Insure Tennessee: A Moral Perspective (Written for a Town Hall Meeting)

Insure Tennessee: A Moral Perspective*

*I wrote the following piece and delivered it at a "Town Hall" meeting at the Jonesborough Visitors' Center on Tuesday, August 11, 2015. It represents a bit of a diversion from my normal posts, because it addresses a public policy program. But the issue of morality and how we treat one another in public deliberation and debate is crucial in this and every age. I also include it because these few words represent many hours of utterly invaluable conversation with my dad, Dr. Thomas Huff, whose years of study and careful thought in the field of "practical thanksgiving" has shaped the way I preach, lead session meetings, visit with parishioners, and try to approach life in general. I thank God for you, Dad.

 

I have been asked to share my opinion regarding morality and Governor Haslam’s proposed Insure Tennessee.

Included in this program’s first-tier objectives is the provision of support for those whom the earth’s major religions refer to variously as “the poor,” “the needy,” “widows and orphans,” “the least of these,” and so forth. And many, if not most, secular ideologies recognize the virtues of The Golden Rule, versions of which have helped to shape the ethics of countless theologies and philosophies in every age and place.

Morality is most commonly understood as the relative “rightness” or “wrongness” of specific actions. And I certainly believe that showing compassion toward our neighbors, particularly toward those in need, fits under the broad heading of a “right act.” Because of this, it seems straightforward to me to affirm the fundamental morality of Insure Tennessee.

If only it were that easy. As we have acknowledged, Insure Tennessee is a government program. And a state legislature with a republican majority is being asked to accept and appropriate funds made available by a democratic federal administration.

To say that there is “reservation” is like saying that when Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier stepped into the ring there was “tension.”

My point is this: Until we who support and we who oppose a program like Insure Tennessee – until WE commit ourselves to living together and to extending to each other the same compassion that long-standing rules of human decency call us to demonstrate toward those in need, the “issue” may never become specific enough to reflect its moral basis.

It will remain a general issue of conflict, and thus an issue of power. And when power is the goal, the truly powerless, voiceless, and invisible ones almost always lose.

It seems to me, that if Insure Tennessee is to become an impactful moral issue, the entire community called the State of Tennessee, including republicans, democrats, green partiers, tea partiers, and everyone else, all of us will have to seek the moral courage to work together with respect for one another as well as with compassion for those in need. One goal of such an approach is for as many of us as possible to look at a decision and to be able to say, in whatever way, “Thank God we did that.” If that is, indeed, a goal we want, I think we will have to deliberate from within the framework of intentional gratitude. And we have much to be grateful for.

I think we can be grateful that we have resources available to address the undeniable challenges of uninsured neighbors from Mountain City to Memphis.

I think we can be grateful that our governor has had the foresight and taken the initiative to act on behalf of these vulnerable neighbors.

I think we can be grateful that, as a state, we have the autonomy to craft a policy to fit our specific needs.

I think we can be grateful that we have a diversity of opinion gathered here this evening. We have at least the opportunity to learn from each other.

Finally, I think that if we will risk a daring relocation, if we will choose to move from living according to the more polarizing means of competition, distrust, and fear and to begin living in the open-ended community of cooperation and compassion, or what my dad likes to call “practical thanksgiving,” many others will be made grateful, and for many different reasons.

So yes, in my personal opinion, Insure Tennessee reflects a well-spirited intent of the general will to live well together in a healthier community for all by tending to the well-being of specific individuals. To me, that makes it a “right” and, therefore, moral action.

But I also think that it has to be a moral issue in its deliberation first. And to me, that means that we look at those around us, especially at the particular people with whom we disagree. We give thanks for them. We listen and speak with respect. And by respect I don’t mean simply that someone’s “opinion matters.” I mean that we recognize that that particular person is invaluable. He or she is an irreplaceable human being. Together then, we imagine our common future. Only from that place can we act in ways that will sow seeds of gratitude, compassion, justice, and hope in, with, and for the entire community.