My brother, the millionaire Republican forwarded an email to me which loudly proclaimed disdain over the pending health care reform. "Any congressman who votes for the public option should be required to have the same health care they are forcing on us."
This seems like an inconsiderate diatribe to forward to me, his sister, since he is well aware of my situation. Or is he? Can anyone be aware of anothers plight without actually experiencing the same?
My response to my bro? "Better yet, any congressman who does not vote for the public option should be required to have the same health care I now enjoy. Oh, wait, I dont have any."
Yes, I said my brother, the millionaire because I want to be clear that I understand his position - well, as much as anyone could who is a recovered welfare mom, married to a disabled man. After all, it works both ways. I am sure I do not understand really because I have never been burdened with millions of dollars to protect from such as myself.
So yes, I understand, up to a point, why my brother and others in that situation feel as they do. But what eludes me is why do working class and poor folks fear and loathe health care reform? I guess because they are told they should by those they adulate - the wealthy. It seems like a puppy coming when summoned, tho he knows he is to be whipped. Hello! People! The statistics are clear!
Statistics, you ask? Yes, those. We spend far more per capita than other nations on health care and we have far more deaths which could have been prevented by proper care. What does that mean? It simply means that someone is gettin awfully dang rich while many are dying. And caring about that, my friends is patriotic.
All this hype about how unpatriotic it is to like our president, to support his efforts, to care about all of our people, to demand justice, yes, for all, what is that? That is an amazing ploy to scare people out of BEING patriotic - and supporting our president, his efforts, caring about all of our people and demanding justice - yes, for all. Amazing because it is so ballsy. And inconceivably successful. Look around at all the people afraid to be proud Americans. Who think being ashamed of where we are now - standing at the threshold of change - is proof of their loyalty.
Look at the congress members taking part in rallies against our government on the Capitol steps. And for what? To stop health care reform. To maintain the status quo.
And what is that, pray tell? The current status is a spiraling void into which more Americans fall every day. A void in which health insurance costs an ever higher percentage of our wages, less of us have wages, medical care is ever more costly and out of reach, medicines are 5 or 10 times the price in other countries, sometimes even more - up to forty times more.
And where is all this leading? Well, first of all, this is simply genocide. Keeping only the wealthy alive and well and virtually and literally killing off the poor. But ah, our wealthy barons have gone too far. They are now killing off the working class. Who then, I ask - who will be the drones in our culture? Do the rich think that they can continue to exploit third world countries and that they no longer need to care for the workers in our own nation? Even as this unfolds, we are becoming a third world nation measured by our health care standards..... while many of those same nations are increasingly surpassing us in this area.
As we struggle for health care reform, an effort to correct what is arguably the greatest travesty in our nation, the opposition screams ever louder. What are they afraid of? Do they not actually see the situation we are in now? The huge leap into an unsustainable void that we have made in the last decade?
I think not. For the Republicans have finally come up with a health care reform bill of their own. One with no measure to correct the current situation involving pre-existing conditions. Yes, those nasty little things. You know - the reason most of us need health care. So let me ask you, those of you who support the current state of affairs or the "Republican option", what are those of us with pre-existing conditions to do? This is cleary, simple genocide. Killing off the weak and injured.....first...... Am I wrong? Explain that to me.
