[Nfbmo] blind pension

[Gary Wunder]

I think there are some real nuggets in the post that Roger has made. We did not bring the suit. We neither opposed or supported it. The MCB has not lost interest in the case. It is being prolonged because the Attorney General wants it that way. I would not favor are putting energy into debating the pros or cons of the lawsuit but in watching to see that blind Missourians do not lose valuable medical benefits. I would prefer that we spend our time thinking about why the blind pension exists, the special needs it has been designed to meet, and why they are important to us as blind Missourians.

I think our relationship with the Missouri Council of the Blind is a good one. We and the Council do not pretend to be one organization, but we both worked very hard to represent blind people. When we are in near total agreement about an issue, both organizations get behind it. When an issue is important to one organization but not a priority of the other, we leave it alone. Only when we truly disagree do we express that disagreement, and only as a last resort do we take those disagreements to the public. Our relationship isn't perfect, but it is one that other political entities might try to emulate. I believe that the quotation from Isaiah and often used by Lyndon Johnson is a good one for us to observe as organizations of blind people, and I hope it is an example that may be adopted by the country at large: he said, "come, let us reason together."