We went to downtown Denver Tuesday to see and listen to Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. We hoped to hear an inspiring message from the early frontrunner in the 2008 election.
The outdoor commons area at the Auraria campus was jammed with people, so the campaign staffers and volunteers were no doubt pleased with the event. But I couldn’t see anything. I could hear, but was buffeted by backpacks and shoulder bags and other items carried by rally attendees who pushed ever closer to the stage and never acknowledged bumping me or anyone else.
At the risk of sounding old, where are our manners?
But another thing struck me out there in the middle of that crowd. I was invisible. As Hillary spoke about her commitment to making sure various groups currently underserved in our nation are not invisible to her administration, it struck me that I was already invisible to her campaign — except as a number in the crowd.
When my husband and I became subjects in Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” we did so knowing we represent hundreds of thousands of other American families being crushed by health care issues and the lack of meaningful health care reform. We have worked hard to live up to that level of opportunity and responsibility. I have testified before Congress, we have marched, we have held vigils throughout the nation and we continue our work now to keep the plight of real, living, breathing, working Americans in the minds and hearts of our leaders and our fellow citizens.
But, so far, the presidential candidates who say they give a damn don’t demonstrate that concept very well.
It seemed to all add up for me in that moment. My only real value to any of these candidates is in the illusion of visibility. They all need lots of people like me to believe we matter. But when push comes to shove, they don’t have time to be bothered with us and they certainly lack the courage to get into the very real political battles it will take to make life better for millions like me.
I do not have the money or connections to make myself truly heard by many of my elected officials — and to date, not even one of the Democratic presidential candidates I have reached out to has had the decency to speak to me as a fellow American with ideas and with an identity.
More than 50 Americans die every day without access to appropriate health care. And they are largely invisible — losses to their families and communities but not visible to those who could save them.
I have this feeling that never really goes away, that I am just a bit too working class and too real to be given the chance to be seen and heard without the help of a major filmmaker. And it’s making me really angry. Standing in that crowd Tuesday, I was immersed in the moment — and it wasn’t a Hillary-for-president moment. It was a lonely, ashamed and invisible moment — and it was filled with the feeling that I had been duped.
Donna Smith of Aurora is the founder of American Patients for Universal Health Care (apuhc.com), a political action committee.
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