for treatment for any possible relapse.

What Mitt Romney seems not to understand about chronic diseases like cancer is that the emergency room won’t treat them. Under federal law, the hospital doesn’t have to treat you for free unless you are so ill that you can’t be sent home. Even then, EMTALA only requires that they get you well enough that they can release you from the hospital to visit an outpatient doctor later — and that doctor doesn’t have to treat you if you can’t pay.

The emergency department will not perform your cancer surgery. If you are like my husband, feeling reasonably well at the moment but carrying a deadly disease inside, the emergency department will make you a followup appointment with a specialist and send you out the door. The urologist will not schedule your cancer surgery if you cannot pay, and he’s under no obligation to operate on you for free. When you do have surgery, the hospital will send you a $40K bill, because they don’t have to eat the cost of scheduled surgeries.

I don’t know how to say this any plainer to Mr. Romney: if my husband were not insured and we could not afford the $40K bill, the emergency department would indeed have sent him home to die. People with cancer can come back to the ER when their cancer has progressed to such an advanced stage that they need to be admitted to the hospital, but by that point, it would be far too late for surgery to save them. The ER treats emergencies, and it does not offer chemotherapy or routine treatment for even life-threatening chronic diseases. Without insurance, I would be well along the path to widowhood right now — and since both my husband and I have spent the majority of our careers working for small businesses which didn’t offer health insurance, we understand just how precarious our “insured” status really is.

And if there’s anyone who SHOULD understand this, it’s Mitt Romney, who is married to a person with a chronic illness. Mitt Romney — the husband, not the presidential candidate — should know that the ER misses 40% of multiple sclerosis cases. He should know that when patients like his wife show up at the ER, the doctors will administer temporary treatment and send them home to follow up with neurologists. He knows that the ER won’t provide those patients with the daily medications costing $3,000 a month or more. He knows that the ER can’t provide his wife with physical and occupational therapy, or home health nurses if his wife’s MS advances to the point where she can no longer manage activities of daily living.

Well-intentioned people on both the left and right may disagree whether the Affordable Care Act is the best way to address health care reform. However, serious people of all political stripes recognize that our existing system has pressing issues, which we cannot hand-wave away just by claiming that hospitals’ emergency departments can pick up the slack. It’s truly sad that Mitt Romney, who apparently understood this problem well during his time as governor of Massachusetts, now denies that the health and lives of real American families like mine are at stake. It’s even sadder that Mitt Romney the person isn’t honest enough to acknowledge the difficulties faced by less-wealthy versions of his own family.

Earlier this week, Congressman Harper and his colleagues Alan Nunnelee and Steven Palazzo authored an opinion piece to the Sun Herald newspaper.  As one would expect, they were patting themselves on the back for what they believe is a job well done over the past two years.

In his piece, Harper once again restates his belief that the Affordable Care Act is bad for patients and seniors – and practically anything else that he can imagine.  What the Congressman refuses to admit is that the ACA reduces seniors’ health care costs.  Preventive services and prescription drug coverage is all addressed in the bill.  So, by Congressman Harper voting to repeal the legislation, he has actually voted to increase seniors’ health care costs by forcing seniors to pay for more their medication.

Not only that, Congressman Harper has voted to take away children’s health care coverage by removing the ability for kids to stay on his or her parents’ plan until the age of 26.  He has voted to eliminate the protection of persons with mental illness by returning mental health conditions as a pre-existing condition.  He has increased taxes on small businesses by removing the tax credits they could receive to offer health insurance to their employees.  He argues that the bill is bad for states, but why would Haley Barbour and Mike Chaney support its implementation if it were such a bad idea?

Harper points out that he and his Republican have prioritized defense spending above all other.  While Mississippi continues to rank at the bottom of most metrics of public health, Harper’s priorities are all out of whack.  Our military leaders have noted that obesity in America is a national security concern.  They are absolutely correct.  What good is there in building the fastest and deadliest tanks and planes if a soldier can’t fit in them?  Military recruitment is suffering because of the childhood obesity epidemic our country is facing.

With so many critical issues before us, Harper and the Republicans’ strategy for America continues to be misguided.

You can read Congressman Harper’s article here: http://www.sunherald.com/2012/10/06/4227676/gregg-harper-alan-nunnelee-and.html

Rankin County Democrats have hit the airwaves in recent days.  Below are links to two articles of Rankin County Democrats leading the charge for Mississippi Democrats.

The first article is from the Jackson Free Press noting Atlee Breland’s hard work against Proposition 26 in last year’s General Election and the importance of women engaging in politics.

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2012/oct/03/women-hall/

The second story comes from last night’s debate watch party at Hal and Mal’s.  We had a great turnout, and you could feel the energy in the room

http://www2.wjtv.com/news/2012/oct/03/mississippians-react-pres-debate-ar-4680829/

Ryan Brown

Dear Mr. Brown:

Thank you for contacting me regarding assistance the federal government currently provides to the American farmer. It is good to hear from you. 

I first would like to say that I am proud of the long history and tradition of agriculture in Mississippi. It is my hope that farmers in Mississippi and across the U.S. have the opportunity to produce crops that are important to our well being for many years to come. Moving forward, I envision farmers will play a key role in the renewable energy debate to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. I also support the exploration of new markets abroad to ensure the American farmer has access to the world economy.

That said our current fiscal situation is untenable. We must reevaluate numerous programs across the federal government to ensure we leave this great nation in better shape than we found it. The current farm bill we are operating under expires in 2012. Discussion on the framework for the next farm bill has already begun on Capitol Hill. I am appreciative of the opportunity I have to provide input on agricultural issues to ensure we have a workable common sense reauthorization bill.

The United States’ agricultural industry has had an excellent year and is projected to continue to prosper. Unfortunately, this progress can be decimated by just one bad farm year like we had in 2009. It is my hope that we can attack these issues in a way that creates an environment that is favorable to the farmer and also recognizes our current fiscal crisis.

Again, thank you for your input. I appreciate the opportunity to represent you and all the citizens of Mississippi’s Third Congressional District. If I may be of further assistance to you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

Sincerely,

Gregg Harper

Member of Congress

GH/tm

This message was in response to the letter Rankin County Democrats sent to Congressman Harper asking why the Republican Congress has failed to pass a reauthorization of the Farm Bill.  You can read our letter here: Rankin Democrats’ letter to Congressman Harper

After reading this form letter three times to make sure I didn’t miss anything, here are some thoughts:

First, the question asked in our letter was not addressed in the Congressman’s response.

Second, the Farm Bill has been debated for months and is set to expire at the end of the year.  How does he argue that discussions for a framework have already begun when the Senate and the House Agriculture Committee have passed versions of their bills but no action has taken place on the House floor?  Congress isn’t expected to convene until after the election and will then be faced with a very tight lame duck schedule.  Does the Congressman expect a Farm Bill reauthorization to pass or will the Republican Congress force the can to be kicked down the road?

Third, and most important, how can Congressman Harper argue that American agriculture has had an excellent year?  We have suffered severe droughts this year while livestock and crops have withered away.  At the same time, food prices go up and the middle class keeps getting squeezed.

Fourth, I wonder when Congressman Harper was last on a farm.

Ryan Brown

The Executive Committee of the Rankin County Democrats will meet on Thursday, October 11, at 6 PM. The meeting will be held at the Reservoir Community Center, located next to the fire station on Spillway Road.

We are pleased to have Rankin County Circuit Clerk Becky Boyd as our featured speaker. Ms. Boyd will discuss election rules and poll monitoring with our group.

Executive Committee meetings are open to the public, and we encourage you all to attend and hear Ms. Boyd.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has scheduled a National Drug Take-Back Day which will take place on Saturday, September 29, from 10:00am until 2:00pm.  This is a great opportunity for anyone who has accumulated unwanted, unused prescription medication to safely dispose of those medications.

Drop off locations in Rankin County are the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department at 221 North Timber Street in Brandon and at NewSouth NeuroSpine, in conjunction with the Flowood Police Department, at 2470 Flowood Drive.

Please call 1-800-882-9539 with any questions.

Last week, Rankin County Democrats sent a letter to our Congressman, Gregg Harper.  In our letter, I asked why the Republican leadership in the United States House of Representatives is refusing to pass a reauthorization of the Farm Bill.  Is it because they don’t have the votes?  Is it because they don’t want to give the President another issue to discuss before November?  Even in the snail-paced Senate, it still passed its version of the bill back in June.  Note: Senators Cochran and Wicker voted against the bill.

The Farm Bill has been reauthorized for decades without this sort of neglect.  It’s the support that our farmers need during these tough economic times — not to mention all the severe weather crises.  Sadly, election year politics has popped up, and Mississippians are left out to dry.

It should be noted that while the Farm Bill languishes in the House of Representatives, Gregg Harper is boosting his political resume by running for Republican Conference Secretary in the House.  He will call all of his Republican colleagues to ask for their votes.  My hope is that while Gregg is campaigning for himself, he can simultaneously campaign for Mississippi farmers, Mississippi commerce, and Mississippi jobs by campaigning for passage of the Farm Bill.

You can read a copy of our letter here: Rankin Democrats’ letter to Congressman Harper

Ryan Brown

Yesterday, State Treasurer Lynn Fitch announced she has halted new applicants into the state’s MPACT program.  Thousands of young people, myself included, have benefitted from the MPACT program.  It’s an avenue through which middle class families can afford to send their children to college.  My parents set up MPACT funds for my brother and me when the program was established, and we were all the better for it.

We now hear that due to financial strains, MPACT is under an audit and may need reform – and possibly termination of the program.  How did we get into this dire situation in the first place?

The problem did not start yesterday.  This problem started years ago while now-Lt. Governor Tate Reeves served as State Treasurer.  Why is Reeves the one who’s shocked at what has transpired?  He was the officer in charge of the program for eight years!  Why did we not see this coming?  Why was the legislature and the public not informed of this years ago?

With respect to Lynn Fitch, how she can argue that investments are not reaching expectations when the stock market is at its highest point in five years?  Her argument doesn’t pass muster.

The Republican mismanagement of MPACT notwithstanding, this is yet another huge hit to Mississippi’s middle class families.  The future of higher education for thousands of families across the state is now at risk, and all we’re getting is finger pointing.

We’ll see how the state’s fiscally conservative Republican leadership explains where they are going to find $94 million to keep MPACT solvent.

Ryan Brown