Whole Foods CEO Wades into Health Care Debate
Mackey Statements on Obama Health Plan Spark Protest in Oakland
Sep 29, 2009
The Op-Ed, written for the Wall Street Journal on August 11, presented Whole Foods CEO and founder John Mackey's argument that health care is not a right that all citizens are entitled to. Instead, he argues, health care ought to remain private, and suggests ideas to drive premiums down through competition.
Oakland based pro-reform activists, calling themselves "Operation Hey Mackey" rallied around the sentiment that health care is a right, and expressed that right wing protesters have managed to dominate the debate with their loud and attention-grabbing actions. Bay Area progressive activists are hoping their continued efforts will draw media attention and acknowledgment that there are other viewpoints on this issue that have been drowned out by right wing movements such as the Teabagger and Birther groups.
Pro Health Care Reform Protest
This group of protesters, which included a musical troupe, the Brass Liberation Orchestra, planned a flash mob style theatrical presentation which included song and dance to be staged inside a local Whole Foods in Oakland.
The strategy they utilized demanded a level of secrecy and stealth. Initially, the protesters entered the Whole Food in an unassuming manner, picking up shopping baskets as though they were everyday shoppers.
But somewhere between the eggs and the cereal, the activists convened to sing and play a reworked version of the song “Mickey”, a 1980’s pop hit originally recorded by Tony Basil. The brass band, which included drums, trombone, trumpet, clarinet and tuba, played convincingly, as though they could have been performing at a high school football game. The lyrics to “Mickey” were changed to address Mackey and included the line “Hey Mackey, you’re a swine.” The singing activists (with one shouting through a bullhorn) also performed a choreographed dance routine while passing out leaflets to surprised shoppers explaining their position.
Universal Health Care
The question of whether or not health care is a universal right is at the very heart of this disagreement. In Mackey’s August 11, 2009 Op-Ed, he asserts, “Many promoters of health care reform believe that people have an intrinsic ethical right to health care…While all of us empathize with those who are sick, how can we say that all people have more of an intrinsic right to health care than they have to food or shelter?” One activist summed up his opposition to Mackey this way, “John Mackey, CEO and founder of Whole Foods, has said that he thinks health care is not a right…We as Whole Foods shoppers do not agree with John Mackey’s statement.”
Video footage of the day’s action has been made available on Youtube and has received thousands of views and generated plenty of discussion from all sides of the debate.
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