The movie Sicko asks "Who are we?" - What kind of people force someone to make choice between body parts because they can’t pay their medical bills? Or choose to turn away when and do nothing when it has been documented that our country has among the worst infant mortality rates in a modern country? And racial disparities? And what does it say about us as a people when the prisoners enjoy a more meaningful right to health care than our 9/11 rescue workers? The tragedy is not that the prisoners get health care, but that our rescue workers don't; it says we don't value life or care to promote human dignity.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The best test of a civilized society is the way in which it treats its most vulnerable and weakest members"... by this measure, the United States does not do well, because we have chosen to allow the healthcare industry to become profiteering, no longer about serving, no longer about treating individuals with respect. Care about restoring human dignity? Let's make sure basic healthcare is a right, not a privilege -- This is an issue that cuts across party lines and affects all of us -- and it's time we let our government and our representatives know how we feel about this -- and that we will come out in droves and will vote our conscience. This is a major step towards restoring our national reputation as a caring and compassionate country.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Sicko weekend continues...
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4 comments:
I am holding my breath, waiting for the spin to begin. I hope that even the talking heads and pundits can see that this issue affects us all. It was a powerful film and the response among the 100 or so in the theater was standing ovation and applause. I think that this country can solve any problem if we will only try. This problem is huge and I believe it will come down to this: is our government owned by corporations or not?
Is there actually still any question about that?
If the people don't force big money and government apart, and watch them closely to keep them apart, isn't their fusion the natural end result? If you ran a multi-billion-dollar corporation, are you saying you'd never pick up the phone to call Washington and make some of your problems go away? If you worked in Washington, are you saying you wouldn't notice that call above calls from your other local constituents?
It seems to me to be irrational to believe that they wouldn't end up as thick as thieves, just due to how big institutions work and interact with each other... Unless democratic forces keep them apart and maintain vigilance over that separation of interests.
We get the government we deserve. The red-scare has defeated the American people.
I talked to a Canadian who just moved to the U.S. a week ago. His feelings about the Canadian system was pretty good. He did say that if you make over a certain income you will be very heavily taxed (it was not that high an income either). He also said that since every thing is free the ER's are flooded with people who would be better off staying home and taking basic medication. He advised the U.S. to take a good look at those kinks in the Canadian system before moving forward with our plan.
I wish our elected politicians were forced to use the same medical care, health system that the average American citizens has. Then you would see meaningful, real reform, not this pie in the sky stuff where it's actually going to be worse than the system we have today.
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