Working Together To Take Back Our Country

Teri Mills is a longtime Democracy For America community member. Her guest column on health care appears on Blog for America on Fridays and she blogs at www.nationalnurse.org.

Hundreds of Oregonians gathered on a cold, chilly Friday evening to support Nick Lampson in his quest to become the next U.S. Representative of the 22nd Congressional District of Texas. (Yes, this is the district presently held by Tom DeLay—everyone say boo all together.) DeLay has another reason to begin taking an anti-anxiety agent as it was learned this week that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear a constitutional challenge to the hotly disputed Texas redistricting plan engineered in 2003 that handed Republicans six extra seats in the U.S. House of Representatives under his leadership as House Majority Leader.

Nick Lampson and Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
proudly sporting a University of Portland soccer sweatshirt in
recognition of the women's first place NCAA finish this month.

Sponsored by the Committee for a Livable Future (the 3rd largest environmental PAC in the nation which was founded by Congressman Earl Blumenauer D-OR) and the Democratic Party of Oregon, the event featured a bluegrass band with a crowd sing-a-long to Bye Bye Tom DeLay—just where DeLay ends up going is anybody's guess, as long as it is not back to Congress. It is noteworthy and commendable that Congressman Blumenauer, who has been very supportive of Democracy for Oregon activities and was a keynote guest at our summit last May, also made a substantial contribution to help assure that Lampson is elected in 2006 and the event raised over $50,000.

Both Blumenauer and Lampson are staunch advocates of the Patient's Bill of Rights, which ensures that all Americans enrolled in Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) receive the highest quality of care. They also believe it is a priority of this country to improve access to affordable and quality health care. And Lampson, like Blumenauer, understands the benefits of Social Security as his father died when he was 12 years old. Blumenauer was instrumental in helping to ensure the success of the Democratic Party of Oregon's house parties to save social security and was a guest on the conference call.

Lampson is fortunate to have Melissa Taylor as the newly appointed Director of Party Administration of the Harris County Democratic Party in Houston, TX. Taylor is a long time Democracy for Texas member and with her help and the help of friends like Congressman Earl Blumenauer, we will take back our flag, our democracy, and our country.

—Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP
Democracy for Oregon