National Nurses United

M A R C H 2 0 1 5 W W W . N A T I O N A L N U R S E S U N I T E D . O R G N A T I O N A L N U R S E 11 T hey came by plane, train, and car to a nurses' celebra- tion in Sacramento in summer of 2010. Nurses adorned in colorful period dress, paying tribute to a historic moment 100 years earlier when California women won the right to vote, 134 years after the Declaration of Independence. And it took a full decade more before all women in the United States won that right. In the characteristic fashion of most of our events, it was not just a festive occasion, but one with a strong underpinning message: that it took struggle to win the right to vote, and that we should embrace that most basic of American values by imbu- ing them with a definition of nurses' values. Caring, compassion, and community were the core themes we articulated. Maybe now, we can add a few more: equality (of which a universal right to vote is one key component), participatory democracy, and social change. These are nurses' values, not the corporate values that so dominate our economic, political, and social system. The suffrage movement was built on the unceasing labors of generations of women who linked that cause to other social move- ments. Activists who fought for abolition of slavery, eradication of layers of discrimina- tion against women, for public education, prison reform, public health, peace, opposi- tion to child labor, and workers' rights. Women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton who said, "the history of the past is but one long struggle upward to equality." And her long- time colleague Susan B. Anthony who said, "organize, agitate, educate must be our war cry." And some men, like Frederick Douglass who said, "the benefits accruing from this movement for the equal rights of woman are not confined or limited to woman only. They will be shared by every effort to promote the progress and welfare of mankind every- where and in all ages." And nurses like Lillian Wald, a public health nurse, peace activist, and noted social reformer, who worked to provide healthcare and other services to immigrant women and other poor residents and also helped launch the Women's Trade Union League at a time when most unions were closed to women. Generations of activists we pay tribute to today saw the unbreakable link between the universal right to vote as an essential ingredient in the fight for equal rights and social change. It is their legacy we can honor, while confronting the many hurdles that face us today. From the new attack on voting rights— noted with irony and sadness on the 50th anniversary of the Selma march for African American voting rights in the South—to the escalating corporate and legislative assault on unions and workers' rights, to growing inequality, to a frightening climate crisis, to our ongoing healthcare crisis, the times cry out for a clear voice, a strong message, and persistent action. Nurses have a particular role to play and necessity to engage. In a political and economic scene increasingly dominated by wealthy corporate interests, including those in the healthcare industry bent on rolling back hard-won standards and the legislators held in their sway, nurses' values, their profession, and livelihoods face many of the same threats. The ballot is not the only means to protect our interests and create change, but in a nation with our voting traditions—and the damage being inflicted on nurses and workers by those elected officials who are more responsive to Wall Street and other corporate power brokers than the ordinary people they represent—we fail to fully engage in the electoral setting at our peril. We have a lot at stake and a lot to lose. This year, we intend to launch a more active effort in the electoral realm. First, it's been reported that one of every 35 voters is a nurse. Yet many nurses are not even registered to vote, and of those who are regis- tered, many fail to exercise their franchise. We are going to encourage every RN to get on the voter rolls, and use that right to elect public officials who will support nurses' core values, and un-elect those who don't. Or as one of our public health RNs said this week, those who meet a principle that governs nurs- ing practice: "Do good, or at least do no harm." Second, we are going to clearly delineate the principles that define nurses' values, and a programmatic agenda that enunciates them. RoseAnn DeMoro Executive Director, National Nurses United Using Our Power Register, vote, and vote nurses' values (Continued on page 15)

• Cover