Starting today, we’re launching an unprecedented week-long campaign sprint — our “Final March for Reform.” Each day until the vote, we’ll feature a powerful new way for OFA supporters to speak out in our communities and weigh in directly with Congress.

Today, we’ll start by spreading the facts about reform in our communities

You can download fact sheets and print out flyers in support of health care reform here.

Facts about Obama’s Health Care Reform Plan:

• If you have health insurance through you’re employer, you can keep your coverage if you want
• Small business owners will receive new tax credits for providing coverage to their employees
• Medicare benefits will not be cut and the Medicare Trust Fund will be extended for 9+ years
• Bans coverage denial based on pre-existing conditions
• Bans arbitrary premium hikes

The Plan does NOT:

• Establish Death Panels
• Force you to change your plan
• Cut Medicare benefits
• Allow federal tax dollars to cover undocumented immigrants

While that last bullet is true, i think its bullshit. Its beyond disgusting to claim that health insurance is a right and then deny access to people that need it. The underlying racism and xenophobia behind this provision is a terrifying threat to the moral authority of this country and a stain on the conscience of each and every citizen.

And this is precisely why we must take action to pass health care reform. Because it is morally right to extend heath care access to anyone and everyone who needs it. And most importantly because it establishes a moral principle that health care is a fundamental human right. Once health care becomes a question of morality, it will be more difficult to justify the exclusion of people based on membership in any particular group. [Check out these immigrant-solidarity resources]

Crunch time has arrived. If we don’t push health care reform through now, we won’t have another chance for a long time.

So lets spread the word, call out the lies and get movin’ with the Final March For Reform!

COMMIT YOUR TIME TO BACK UP CANDIDATES WHO FIGHT HARD FOR HEALTH REFORM

We must show every member of Congress that if they fight for real health reform now, we’ll be there to back them up this election season.

We’re shooting for 10,000,000 hours pledged to spread the word to fellow voters. And we’ll publish the total hours pledged in USA Today, so there will be no doubt that health reform is both good policy and good politics.

Wow. Voting. Not exactly a new idea, right? (In fact, its one that many people consider worthless in our current political climate.) But, its campaigns like this one that aim to increase the power of the political voices of everyday citizens and to pass ground-breaking social justice legislation that have the potential to change this political climate.

Sometimes its damn hard to tell Democrats and Republicans apart. As Talib Kweli says:

You try to vote and participate in the government
And the m**f** Democrats is actin’ like Republicans

If President Obama’s message of change has a chance of materializing into something worth the enormous struggles ahead of us, it will depend in large part upon Democratic politicians legitimately working in service of the people. And this means challenging the staggering influence that corporate lobbyists have on our politicians. We will never come close to outspending the bloodsucking insurance lobbyists, so we have to maximize the power of the tools we do have.

The You Fight, We’ll Fight approach inserts you and me into the equation by pre-emptively strengthening our bargaining power. By identifying ourselves as potential supporters, we are a force to be reckoned with and voters potentially to be lost instead of a disengaged, disempowered public. Plus, it sends a clear message to the Democrats that Health Insurance Reform in 2010 is a deal-breaker for their constituents.

In short, the You Fight, We’ll Fight campaign is one worthy of your consideration. Organizing for America has declared March 8 – March 14 the Week of Health Insurance Reform Action, so now is the perfect time to get involved. Check out Organizing for America to pledge your support and find an event near you. And check out the President’s message to his supporters below:

There’s so much wrongness there, you can just swim in it.

As true as this is, Jay doesn’t want us to drown in it. Getting sucked into media soundbites about race can draw us away from the most immediate issues at hand. Jay goes on:

A lot of the most important race issues are institutional, systemic, structural issues. Questions like:

Why in 2010 do Black people not have the same educational opportunities, the same access to health care, the same economic and employment opportunities?

Why are Black people so disproportionately affected by this recession?

Why, in 2010, does it so often seem like on an institutional, systemic, structural level Black people are still disproportionately affected by almost everything thats bad?

Those questions cannot be answered by analyzing the racial awkwardness of a YouTube video. Answering those questions means figuring out how we can change public policy and pressuring the government from inside and outside to make those changes.

Damn. Who wants to listen to John Mayer, anyway, when you can watch Jay-Smooth spit the truth? Check him out at his new site, Nil Doctrine.