There's a parallel between the health care debate of 2009 and another important Senate debate from the past. In 1957, Lyndon Johnson, then the majority leader of the Senate and a southerner, no less, was able to manage passage of the first federal civil rights legislation in almost a hundred years. Granted, the law that resulted had little immediate impact. That's because, in order to gain some marginal votes in that Senate, the legislation had to allow trial by jury in most types of voting rights cases. (At that time, it was virtually impossible to assemble a jury in the deep South without at least the one biased or intimidated juror needed to block a conviction, and the obstructionists were counting on that.) Johnson expected tradeoffs, but he also knew he was setting a precedent for further meaningful legislation. He got it in 1964 and 1965. In the '50s, the key obstructionists to civil rights legislation were southern Democrats. Today the key obstructionists to health care reform are the Republicans. Those few moderate Democrats who are getting most of the publicity are just using an opportunity provided by all their associates from across the aisle. The 1957 obstructionists, under increasing pressure from a growing movement, were indeed worried about precedent. Today's obstructionists, again under pressure, are also worried about precedent. Their concern is that any law changing the status quo in health care will open the gates for more laws providing increased governmental involvement. But that involvement is just what we'll need, as we certainly did during Lyndon Johnson's time. Now a new leader, President Obama, is pursuing an honorable cause, and again there is a campaign to undermine progress. Again we should be determined to do the right thing. JIM BARTOS, BROOKLYN PARK