Health Reform = Core of our Character

I think everyone agrees, the whole health care debate is pretty frustrating and exhausting. This is because no one really knows what the bill entitles. So everyone on both sides speculate every day, to their political and mostly ignorant advantage. And the average person believes in the nonsense and blatant lies the GOP/corporate lobbyists espouse. President Obama and his team are really starting to burn their good will.

America once had the world reputation of the "helping hand" or the "big brother who would come to the aid of the weak". Everyone looked upon the United States as the place and the people to emulate.

Somehow in the last 8 to 10 years, the U.S. turned into a very selfish people and country. From taking over countries where we have no reason to enter (except of course for greed); to the need to have more than the other person as demonstrated by stores like Costco and Walmart where one can buy bulk; to not wanting to help the poor and needy as demonstrated by the people who say they don't want to pay for other people's troubles and weaknesses.

And to add salt to the wound, people don't seem to mind when we spend billions: on the war that does not benefit the average person; that puts our whole society in unprecedented financial crisis and unemployment. But they balk and cry fraud when a single cent is spent on something that benefits us and society as a whole. For a supposedly Christian country, it's disgusting to see most people behaving mostly unchristian-like.

What if these parsimonious and egocentric people were doing well- Then suddenly, due to a financial crisis like we are experiencing now, they lost their job, their insurance and their house and all those things that made them better than that poor schlub who couldn't get his or her act together? Then all the social systems that our country put in place despite their greediness and intolerance would step into place and help them tie things over when they have nothing. If they continue to think selfishly, then one can imagine, it would be natural that they would end up homeless, sick and suffer. Maybe even die prematurely.

When you point out their predicament, you know these egoists would say they paid into the system when they were working, despite them fighting against it. And now, they deserve to be served by our country. From the very thing they didn't want to pay for! I am astounded by the number of hypocrites who live in this country.

I for one love America for it's old values of caring for the weak and the poor. It was the core of the American character. I cannot imagine a society that is all about each person for themselves and screw the rest. It would mean the desecration and disintegration of what is human and humane. Somehow these selfish people have taken away all of America's sense of moral decency.

I hope come this Wednesday, when President Obama addresses Congress, he will clearly and graphically show what the health bill is all about. And I hope he does not renege on his promise of universal health care/ public option. It's his last chance to redeem himself. It's what we have to achieve in order to be a human and humane society. And its success will demonstrate our country's character and moral decency.

BTW, the cartoon here could well be a snap shot of reality today where Americans fly to places like Mumbai, India and spend 1/4 or less for elective surgery there than it costs here in the U.S.. Talk about outsourcing on an individual level. That's irony at it's peak.

Cartoon by Seppo Leinonen