Nazis and white supremacists. Charlottesville. Immigration policy and DACA. Climate change. In the context of these issues, there’s been much discussion of late about moral and ethical principles and American values.
There is, of course, no moral equivalency between white supremacists and those who oppose and protest them. People who advocate white supremacy are just plain wrong, on moral grounds.
And the Trump administration is clearly pursuing a path on immigration policy and climate change that is contrary to the ethical standards and values of the vast majority of Americans. I would add to this list the expansion of health insurance coverage. If anything is clear after this summer’s failed attempt by Republicans to repeal the ACA it’s that almost all Americans now support universal coverage.
And, more to the point, people see this increasingly in moral terms. They get it. It took many years—decades—to get to this point. But this summer’s debate clarified what our values are as a nation on access to health care via the structure of insurance, private and public.
