As go the hopes for the Olympics in Chicago so seems to be going our chance, at least at the moment, for a comprehensive public option Health Care plan.
It really does bring me a lot of sadness to see the possibility that millions of Americans on the lower rung of the income ladder are going to get screwed again. The United States, with a few economic missteps, is still the richest country in the world and yet we’re the only western nation that doesn’t provide Health Care to its citizens as a basic right.
That’s right, we have what nobody else has, we have the right to the pursuit of happiness!
Shouldn’t the pursuit of happiness be something that is played on an even playing field? The pursuit of happiness has nothing to do with getting sick, or for that matter being healthy.
Let’s continue with this logic though, if in fact the pursuit of happiness is only for the healthy and the strong then why doesn’t say so in our propaganda?
Let me quote from the poem that appears on one of America’s greatest symbols and calling cards to the world, the statue of liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
It clearly says give me your tired, OK that’s fine tired people just need a break and that’s all well and good but let’s keep going shall we.
It also says to give me your poor, OK I’ll go along with that; this is the land of opportunity after all so sure we’ll take the poor. I’m sure they can get work picking fruits and berries and all the other vegetation that we buy at the local grocery store.
Now it says to give me your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, OK I’ll go along with that as we know there are still oppressive governments in the world and people desiring to escape head to America.
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore? For sake of argument let’s just say it’s talking about poor people again.
We continue, send, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
What does that last phrase suggest to the rest of the world? Not only being the son of an immigrant but being an immigrant myself, it suggests that if you come to America you will be welcomed with open arms. You will be kissed on both cheeks and you will be given the opportunity to make a new life for yourself.
Let’s face facts though, America doesn’t even take care of its own wretched poor. America is full of wretched refuse yearning to breathe free and these people of which I speak are American born!
I suggest we stop lying to ourselves and to the rest of the world and simply tell the truth, and that truth is if you’re coming to the United States bring money.
Let’s get back to Health Care, as I already said most of the western world has Health Care for every one of its citizens. For example, recently my grandfather, who lives in Poland, developed some heart problems.
My grandfather is not a rich man yet he was taken to the hospital where socialized medicine discovered that he had an 85% obstruction in an artery leading to his heart and with almost a lightning efficiency the doctors performed angioplasty and he is recovering as I write this blog.
I suppose one could claim that my grandfather is an example of the wretched poor that the lady in New York keeps inviting. However if he had been an American citizen and had suffered the same medical emergency he would have died!
Why would he have died? Because he’s not rich, he doesn’t have insurance, he doesn’t have the money to purchase insurance and undoubtedly he would have initially been taken to the emergency room where they might have diagnosed the problem and then sent him home to die in peace.
I don’t like talking about personal issues in my own life but I wanted everyone to see that universal Health Care is not the bogeyman that the republicans and blue dog democrats make it out to be.
What universal Health Care would do is provide an even playing ground so that we all can pursue happiness.
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