There would be no better way to honor the life and legacy of U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy than to pass a meaningful health care reform bill. He was a highly vocal advocate for universal health care during his entire political career.

I believe it was the hope of those who drafted our Constitution that Congress would be a body whose members would work together for the common good of our country irrespective of their political party. Unfortunately, the push for universal access to health care has polarized Congress to gridlock.

Ironically, probably every member of Congress agrees that our current health care system is broken. It is financially unsustainable and morally compromised by an inability to provide medical access to everyone. Even so, nearly every proposal for change seems to provoke a loud negative response. A concern for the common good seems elusive.

It is difficult to understand how any congressional member could be against a government health care offering because each of them is covered by government insurance, and all seem greatly satisfied with what they have. Why would they be against everyone else enjoying a similar plan?

You would think that if government medicine is to be feared that those who oppose a public option would also oppose Medicare! This would seem logical, and not to do so seems both contradictory and hypocritical. Few bills passed by Congress have ever met with such approval, and there is probably no one in Washington who would dare try to kill it.

Sadly, a part of the reason for not supporting universal health care must surely be the army of lobbyists with plenty of money from the health care industry to influence our elected officials. Many in Congress are held hostage by corporations that give them huge sums or threaten to use their clout to support someone else in the next election. We are seeing the flagrant power of big business versus a government that gives more attention to those who get enormous profits from our current system than from those who are committed to the common good.

It is also troubling to discover that many of the “town hall meetings” have been orchestrated behind the scenes to make “socialism” a dirty word. America has never had a pure capitalistic economy. We have a government highway system, a public school system, unemployment insurance, Social Security and government medicine, not only in Medicare and Medicaid but in the military and veterans hospitals. Our country has already embraced both socialism and capitalism.

We have a mixed economy and, hopefully, we have learned from the recent rescue of banks and the automotive industry that government intervention is sometimes mandatory for our nation’s survival. The fear we should have is that big business will control government instead of the other way around. We have seen what unregulated private ownership can do to put all of us in jeopardy.

I have been disappointed that we are not hearing more strong voices from the faith community in support of health care reform because this is a major moral issue. How can we consider ourselves an ethical or morally sensitive nation in so long as we perpetuate a medical system that values profits more than people? How can we allow 45 million people to have no health coverage and cause a million families to declare bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills?

Ted Kennedy had a powerful moral voice that never wavered on this issue. Indeed, recently he succeeded in persuading Congress to reverse a major bill that was initially defeated providing health care for thousands of uninsured children. Now we have an opportunity to honor this great American by passing a health care reform bill that includes a public government option. Without it, nothing significant is likely to change.

Robert Seymour is the minister emeritus of Binkley Memorial Baptist Church in Chapel Hill. He may be reached at Robert-Seymour@hotmail.com