I keep seeing memes, comments, and whatnot – almost always expressed in 145 characters or fewer – about how those of us who are progressives just want free health care and all kinds of other free stuff. There’s rarely any substantive explanation behind this statement; it’s a dog whistle to say that people like me want to come and take things from others.
But here’s the thing …
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that recognizes basic health care as a human right. I want a society where people don’t have to declare bankruptcy because they get sick. I want a society that says “We are better than this” when its people wait until they are so sick that they wind up in the emergency room because they couldn’t afford to see a doctor and now they are close to death for something that could have been treated.
I don’t want free stuff.
Please, for the love of whatever god or goddess you hold as yours, please get rid of my insurance premium and increase my taxes if it means that the people of my country will have access to health care. Please, increase my taxes and use that money to ensure that the children who are in class with my children are getting the care that they need. Please, increase my taxes and make sure that the people who serve me food, who teach my children, who drive my children to school on the bus, and everyone else around me are getting the care that they need.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that recognizes the importance of infrastructure, and a society that realizes that it would be nowhere – NOWHERE – without some of the taxpayer-funded programs we all enjoy. I want a society that recognizes that people who make more in a month than some people make in a year have benefited greatly from services that we ALL have paid for, and asking to give some of that back so that others might have the same chance is not a bad thing. I want a society that recognizes that a rising tide lifts all boats, and that everyone prospers more – from the bottom to the top – when those at the bottom are not cast aside.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that recognizes the inherent worth and dignity of every human being, no matter where they come from or what they do for a living or how rich they are or how poor they are. I want a society that recognizes that, though people may commit illegal acts, that does not warrant referring to them as “illegals” for the rest of their days. They are human beings, period. We don’t refer to people who have been arrested or ticketed in their lives as “illegals” for the rest of their days, despite the fact that they have committed an illegal act. We are human beings.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that recognizes the right of a woman to have ownership over her own body, and to be able to make choices regarding what she does with her body. I want a society where living, breathing, thinking women are not afforded less bodily autonomy than what we afford corpses. I want a society with safe, legal, and fewer abortions, which happens by giving women the opportunity to make the choice that is best for her and giving her the tools and support she needs if she chooses to bring a child into this world. It happens by giving people access to comprehensive sex education and effective birth control.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that sees hungry children and says, “No.” I want a society that sees people working 80 or more hours a week – not because they want to, but because they have to – and says, “No.” I want a society where “family values” actually means valuing families, and gives women the chance to stay home with their newborns, like almost every other goddamn country on the planet does. I want a society that values people more than it values money.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that recognizes that equal opportunity is important. I want a society that tells its youth that they, too, can get a higher education if they work hard and apply themselves. I want a society where people who come from nothing can get an education without having to saddle themselves with insurmountable debt. I want a society that values the people who dedicate their lives to teaching these youth and doesn’t spit on their profession but holds it up in high esteem. I want a society that recognizes that equal opportunity does not necessarily mean equal outcomes – things are not handed to you, but they can be there for you if you work for them; for too many people, the opportunity is simply non-existent. It is so easy for people of privilege to talk about bootstraps, but let’s at least make sure everyone has a pair of boots, first.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that recognizes that Black Lives Matter. I want a society that does not have a knee-jerk defensive reaction to such a phrase, thinking that it is saying that other lives do not matter. No. No, no, no. I want a society where people like me step back from our privilege and listen to people of color, without interruption or attempts to silence or attempts to take over the conversation. I want a society where white liberals stop telling people of color how they should or should not protest, because we do not and cannot fully understand their experience.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want a society that realizes that even if what I’ve laid out here is impossible to achieve quickly, and perhaps impossible to ever achieve in totality, working toward this is preferable to cowering in fear of change. I want a society that does not attempt to go back to old ways but rather pushes toward true progress and a country that finally and truly has liberty and justice for all, because so far those are just words. I want a society that talks less of building walls to keep people out and more of opening hearts and minds to make people want to stay.
I don’t want free stuff.
I want people to be free.
