Happy Anniversay, League of Women Voters!

Ninety years ago, Carrie Chapman Catt first proposed a League of Women Voters to "finish the fight" and work to end all discrimination against women. And so the League of Women Voters was founded on Valentine's Day in 1920, six months before the ratification of the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

Today the League is a grassroots organization with 850 Leagues throughout all 50 states. Although the League is known widely for our voter education efforts, the San Francisco League has been an institution in the City, working on campaign finance reform, healthcare, quality education for all students, and ensuring every local election vote is counted as cast.

On Thursday, February 11, the San Francisco League commemorated ninety years of League activism with its annual Women Who Could Be President Gala. League members and friends honored five Bay Area women who make outstanding contributions to the community.

The League is strictly non-partisan, but we have always been political, advocating to effect change at the national and local level. Our members join the League because they know that whatever happens to our democracy over the next ninety years, it should be up to us, the people.

The League of Women Voters - not just for women, by the way - is the organization where hands-on work to safeguard democracy leads to civic improvement. Come join us! Do as much or as little as you can. Call the League office at 415/989-8683 to talk about your interests and how we can work together. LLII.

Healthcare reform - Still a matter of life or death.

This week we were debating what message to put front and center on the SFVotes.org site for September. Healthcare reform was the natural choice, since the legislation is likely to be decided this month. After a disastrous August, with "discussions" characterized by misinformation and misunderstanding, the President and Congress are primed for what passes for compromise within the Beltway, and what is more accurately described as a race to the bottom anywhere else. This is the moment for fervent defense of everyone's right to healthcare.

The reality is people are weary of the subject, so we turned to another pressing issue (water).

Nonetheless, if you can manage it, please hold on and act again and again to insist on your rights. Even if you have great insurance coverage, it's highly probable your coverage will be eroded either through restricted benefits or higher costs. And, if you are reading this, you are the type of person who looks beyond yourself. A healthy populace is the greater good. Act again now. Please.

The League of Women Voters offers action opportunities.


Read the balanced, fact-based coverage of reform options on the New York Times. Talk to your neighbors, and encourage them to act.

And, as a backup, support the Kucinich amendment (right click to access the pdf), permitting states to waive out of the federal initiative if a state plan is better. LLII.

Is this the way to handle healthcare?

Isn't summer supposed to be a relaxing season? This year it seems to be a time for yelling and shouting at some Bay Area community meetings. Members of Congress have returned to their districts to meet constituents and hear what they have to say about issues and some of them are getting an earful. Healthcare seems to be the flash point for many citizens. The SF Chronicle has reported that some Bay Area meetings have been interrupted by Conservative critics determined to fight against the healthcare legislation currently being considered in Congress. The aim seems to be to break up the meetings rather than to offer suggestions about how healthcare should be provided. Surely this should be the time for calmer voices to be heard. The League of Women Voters of San Francisco is one established civic organization that's been sponsoring a series of meetings on healthcare proposals at which experts can speak and citizens can ask questions. Let's support a rational, democratic process in healthcare reform, not the ranting of extremists.

Healthcare Reform - No letting up.

Did you hear NPR this morning? Senator Chris Dodd and another Congressional rep assured us that mixing fundraising from healthcare special interests while drafting healthcare legislation doesn't affect their decision-making, or distract them from keen advocacy for their constituents. All together now: eye-roll. Seriously: it's to be expected that all of Congress are booked for events with healthcare special interests (some may even have views we support), now through the date of the August vote on the legislation.

We know we need healthcare reform that gives us affordable care designed to both keep us healthy or restore us to good health. I for one am weary of the emails asking me to tell my representatives I still care about the subject. But last night at a LWVSF advocacy meeting, I heard an impassioned recitation of the systemic miseries defective healthcare creates. I was reminded that lobbying only gets more intense as a vote looms; the promises more lucrative and irresistible.

We voters, one voice becoming many, must provide balance. Most of us may not be able to substantially add to a campaign coffers but we can, one voice becoming many, firmly promise that disappointment will result in turning people out of office. Opening those emails, then clicking to send the messages to your reps actually works.

Over these next critical weeks, let's try to click and send in support of healthcare reform - whatever reform you believe to be best for your family and friends - at every opportunity. I will. If the money people can stay motivated, so must we. After all, we have more to lose, and to gain! LLII.