Career Politics Can Make You Sick
It was never my intention to speak about politicos or express positions on issues but sometimes I just can't contain myself. This business about health care which is really about insurance companies which is really about medical access which is really about whether you pay for your own individual medical care or whether these United States have a communal obligation to provide for the health of it's citizens.
Americans are an independent bunch. They don't want government interfering in their lives yet are happy to have government when it suits one's individual need or makes for good political fodder. We created a form of government which is supposed to be representative of the people but when we elect someone to office today, they make a career of it. How can someone who does not experience a typical day in the life of an average person represent that person in government? The truth us that he can't. We have given away our ability as a society to govern ourselves. There is no way for a career politician to stand up for the "man/woman in the street" because he may well have not set foot on that street for the past 20 years, occasional parade excepted.
So now the career politician is giving the public his spin on health care. First he has to see a poll to determine where he needs to stand. Then he takes his stand subject to the next poll. Meanwhile, real people are making real choices as to how they can pay their medical bills and still keep up their other obligations. People are really dying and others are chronically sick because they cannot afford to see a doctor or buy medicine. Its absolutely ridiculous to think that the richest, most powerful country in earth's history doesn't provide for the health of its citizens. It does however provide assistance to almost any other country who asks. My opinion is that we have lost perspective and misplaced our priorities. This has happened due to doctors who can't earn less than $350,000 per year, drug companies who use the U.S. to make billions in profit and then sell drugs at reduced prices everywhere else, insurance companies who profit billions and make up rules as they go along, and the prevalence of career politicians being interested only in what gets them reelected. Its time for we-the-people to demand our leaders be accountable to we-the-people. They need to answer their phones, return email, generally communicate with the constituency and not hide behind staffers. Meanwhile as they diddle around with our money and health, they should be without health coverage that we-the-people provide. Maybe then they will have some empathy for the rest of us and reminded of their job description and no longer permitted more than one term in office.
We all know the stories of those so desperate for health care that they forgo everything else to pay for it or those who spend the rest of their recovered healthy life working to pay the doctors and hospitals which provided the care. We have apparently become a country of haves and have-nots, neither acknowledging their symbiotic relationship. The sad truth is that without the have-nots, the haves won't have the means to be haves and without the haves, the have-nots have no means of achieving havedom. The proverbial meeting of the immovable object. At present, the haves have adequate health care and the have-nots don't.
So what will happen now? We won't see term limits, at least in my lifetime. We won't see politicians without health insurance and as long as there are polls, the politicians will keep telling us what we want to hear and how its the other party's fault they are unable to carry out our wishes. They certainly are not going to reduce the prices that insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, and drug companies charge. Especially now that corporations have the same rights as citizens to fund politicians. In short, nothing will change anytime soon. As long as we continue to elect the same lying, self-aggrandizing, holier-than-thou pompous asses that are in office now, we will get what we deserve. Big business will become an even greater influence on elections and the haves will continue to be content with the status quo.
No health care for the have-nots and unaffordable health care for the remnants of the middle class. At least the haves are happy and the rate of bankruptcy due to medical bills is not expected to grow beyond the current 70%. Whoopee!
Health care in our country needs to be provided by our government because it won't happen any other way. While it may appear costly, Medicare has proven itself an indispensable benefit to senior citizens. Imagine the costs to our health care system if we didn't have it. For the same reason, we need universal care for America. Our unity was based on common need. Government provides our security, our cross-country infrastructure, our administration and judiciary. Is not our health equally important? We are a country of incredible generosity. That generosity, that consideration for fellow men should extend itself to our common good health. If the haves want to stay as haves, they need to get off their fat pedestals and look around. Soon.
Step one, lets get some congressional term limits into play so when Mr. Smith goes to Washington, he won't take up permanent residency.
