HEROES WANTED

by Paul Gibbs

Remember near the end of the original Star Wars, when Han Solo was leaving before the battle of the Death Star? Just taking his money and running, because they didn't have a chance of winning and it wasn't his fight anyway? Is that we nearly every male (and many of the females) from my generation grew up wanting to be Han Solo? Of course not. If Han had left then he wouldn't be the idol of millions, he wouldn't have gotten Princess Leia, and instead of arguing who shot first, we'd be saying "Greedo should have aimed better". But Han came back, blasted the panels off of Vader's ship, and became a hero most of us still want to emulate. And yet, too often I fear we come closer to being the Han who very nearly weaseled out.

Some misinformed people are taking a defeatist view that Healthy Utah has no chance of passing because of the recommendations made by Darth Dunnigan and the Health Reform Rask Force. But that's not the case. That recommendation isn't binding. it has no hold on anyone. Any member of the legislature can still bring Healthy Utah to a vote, and I guarantee you that courageous legislators on both sides of the aisle,  like Rebecca Chavez-Houck, Brian Shiozawa, Brian King and Ray Ward aren't going to take the easy way out. The battle is for from over, and we can win. It's time to decide whether we're going to go into battle or shrug it off. I truly believe we can win this, but if we don't, I'll never have to wonder if I didn't do enough. Can you say the same? To be brutally honest, the biggest threat to Healthy Utah at this point isn't right wing extremism, it's liberal apathy. We complain about the way our state is run, but then shrug off chances to do something. If we fail, it will because not enough people who agreed with the cause were willing to fight for it.  No matter what I do for the rest of my life, I'll always know I was brave enough to stand up against powerful people to fight for what I knew was right. You can, too.

I appreciate the people coming to the SUPPORT HEALTHY UTAH VIDEO EVENT, but so far we don't have nearly as many as we need to make a statement which will get the legislature's attention. Please evaluate how important your other commitments really are. If you truly can be there, can you film your own statement? A video selfie on your cell phone is enough. But if we believe in this at all, you have to make the effort to do this. Every single person we have makes a difference, and so does every single person we don't.

If you record your own statement, contact me at bluestrekalives@gmail.com. I can get the footage and include it. Please help. Be on the side that stood up and fought.