Alzheimers; the culprit found, our own government
Alzheimer’s culprit found; Social Security, Medicare and narcissism to blame
it’s a powerful and controversial statement that is admittedly designed to shock and incite debate. But before you label this satire or comedic farce, take a minute to ponder the assertion while we explore the impact that Social Security has had on the American family structure over the last 60 years, and the effect of the Medicare program on the average Americans health and longevity for the last 6 decades.
Social Security dismantles the traditional household.
Before Social Security, our grandparent, parents and children often lived in three or four generation houses that were large and diverse in age. The generations were close and depended on one another for many if not all of the needs and activities of daily life. This close proximity developed not only a level of cooperation within families not often seen anymore but also provided an opportunity for more understanding between generations.
As grandparents interacted daily with their grandchildren, they passed on valuable knowledge and insight that would otherwise be lost, and the children served their elders in many ways as well. Older adults are better engaged in the modern world if they are around younger people, and the daily mental stimulus provided by the multi-generational household kept the brains of the elders “firing on all 8 cylinders” as they say.
The generation that survived the great depression and raised the kids that would defeat Hitler were the first to receive SS, and in the selfless spirit that was prevalent, didn’t want to be a burden,…. So they told their kids not to worry, they would be fine. And they became the first generation to isolate themselves in the financial safety net of Social Security. Their kids followed in this new tradition and told there baby boomer children not to worry about them, SS would take care of them, and in an age of lower prices and lower expectations it did…. But at a new price. In addition to isolation, we also had set a new standard for abandoning our parents to a government program rather than keeping them with us as a family unit. 1000’s of years of family human heritage down the drain.
And what price does this “independence” exact from us? Our very brains. The isolation that staying at home alone causes takes away from us the daily stimulation needed to keep the neurons in our brains firing. If Jim hasn’t spoken to his father in two weeks, and possibly no one has spoken to dad in two weeks, the TV will not and cannot fill the gap. If grandma cant remember the names of grandkids she see’s once or twice a year at best its no wonder. Slowly but surely the little things slip from the grasp of our minds, we forget more, get confused more,… and with no one there to help us remember or help us when we stumble,… its finally away to the old folks home.
Medicare has kept the body well beyond the mind
Like maintaining the facade on a house that the electrical system is damaged in,… we’ve maintained and extended the life of the body with very little progress on the mind over the last 100 years. Consequently we have an entire generation of aging bodies who’s minds left them 10 years earlier. The average American life span before Medicare and Social Security was 60 years old in 1930, and since then we’ve added 20 years to the expected lives of our bodies. The average life expectancy now in 2012 is around 80,… but the mind doesn’t seem to be lasting that long.
We know more about the inner workings of the erection than we do the brain,…. That says a lot about how we’ve prioritized things.
The narcissist wonders why no one cares
After 3-4 generations of letting our elders be cared for by a government program at the behest of the elders themselves, we’ve progressed to the point we now let government programs care for our children as well. The multi-generation family unit has been so fractured that our elders live apart and alone from their children and grandchildren, and the children are raised in day care centers funded by the same government that supports the elderly,.. So that the precocious middle generation can “excel”, though at what we’re not yet sure.
So,… the government gave us Alzheimer’s.
Was it a conspiracy? A cover up? An evil plan to over throw the known world by keeping us alive without our brains?………………… no.
It was well intentioned I assure you. Social security was meant to be a safety net for seniors so that they might not starve to death in poverty, but society used it as a dumping ground for their parents.
Medicare was meant to care for the medical needs of our seniors so that the suffering of aging could be alleviated, but our health care system mushroomed into a monstrous drug pusher, peddling dreams of immortality to the scared souls made dependant on them.
And the doting parents of 3-4 generations in a row have reared an entitled society. One that gives nothing and takes everything,…. A nation of spoiled children.
In closing,…
I rambled, I know I did, if you have a better way of stating this case I beg of you to do so,… but the words to express my overall frustration and disgust with our society as a whole escape me.