Saturday, September 22, 2012

Matters of Life and Death

© Charles D. Hayes
 
When it’s war, or even the threat of war, we Americans pull out all stops and forge ahead, sparing no effort or expense, to ensure victory. If needed, we will impose a draft, increase taxes, build ships, aircraft, missiles, and weapons of mass destruction, the likes of which the world has ever seen. On land, air, and sea, we will destroy any enemy that threatens the lives of our citizens. If one of our soldiers is trapped behind enemy lines, we will send whatever resources it takes to free the individual from harm. If our troops are killed, we will go to extraordinary lengths to retrieve their bodies, even risking others’ lives if necessary, and we will continue these efforts for decades after war ends.
We maintain the largest and most powerful military force on the planet in order to make it clear that attacking us will be a suicidal mission. Protecting our citizens is so powerful an ethos that we will even furnish legal services at public expense when a fellow American is charged with a crime. After all, this could be a matter of life and death.
Suppose, though, that our fallen soldier's mother, sister, aunt, or grandmother's life is threatened by an illness like breast cancer, and she can't afford medical insurance. What do we do then? Raise armies? Raise taxes? Send forth doctors and surgeons dressed in fatigues? Not at all. Not only do we stand by and watch them die slowly from a lack of treatment, but nearly half of our population characterizes attempts to remedy this moral failure as an assault on their freedom.
Indeed, in a way, freedom is at play here—unlimited freedom for profits. The charge that Obamacare is a government takeover of healthcare, actually means that the government is limiting the ability of the insurance industry to make runaway profits at the expense of medical treatment. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to incite and inspire rage about this alleged loss of personal freedom.     
So let's talk about freedom—like the freedom to continue living when one is attacked by an illness that doesn't require armies or multi-million dollar bombs to cure, only a health insurance policy that works more for the benefit of patients rather than for insurance companies. Before Obamacare, thousands of people hung onto jobs they despised simply because they were afraid of losing their insurance. That's lack of freedom.
The argument that mandated insurance coverage results in an actual loss of freedom is such an assault on common sense and common decency that it defies any and all attempts to explain it in the context of what it means to be protected under the umbrella of American citizenship.
The current political polarization motivated by the millions of dollars spent on behalf of the insurance lobby has become so vitriolic that much of the goodwill that gives us a sense of national identity as Americans has been lost. Blind rage stands in for civilized dialogue, as extreme Tea Party types express an anxious willingness to sink the ship of state and drown everyone if they can't have everything their own way. They view themselves as the only true Americans.      
Stopping at nothing to prevent a loss of life in war and then looking the other way when private citizens are threatened—not by an army, but by a lack of enough monetary resources to cover the cost of treatment—is a kind of social madness that can only occur when benevolence is trampled by seething contempt. Such derision is made possible by so alienating one's opposition as to think them unworthy of being considered one of us. This has to be the case unless being an American and having one's life threatened is meaningless. Populist scorn has become so ubiquitous that an audience broke into cheering at a presidential political debate earlier this year at the mere mention of letting someone die who had elected not to purchase health insurance.
The current level of political insanity can be seen for what it is when you realize fully that the blueprint for Obamacare was drawn up by conservatives and only became toxic when the opposition adopted it. The push for unfettered profit at the expense of medical care has resulted in an orchestrated pandemic of political hostility paid for by the insurance lobby. This is something to keep in mind when you vote in November: War and serious illness are matters of life and death and should not be considered profit centers or political talking points.
Our service men and women who have been killed in battle deserve something more for the relatives they left behind than derision and alienation because they need a doctor and don't have enough personal wealth to cover the cost. If the people shouting about mandated insurance encroaching on their personal freedom would stop listening to the rebel rousers and simply think, they would realize that the sacrifices our service men and women have made on the battlefield should cover the cost of those who can't afford medical treatment. If being an American means anything, it means the bill has been paid in full.  
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2 comments:

  1. Charles thanks for taking the time to get your thoughts out for the rest of us to see. I thought this piece on job creation was awfully good.

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  2. I am amazed by the arguments from those against Health Care Reform..especially those who have the mind set that they do not hate the wealthy, on the grounds they hope to be wealthy some day. I attempt to explain "possible" and "probable" to them, but when you are dealing with people who state "facts are opinions" and "their beliefs are not based on facts"..when you point out the savings already afforded by the passing of HR 4872....they refuse to see them as such..they claim their taxes have increased, yet when you ask to see their tax bill, they say "their taxes have not increased yet" they state that it is not the American way, yet when you point out that the Preamble states clearly "to promote the general welfare" they reply, Welfare thats what this is.. I wonder how do any of you deal with this brand of illogical logic? I have asked for the right wing supporters to explain with facts and logic why they are voting for Willard.. none do, I get didain, disgust and out right attacks on my character... I explain I want to do what is best for America and all Americans.. and the facts just do not support the GOP..they barely support the Democrats, but I think if I am going to be taxed, inequitably at that, I want my money to be used for the benefit of the majority..also I understand that my tax dollars can come back to my state in the form of matching federal funds for state programs and projects..so in essence I am not really losing out I am helping my state to benefit. Also I look upon the Government as my employee, a book keeper of sorts, so that I do not have to write out separate checks... for all the services I receive...military, social, infrastructure, and entertainment..politics are quite entertaining...
    I have posted this link, yet I am almost certain none of the right wingers I am related to have read it..I wonder how you go through life denying knowledge and information, it must be quite sad to be afraid of being wrong to the point that you close your eyes to possibilities...

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