Sunday, January 15, 2017

Fwd: Health care disaster continues

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Hemington

As we are dragged kicking and screaming into the frightening new era of Trumplandia, it is worth reexamining one of the issues which is most important to most Americans.  As most of you are aware, I am no fan of either Barak Obama or his namesake health abomination the Affordable Care Act.  Don't get me wrong, the ACA has, in fact, helped many Americans who would otherwise not have been able to get any health insurance at all.  That is, however, a very sad commentary given the kind of efficient, effective and affordable health care all Americans should be entitled to receive.  As it is, even with the ACA the U.S. has the least efficient, least effective and most expensive health care system of any developed nation in the world – and this is not an accident.  Obama and his New Democrat cohorts deliberately crafted the ACA (actually it was crafted by lobbyists from the pharmaceutical and insurance oligopolies and simply implemented by the New Democrats) to benefit their moneyed paymasters; and sold as the most wondrous thing since Wonder Bread (another not very good idea).  I know that I'm preaching to the choir on this, but it cannot be overstated – we deserve better, and we must demand better. 

There is no better time to stand up and demand what should have been done long ago than when things appear to be at their bleakest.  Many of us are depressed (though not defeated) by the ascension of Donald Trump to the presidency.  But, think about it, is the prospect of a Trump presidency really all that much worse than what we have had forty years or so?  It could be but for the first time in a while people who have been seduced by lesser evil Democratic Party scare tactics may be willing to get off the fence, stand up and fight for something important.  And yes, I realize that the issues included in the "identity politics" milieu are important; but also important (and in some ways more so) are issues of endless war, health care for all, control of the financial overlords, corporate money in politics, elimination of austerity politics, meaningful jobs for the poor and working classes paying living wages, global warming and environmental destruction and a host of others the New Democrats have chosen tot to address with any real gusto or ignore completely.  This is a process which is designed and intended to keep Americans separated and effectively at war with one another.  It is the essential construct of neoliberalism and it has worked far better than even the most hard-core neoliberal could have imagined.

Like the Republican Party the Democratic Party has no present intention of addressing any of these core issues.  We are, and have been for many years like it or not, been embroiled in an ever escalating class war and the plutocrats and their political minions have so disarmed the rest of us with ceaseless propaganda and endless new techno-toys intended to keep us helplessly indulged in a mindless frenzy of consumerism.  They tell us that only their "experts" can understand, explain and establish government policy.  They tells us the federal government out of money and being hopelessly constrained by unpayable debt – but it is never a problem when the funding of endless war or the bailing out of the financial system to the tune of 29 trillion dollars is concerned.  The money is always available for corporate needs, but when peoples' needs are mentioned the cupboard is bare and austerity is the stock answer.  This is why we have no government provided health care for all.

I believe strongly that one of our most important tasks is to share as widely as possible the reality behind the neoliberal myths which have been promulgated via state and think tank propaganda and political lies ever since Maggie Thatcher and Ronald Reagan assumed power in Great Britain and the United States in the 1980s.  We are most certainly engaged in a class war and for the moment only the ruling class is engaged.  It is time that the rest of us began our offensive against our rulers.  But in order to effectively organize ourselves, I believe that we must first come to understand the myths we have been sold and why they are destructive lies which have kept us separated for so long. 

Socialists, Progressives, Liberals and those on the political left cannot effectively engage, nor can we ever win this class war on our own – and we have a long history of fighting one another.  We must somehow learn to engage with those on the right side of the political spectrum, remembering that they are just as splintered and confused as are we.  We have to stop being enemies and become allies wherever possible.  And, yes, there are some on both sides we will never be able to reach.  That is just the way things are and won't be changed no matter what we or they do.  But that should not dissuade us from the task at hand.  When I speak of education I certainly do not mean "smart" liberals talking down to "dumb deplorables" as the New Democrats seem prone to do.  I mean listening exchanging views and ideas, explaining differences and hearing others' experiences and what they have learned from years of systemic abuse and neglect.  This can be much more important and more powerful than anything we might have to offer from our life experiences.

I started this by talking about health care because I believe that it is an issue we can all discuss and share experiences and ideas.  It is a problem for all of us who do not dwell in the gated compounds of the 1%.  I also believe that the reality behind fiat money, debt and credit are subjects which must be brought into the open if we are to have any change to break through to the other side with social solutions.  As long as a majority of Americans continue to buy into the myth of the national debt as a constraining inhibitor limiting their and their children's opportunities there will be no opportunity to convince them of the benefits of collective action and governmental social programs.  In short we need two-way teaching and we need it now.  I am not at all certain how best to accomplish this, but I think that some significant collective effort must be put forth to find out.  Absent that we will continue to get kicked to the side of the road by our "betters" in the plutocracy.



John


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